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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.
FinGoal‘s Link Money connects and uniformly formats your users’ off bank data to the digital banking core enabling secure, universal access for developers to the data at a fraction of legacy costs.
Features
Simplifies and elevates the user experience
More 360 data available for more developers
3x to 5x better economics
Why it’s great Platform banking meets data aggregation the right way.
Presenter
David Nohe, CEO Nohe is CEO at FinGoal. He is ex-Wellfit founder (acquired), ex-Apple, a recovering lawyer, and is based in Colorado. LinkedIn
A collaboration announced late last week between a pair of Finovate alums will give small businesses new options when it comes to digital receipt and expense management.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada’s Sensibill, which won Best of Show for its FinovateFall demo of its digital receipt insights solution, has partnered with FreeAgent. The U.K.-based cloud accounting software company will combine Sensibill’s technology within its own new Auto Extract feature to help SMEs transition from manual expense management and receipt tracking to a modern, automated process.
“By joining forces with FreeAgent, we’re eliminating the time and money businesses have traditionally spent manually entering data into clunky and cumbersome spreadsheets and systems,” Sensibill Chief Technology Officer Danny Piangerelli said. “Instead, we’re delivering item-level details that enable faster, better expense management.”
Sensibill’s customer data platform blends ethically sourced, enriched SKU-level data with real-time, actionable insights to help FIs achieve personalization at scale. Integrated into FreeAgent’s Auto Extract technology, the technology enables businesses to capture, organize, and categorize their receipts digitally and accurately link them with corresponding bank transactions.
“Automation is at the center of our business,” FreeAgent co-founder and CEO Roan Lavery said, “which is why partnering with Sensibill was a natural choice.” Lavery added the collaboration will help increase satisfaction and engagement among customers while relieving SMEs and their accounting team from the “administrative hassles,” costs, and inaccuracies that plague most manual, expense management processes.
Founded in 2007 and making its Finovate debut in Europe in 2013, FreeAgent was acquired by NatWest five years later for $73 million (£53 million). The company currently has more than 110,000 small businesses, freelancers, and contractors in the U.K. using its technology for a variety of key business tasks – from invoice and expense management to project management and sales tax calculation.
With more than 60 million users across 150+ financial institutions in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., Sensibill was founded in 2013 and has raised more than $50 million in equity capital. Founded by current CEO Corey Gross, the company has forged partnerships this year with fellow fintech CAARY, as well as with Maryland-based SkyPoint Federal Credit Union ($182 million in assets) and AbbyBank, a full-service community bank based in Wisconsin with assets of $616 million.
Recent news headlines have underscored the long-standing relationship between fintechs in India and the UAE.
This week, we learned that Indian payment solution provider PayMate has teamed up with both Visa and Citi to automate business payments in the UAE. The collaboration will involve both accounts payables and receivables, enabling institutions to benefit from end-to-end payment automation.
Access to PayMate’s platform also will give corporations in the UAE the ability to take advantage of longer Days Payable Outstanding (DPO) as purchasers, as well as make supplier payments earlier. The platform, which auto-reconciles both made and received payments in real-time, also allows for settling of corporate card payments directly into the accounts of suppliers.
A Visa-certified Business Payment Solution Provider (BPSP), PayMate is looking to leverage its relationship with Visa into offering both its platform and working capital solutions to other countries in the region. More than 105,000 Indian businesses currently use the PayMate platform.
Also this week we learned of that a partnership between the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) and UAE-based Mashreq Bank will bring Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to the UAE to support Indian business and leisure travelers to the country.
Unified Payments Interface is an instant, real-time payment system launched by NPCI that enables multiple accounts to be controlled via a single mobile app. The solution supports a wide range of banking features ranging from money transfers to bill sharing and billpay to merchant payments. Introduced in 2016, UPI currently facilitates 10% of all retail payments in India, and has more than 100 million monthly active users in the country. Last year, $457 billion in value moved on the UPI platform, and analysts believe that UPI will top both Visa and Mastercard in India by 2023.
And while bringing UPI to the UAE will be a major boon for Indian travelers and expats in the country, the UAE stands to benefit as well from the support that additional digital payment activity will provide to the UAE’s digital payments ecosystem.
“We are delighted to collaborate with NIPL (NPCI International Payments) to introduce their mobile-based real-time payment systems to our customers in the UAE,” EVP and Head of Payments for Mashreq Bank Kartik Taneja said. “Given the position of UAE as an international commerce and tourism hub, retail merchants in the Emirates always enable the latest payment methods that are expected by our international clients.”
It is worth pointing out that Indians represent the largest expatriate community in the United Arab Emirates, its more than 3.4 million members representing more than 38% of the UAE population. And while this is no surprise to anyone who has visited the UAE, the impact of this sizable population on the fintech industries of both nations is notable. In the summer of 2019, the Dubai Startup Hub, a project of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, announced its intention to “woo” Indian fintechs to the UAE with a $100 million fund for financial services startups.
