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

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 20, 2011
Categories: 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

Website: rebirthfinancial.com

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

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RobotDough Introduces A Portfolio Monitoring Service

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 20, 2011
Categories: RobotDough

This 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

Website: robotdough.com

Presenting Wilton Risenhoover (CEO) & Olivier Moratin (VP of Product Development)

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With Kabbage’s SocialKlimbing, Online Merchants Benefit From Being Social

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 20, 2011
Categories: Kabbage

This morning, Kabbage demonstrated SocialKlimbing, which enables online merchants to benefit from engaging in online social activity:

“Kabbage has launched the SocialKlimbing feature of its system, which enables online merchants to associate their social activities with their Kabbage account. By doing so, Kabbage incorporates information from these social media sites to underwrite risk and enable online merchants to receive a benefit by actively engaging with audiences interested in their products and services.”

Product Launched: June 2010

HQ Location: Atlanta, GA

Company Founded: February 2009

Metrics: Just under $26M raised from accredited investors and partners, 22 employees

Website: kabbage.com

Presenting Marc Gorlin (Chairman & Co-Founder) & Kathryn Petralia (COO)

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Segmint Helps Banks Use Facebook to Better Understand Clients

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 20, 2011
Categories: Segmint

Today, Segmint introduced SegmintSocial, a platform that enables financial institutions to use Facebook to better understand their customers and interact with them on Facebook:

“Today, when responding to customer posts on Facebook©, Financial Institutions (FIs) do not have visibility into the relationship that they have with that customer. With SegmintSocial, the FI employee monitoring Facebook now has a complete list of KLIs and an understanding of the product mix, demographics and lifestyle spending patterns of customers when they post on the FI’s Facebook page. SegmintSocial also provides the FI customer a Facebook page containing customized FI and reward offers. These two unique online experiences enable the FI to deliver a more engaging and relevant social experience for their customers.”

Product Launched: September 2011

HQ Location: Akron, OH

Company Founded: 2008

Metrics: 24 employees, 10 patents pending

Website: segmint.com

Presenting Rob Heiser (Co-Founder & CEO) & Nate Shahan (Co-Founder & VP Product Development)

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Betterment Enables Goal-Based Decision Making

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 20, 2011
Categories: Betterment

Next, Betterment shared Multiple Goals, a feature that helps consumers make smart decisions:

“Betterment is committed to helping consumers make the right investing decisions to meet their financial goals. Our new goal based tool enables users to make smart, goal-based investment decisions. In keeping with Betterment’s easy and intuitive user experience, we’ve created a simple three step process that empowers users to invest towards specific goals.

Step 1 – A user identifies their goal (i.e. retirement, buy a house, vacation, etc.), when they want to reach this goal, and how much they will contribute towards this goal.

Step 2 – User selects short term risk tolerance for this particular goal, based on Betterment’s projections of likely return, potential upside and downside.

Step 3 – User selects long term risk tolerance for this particular goal, based on Betterment’s projections.

After completing these three steps, the user receives a recommended portfolio allocation, and, can set their portfolio for this goal with just one click. Reaching future goals through investing is now faster and simpler than ever before!”

Product Launched: September 2011

HQ Location: New York, NY

Company Founded: August 2008

Website: betterment.com

Presenting Jon Stein (Founder & CEO) & Anthony Schrauth (SVP Product)

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Google Advisor Allows You to Check Mortgage and Credit Card Rates in Real Time

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 20, 2011
Categories: Google

This morning, Google demonstrated Google Advisor, a technology that allows you to check rates in real-time:

“With Google Advisor, you enter information about what you’re looking for in a mortgage, credit card, CD, or checking and savings account. We show you a list of the offers that match your criteria, along with rates and contact information. Google Advisor is designed especially to help you make these difficult financial decisions easily, with:

Speed: As you change your criteria, the results update instantly. You’ll still have a list of all your options in one place, so you can quickly compare different offers.

Trust: By setting your own search criteria, you’re able to see only those offers and rates that apply to you, which means you can compare applicable offers without even contacting a provider first.

Control: You only need to provide the minimum amount of information we need to show you offers that are right for you. You have full control over what you want to share, and which providers you choose to talk to–and you don’t have to submit any personal information until you want to.”

Product Launched: May 2011

HQ Location: Mountain View, CA

Company Founded: January 1996

Website: Google.com

Presenting Dan Shapiro (Product Manager for Google Advisor)

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Demyst.Data Offers Predictive Analytics to Optimize Your Lending Portfolio

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 20, 2011
Categories: DeMyst Data

This morning, Demyst.Data launched its predictive analytics tool that offers portfolio optimization:

“Demyst.Data is a web based modeling toolkit to help lenders grow thin file portfolios without increasing their risk levels. With minimal inputs, the tool provides for better segmentation on customers typically rejected due to a lack of data through:

Convenient access to rich consumer level data including telecommunications, geo-location, demographics, and social networks.

Proprietary statistical techniques that outperform logistic regression when working with emerging messy data sources.

Painless technology to configure and integrate bespoke API’s which bridge the gap between your current processes and optimized product offers.”

