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Dwolla, a Des Moines-based payments network, launched a new feature today called Instant. By avoiding the electronic funds transfer process that usually takes 2-3 days, the new feature gives Dwolla’s 70,000+ users immediate access to cash:
“Instant is a new opt-in feature that provides you access to cash immediately. When you turn the feature on, you can deposit and send cash without the wait or delay users typically bump into with Dwolla. Whether you’re in a combine, on the streets of New York, walking down the Embarcadero in San Francisco, or stopping in at Mars Café in Des Moines, if you have access to the Internet, you have cash.”
When users want to use Instant to make a purchase from the 4,000+ merchants in Dwolla’s network, they have two options of funding sources. They can either link to a bank account or borrow money from Dwolla and pay it back at the end of the statement period. If the user chooses the latter option, there is a $500 limit.
The pricing structure is simple. Here’s how it works:
To learn more about Dwolla, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.
Credit Karma announced today that it has teamed up with Intuit to provide free credit scores to Intuit-powered financial institutions within their online banking platfom:
“With NorthCountry FCU as Credit Karma’s first Intuit-powered partner, Credit Karma is certified to work with Intuit Financial Services clients to provide the Free Credit Score Service within the financial institution’s branded environment. The Free Credit Score for Members Service gives consumers a monthly credit score and a suite of personalized credit management tools to better manage their credit.”
When signing in to Credit Karma via Intuit’s Digital Insights online banking system, consumers will have the benefit of a single sign-on.
To learn more about Credit Karma and Intuit, watch Credit Karma’s FinovateStartup09 demo and Intuit’s Finovate 2009 demo.
Yesterday, mobile platform developer Kony Solutions launched KonyOne, a platform that allows a single application to deliver both native apps and mobile web across multiple devices:
“Offering true native support for all seven operating systems (including iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, Java ME, Symbian, webOS) along with simultaneous support for the mobile web, the KonyOne platform provides a secure, scalable and extensible mobile middleware runtime platform that can be seamlessly integrated with existing services.”
Kony also mentioned that KonyOne will support HTML5 updates such as touch specific features and widget enhancements.
To learn more about Kony Solutions, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.
Seattle-based doxo announced yesterday that it has been selected as a winner for the Red Herring Global 100, a list that identifies the top private tech companies in Europe, North America, and Asia:
“Selected from a field of leading global companies, doxo was recognized due to the success of its transformative technology that changes the way businesses and consumers connect and go paperfree”
To see the full list of winners, visit here.
To learn more about doxo, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.
In the digital era where teenagers might keep their bank accounts for the next 80 years, it’s important to offer services that encourage kids to sign up for a bank account. There are some cool ideas around financial education, money management, and gamification which we explored in our Online Banking Report earlier this year (note 3).
But what’s the one issue that really drives parents’ behavior towards their kids? Fear. Fear for their physical safety on the way to school, fear of bad influences at school, and fear of the idiots kids will encounter online. The list goes on and on.
You may not be able to protect kids from Facebook bullies, but you can help on the money side. Financial institutions can offer services that help protect children from online scams, ID thieves, and so on. You can offer prepaid cards with controlled access. You can keep parents apprised of their child’s spending so they can recognize early-warning signs of dangerous behavior.
It’s win-win product development. Parents will pay for it through fees and/or loyalty. You’ll lock in more youth accounts, and everyone will get a bit more peace of mind.
Bottom line: While family financial security is a promising area, it’s no small project. Most banks will need partners to provide at least some of the services (credit-reporting specialists, account-aggregation providers, data analytics, and so on). But once the data feeds are available, they can be bundled together into different packages for various segments.
And mobile delivery will be crucial. For inspiration, look at Life360, a fast-growing mobile service whose core offering is GPS tracking for family members (see screenshot below, note 2). Life360 is free, but offers an optional identity-theft protection family-plan at $14.95/$19.95 per month. Since going free, the company has mushroomed to 6 million families.
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Life360 is a fast-growing startup offering “mobile family safety” (13 Dec 2011)
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Notes:
1. Graphic: From the FTC-sponsored one-day seminar on childhood identity theft this summer (link).
2. For more info on Life360, read the series of Techcrunch posts on the company.
3. For more on family/youth banking, see our recent Online Banking Report (subscription).
Cloud-based fraud detection company ThreatMetrix announced today that it was named one of 100 Red Herring Global 100 winners.
Red Herring’s list comprises 100 leading private companies in North America, Europe, and Asia. Its editorial staff selected the companies for their technologic innovation, company health, management quality, and market penetration.
To see the full list, visit here.
To learn more about ThreatMetrix, watch its FinovateStartup 2009 demo.
Kabbage, provider of working capital to online retailers, announced a new round of financing today. The startup received $12 million in debt financing from California-based Western Technology Investment.
Kabbage states that the money will help it provide more working capital to its network of 10,000-plus online merchants.
To learn more about Kabbage, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.
Last week, PayNearMe announced PayNearMe Auto, a new version of its service that allows Buy Here Pay Here vehicle dealers to accept cash payments in a broader number of locations:
“PayNearMe Auto is a secure, hosted Web application that dealers can have up and running in less than 15 minutes. Dealers simply enter the buyer’s information and assign the individual a PayNearMe card. To make a payment, the customer hands the card and cash to a store associate at any of the 6,400 participating 7-Eleven stores throughout the United States. Dealers are notified when the payments are made and the customer can use their PayNearMe card repeatedly.”
PayNearMe Auto aims to increase operational efficiency by allowing merchants to securely collect payments off-site.
To learn more about PayNearMe, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.
