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Finovate Alumni News– January 5, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 5, 2012
Categories: BillGuard, Check Point, Credit Karma, FreeMonee, LearnVest, Linkable Networks, Micronotes, PayPal, ProfitStars, ReadyForZero, T8 Webware

American Banker describes how T8 Webware, Micronotes, and FreeMonee predicts what customers will buy. Seattle's King 5 News highlights Linkable Networks' digital coupons. TechCrunch reports Credit Karma enrolls 100,000 users for its credit monitoring service in one day. Business Insider recommends using BillGuard to prevent credit and debit card fraud. BetaBeat looks at what LearnVest is doing with its $19 million round of funding. ReadyForZero introduces its New Year's challenge. TechCrunch reports John Donahue, Ebay CEO will serve as PayPal's interim president since PayPal President Scott Thompson left for Yahoo. ProfitStars reaches milestone of providing image & data conversions for 1,000 FIs over the past 5 years. Check Point Software Technologies works with Amazon Web Services secure the cloud. 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.

Cortal Consors Announces New Version and Expansion of Hopee

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 4, 2012
Categories: Cortal Consors

Earlier today France-based Cortal Consors announced the expansion of Hopee, its platform for an online community that exchanges recommendations, analyses, and tips on investments.

"The Community's new version, launched this October, includes a range of new features such as theScreener, an independent risk assessing indicator for stocks."

The free platform has 50,000 members in France and 60,000 members in Germany and recently launched in Spain, where it was positively received.

To learn more about Cortal Consors and Hopee, watch the FinovateEurope 2011 demo.

Geezeo Signs 5 Credit Unions During the Last Week of 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 4, 2012
Categories: Geezeo

In the final week of 2011, financial management platform provider Geezeo announced that five credit unions signed on to provide its white-label PFM solution and engagement banking platform to their clients.

The credit unions include:

NavyArmy Federal Credit Union, Texas Chesterfield Federal Credit Union, Virginia Ascentra Credit Union, Iowa Kohlr Credit Union, Wisconsin Hiway Credit Union, Minnesota

To learn more about Geezeo, watch its Finovate 2007 demo.

Can Savings Accounts Be Social?

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 4, 2012
Categories: Alerts & Messaging, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Electronic Statements, Email Samples, ING Direct

I glanced at my ING Direct eStatement alert today (screenshot below) to see what they had to say in the new year. The soon-to-be-Capital-One direct bank is usually pretty creative in its copywriting. And I was not disappointed today. Here's the pitch inside the alert:

I love the idea of a "Social Network...of Savers," a Facebook-like place where friends help each other keep spending in check and achieve politically correct savings goals such as the down payment on a home, the college fund, or a rainy day reserve.

But I don't think the Facebook model works in the real world (note 1). Even though it might be interesting to follow your friends' drunk spending (note 2), most users want this info to be kept VERY private (note 3). And in most circles, money accumulation is never openly discussed. Who wants to read…

Expensify Gives Users 10 Free Scans Per Month

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 4, 2012
Categories: Expensify

Yesterday, San Francisco-based Expensify announced that it gave the name SmartScan to the scanning system it launched in May. The startup states it has since fixed a lot of errors and has already scanned hundreds of thousands of SmartScan items.

On the Expensify blog, it also announced a couple of other changes:

Users now receive 10 free SmartScans per month, instead of the one-time installment of 10 free scans. All receipts scanned in excess of the 10 free monthly receipt scans will be charged at the end of the month instead of before.

Other than those changes, the platform and price remain the same. To learn more about Expensify's pricing structure, check out my post from last November.

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

Finovate Alumni News– January 4, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 4, 2012
Categories: Budgetpulse, Buxfer, Lending Club, MiiCard, Mint.com, Prosper, ReadyForZero, Yodlee

Forbes recommends Budgetpulse, Mint.com, Buxfer, and Yodlee as PFMs to help keep track of your money. Fox News advocates ReadyForZero to help pay down debt. Prosper launches Kindle Fire sweepstakes. Fast Company breaks down how ReadyForZero works. Tamebay shares how miiCard is helping to increase trust online. P2P Lending News reports that Prosper and Lending Club facilitated $40 million in loans in December. Expensify gives users 10 free scans per month. Geezeo signs 5 credit unions during the last week of 2011. Cortal Consors announces new version and expansion of Hopee. 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.