Product Launched: September 2011 at FinovateFall 2011

HQ Location: New York & Hong Kong

Company Founded: June 2010

Website: demystdata.com, silne.com

Presenting Mark Hookey (Founder) & Kevin Denberg (Co-Founder)

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Weemba Puts Borrowers In Control of the Lending Process

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 20, 2011
Categories: Weemba

Kicking off FinovateFall this year, Weemba demoed its social platform that matches borrowers and sellers. It allows borrowers to choose which lenders see their profile. With this platform:

“Borrowers create a profile under a nickname, and post a project to obtain financing from one of the many professional Lenders registered in Weemba. Besides the reason for and amount of a loan, profiles may include everything from the Borrower’s income, education level and veteran status (Individuals) to their number of employees, annual sales or revenues and articles of incorporation (Businesses).

Lenders will be able to search projects created by those Borrowers and narrow them down by credit score, amount needed, location, type of loan and more. When a Lender finds an interesting project, the Lender then may ask the Borrower for access to their real identity, as well as private details about the project. Professional Lenders will be able to find the exact Borrowers they want, not information that is old, recycled, uncertain or vague. If the Borrower grants access to the Lender, all further contact and any negotiations take place outside Weemba.”

Product Launched: August 2011

HQ Location: Miami Beach, FL

Company Founded: January 2011
Metrics: $5.5 million raised, 18 employees

Website: weemba.com

Presenting Annette Gallagher (CEO) & Matthew Reid (Chief of Lender Relations)

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Finovate Fall Kicks Off Tuesday, Sep. 20

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 18, 2011
Categories: FinovateFall 2011

We’re thrilled to bring FinovateFall 2011 back to the Big Apple for the fifth time. And for the fifth straight time, we’ve broken the previous attendance record, with a crowd of 1,000 descending on Pier 92 Tuesday. Thanks everyone for your support!

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Schedule: Registration begins at 8:00 AM Tuesday and Wednesday, with demos starting at 9:00 AM each day. We’ll announce the Best of Show winners at 5PM Wed.

Live blog: This year, we’ll be live blogging the product announcements here on Netbanker. You can also follow the usually-quite-active Twitter stream at (#finovate). And Founder, Jim Bruene, will also be adding his 2 cents through our Finovate Twitter account. While there’s no live video stream, we’ll post full-length videos of each demo at Finovate.com within a few weeks.

Presenters: Sixty-four companies will launch new products via live, 7-minute demos from stage. Here are the presenters in alphabetic order.

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Finovate Fall 2011 Kicks Off Tuesday, Sep. 20

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 18, 2011
Categories: Finovate, FinovateFall2011

As a child, my family traveled all over the country by car, visiting just about every major city in 45 states. But my dad always steered at least 50 miles clear of New York City, so I didn’t get my first taste of Manhattan until I was almost 30.

Now, it’s my favorite city in the world, and I’m thrilled we are able to bring FinovateFall 2011 back to the Big Apple for the fifth time. And for the fifth straight time, we’ve broken the previous attendance record, with a crowd of 1,000 descending on Pier 92 Tuesday. Thanks everyone for your support!

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Schedule: Registration begins at 8:00 AM Tuesday and Wednesday, with demos starting at 9:00 AM each day. We’ll announce the Best of Show winners at 5PM Wed.

Live blog: This year, we’ll be live blogging the product announcements here on Netbanker. You can also follow the usually-quite-active Twitter stream at (#finovate). And I’ll also be adding my 2 cents through our Finovate Twitter account. While there’s no live video stream, we’ll post full-length videos of each demo at Finovate.com within a few weeks.

Presenters: Sixty-four companies will launch new products via live, 7-minute demos from stage. Here are the presenters in alphabetic order.

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HelloWallet Sees Growth, 7 Million U.S. Workers To Benefit From PFM

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 16, 2011
Categories: HelloWallet

Earlier this week, HelloWallet announced the success of its PFM service designed for the employees of Fortune 500 companies:

“(HelloWallet) sold over 200,000 memberships to leading employers since launching their full application in May.”

The startup also announced new partnerships with employee benefits providers that collectively serve over 7 million U.S. workers, which will roll-out through 2013. The adoption and enrollment of this service among employees is also impressive:

“Average take-up rates among Fortune 500 employer partners of HelloWallet also continue to exceed industry standards, now up to an average 20 percent enrollment rate within 3 months of launching.”

To learn more about HelloWallet, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo here.

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Design: BillShrink Uses Splash Page to Introduce New Corporate Website and Truaxis Name

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 15, 2011
Categories: BillShrink, Website Usability & Design

You may not be changing your corporate name like BillShrink (press release), but you can use their technique any time you do a major website remodel. Throw a splash page on top of your old design highlighting the change(s), then redirect users to the new site (note 1).

The explanation on the splash page will reassure users that they have not landed on a fake site. And it provides an opportunity to highlight improvements and do some brand reinforcement.

You could use the same technique with major promotions, but the key word is MAJOR. It should be used VERY sparingly, or you will annoy customers while diluting its effectiveness.

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Truaxis/BillShrink splash page (15 Sept. 2011)
Note: In this case, BillShrink is still operating its old site. So consumers clicking on the right button will be sent to <billshrink.com>. Merchants and financial institution visitors will go to the new corporate site, <truaxis.com>.

BillShrink consumer site

Trueaxis corporate site
Note: Naturally, we love the Finovate Best of Show logos at the bottom (note 2), even if they are below the fold.

Notes:
1. In BillShrink’s case, they are still operating the old site. But they want their B2B prospects (merchants/banks) to visit their new corporate site, Truaxis.com.
2. Truaxis will be busy next week, presenting a new twist on in-statement rewards at our Finovate (see our sneak peek post). It’s also a finalist in Innotribe’s competition (here).

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