Lending Club Removes Service Fee on Large Loans

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 3, 2012
Categories: Lending Club

Last week Lending Club announced that, for a limited time, it will forgo the 1% lender service fee on loans in excess of $20,000 for the entire life of the loan.

P2P Lending News reports:

"Lending Club is likely dropping its service fee on a test basis to increase investor demand in larger notes. Because borrowers with larger loan sizes have much larger payments, investors tend to see them as riskier investment options."

Lending Club has not yet disclosed how long the fee waiver will last.

To learn more about Lending Club, watch its FinovateStartup09 demo.

The Receivables Exchange Announces Strategic Alliance with Insperity Investment

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 3, 2012
Categories: Receivables Exchange

Last week, The Receivables Exchange announced a strategic alliance with Insperity Investment, a human resources and business performance solutions company.

"This venture will enable The Receivables Exchange's working capital solution to be offered to small and medium-sized U.S. businesses, including more than 100,000 businesses supported by Insperity."

In addition, Insperity invested capital in The Receivables Exchange. The amount of capital and terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

To learn more about the Receivables Exchange, watch its FinovateFall 2010 demo.

Credit Karma Launches Free Credit Monitoring Service

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 3, 2012
Categories: Credit Karma

Today, Credit Karma launched a free credit monitoring service for all U.S. consumers. The service will monitor a consumer's credit file on a daily basis and notify them of significant changes.

Here's how it works:

The consumer visits CreditKarma.com and begins the free, two-minute registration process. Every day, Credit Karma monitors the consumer's credit report. After a new credit inquiry, missed payment, or improved payment status hits the consumer's credit file, Credit Karma alerts the consumer via email.

Credit Karma is the first company to provide this service for free and existing Credit Karma members need only to opt-in to take advantage of the service.

To learn more about Credit Karma, watch its FinovateStartup09 demo.

Finovate Alumni News– January 3, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 3, 2012
Categories: Andera, Credit Karma, Dwolla, eToro, Jemstep, Lending Club, Ping Identity, Receivables Exchange, RobotDough, TSYS, Zopa

RobotDough leaves GoDaddy due to SOPA support conflict. Philly.com describes the Jemstep signup process. Providence Business News reports Andera moves to a new office building. Zopa Italy rebrands as Smartika. eToro blog launches new column dedicated to analyzing the weekly activity on eToro OpenBook. Forbes looks at Dwolla's payment revolution. Ping Identity announces PingFederate is now available as an Amazon Machine Image on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud. Credit Karma launches free credit monitoring service. The Receivables Exchange announces strategic alliance with Insperity Investment. Lending Club removes service fee on large loans. 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.

FinovateEurope 2012 Early-Bird Deadline Extended to January 6th — Register now to save!

By finovate Posted on January 2, 2012
Categories: FinovateEurope 2012

With 2011 put to rest, the Finovate team has returned to the office excited to make FinovateEurope 2012 in February our biggest and best European event ever.

Over the holidays we received a number of inquiries about whether it was still possible to get an early-bird ticket to the event. Given that, we've decided to extend our early-bird ticket deadline until this Friday (January 6th) so that you can lock in your spot at the early-bird rate.

Tickets for the event have been selling strongly and we expect a record crowd on February 7th in London. Here is a small sample of the organizations that have already registered to attend:

ABN Amro American Express Balderton Capital Bank Julius Baer Barclaycard Barclays Bank Best Buy BN Bank BNP Paribas Capital One Celent DAB Bank EFMA Fiserv Gartner Greylock Handelsbanken IBM ING Bank Intuit Jack Henry La Poste Microsoft MorningStar PostFinance…

CBS Early Show Features Weemba, Lighter Capital, and Rebirth Financial

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 2, 2012
Categories: Lighter Capital, Rebirth Financial, Weemba

Last week, The Early Show on CBS featured three Finovate alumni (see video below). The newscast describes how Weemba, Lighter Capital, and Rebirth Financial are all working to find funding for small businesses.

All three startups use different approaches to provide small businesses with funding when banks fail to come through:

Weemba

Approach: Serves as a matchmaker for borrowers and lenders
Average loan amount: $27,500
FinovateFall 2011 demo

Lighter Capital
Approach: Lends money based on business earnings
Average loan amount: $150,000

FinovateFall 2011 demo

Rebirth Financial
Approach: Matches borrowers with lenders based on a desired loan amount and interest rate
Average loan amount: $80,000

FinovateFall 2011 demo

Source: CBS News http://bit.ly/t2inQG