Underscoring Dubai’s role as a “testbed” for enabling technologies like blockchain and AI,” Manager of the Entrepreneurship Department at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce Natalia Sycheva noted that Indian startups represented more than 30% of the total start-up community in the country. “When we decided to launch the programme of attracting overseas start-ups here,” Sycheva said, “naturally the first choice was India, as 30% co-founders of our Dubai Startup Hub have Indian origin.”
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Payments technology company InComm and online billpay platform doxo are partnering this week to enable doxo users to pay bills using cash.
doxo is leveraging InComm’s VanillaDirect retailer network that contains more than 60,000 brick-and-mortar locations including chains such as Dollar General, Family Dollar, and participating 7-Eleven stores.
“Our cash payment network is perfectly aligned with doxo’s vision of empowering consumers to improve their financial lives,” said InComm Payments SVP of Business Development Tim Richardson, adding, “and in this instance providing their users with a simple and convenient experience for making cash payments to household billers in an extensive network of retail locations across the United States.”
To pay their household bills using cash, doxo users select the pay with cash button in the app. Cash-paying users will receive a barcode on their mobile app that they scan at the participating retailer’s point of sale, which will charge them the correct amount for their selected bill. Once the customer pays their bill, the biller receives the payment instantly, just as they would with a credit card, debit card, or checking account payment.
The new billpay method not only helps underbanked consumers, it also benefits the billers. Just over 13% of utility bills in the U.S. are paid using cash, which incur more processing costs than digital payments. The added capability will also give doxo a boost by offering utility companies a greater incentive to join doxo’s network of more than 100,000 billers.
Founded in 2008, doxo offers a mobile app that enables its five million users to manage and pay all of their bills from a single place. The company’s doxoPLUS offering provides credit protection and identity theft protection. doxo also offers late fee protection, a feature made possible thanks to a 2019 partnership with Plaid.
Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, doxo has raised $18.8 million in funding from investors including Sigma Partners, Bezos Expeditions, and Mohr Davidow Ventures. Steve Shivers is CEO.
What have the companies that have won Best of Show at FinovateFall in recent years been up to since receiving top honors from our Finovate audiences?
With FinovateFall 2021 right around the corner, we thought now would be an excellent time to check in with some of the celebrated alums from our most recent autumn events.
2020
Q2, which won Best of Show honors at FinovateFall 2020 for its online digital marketplace that enables collaboration between fintechs and financial institutions, acquired fellow Finovate alum ClickSWITCH in April of this year.
Also in April, FinovateFall 2020 Best of Show winner Monit secured $5.2 million in seed funding for its finance app that gives small business owners insights and personalized guidance to help them manage their businesses better. The round was led by TTV Capital.
Lendsmart secured pre-seed funding in a round led by INV Fintech in February. The investment came after the company earned a Best of Show award at FinovateFall 2020 for a demo of its AI-driven technology that brings automation and transparency to the lending process.
2019
Zogo, which leverages partnerships with financial institutions to promote financial literacy among the young, raised an undisclosed sum a little over a year after making its Best of Show winning appearance at FinovateFall 2019.
Winning Best of Show in its FinovateFall debut in 2019, digital charitable giving platform Pinkaloo was acquired by philanthropic services firm RenPSG in the spring of 2021.
Multiple-time Best of Show winner MX, which picked up its latest Best of Show trophy at FinovateFall 2019, secured $300 million in Series C funding in January of this year, driving its valuation to $1.9 billion.
Digital customer service innovator Glia, another company that has earned multiple Best of Show trophies from Finovate audiences – including at FinovateFall 2019, raised $78 million in January of this year.
Cinchy not only raised $10 million in Series A funding after a Best of Show winning demo of its data collaboration platform at FinovateFall the previous autumn. The Canada-based company also secured an additional $10 million in funding in May of this year, as well.
2018
White-label digital banking solution provider Meniga, which picked up a Best of Show award at FinovateFall 2018, secured a $11.8 million investment this spring in a round led by Velocity Capita and Frumtak Ventures.
In a Series A round led by Canaan Partners, Bumped raised $10.4 million in new funding last November. Earning a Best of Show award in its debut at FinovateFall in 2018, the company enables brands to give their customers free stock for their purchases, turning shoppers into shareholders.
FinovateFall returns to New York City next month, September 13 through 15. To get your ticket and save your spot, visit our FinovateFall hub today. Register by September 3rd to save up to 12% off your ticket.
Moven’s platform is powered by core processing technology from fellow Finovate alum Q2. CorePro, as the technology is named, will give these community banks the ability to build a solution with a front-end based on financial wellness and a backend able to interact with a variety of legacy core systems.
Keith Mansfield, Chief Operating Officer with the Louisiana-based b1 BANK, underscored how the partnership with Moven will enable the institution to offer its customers new tools to enhance their financial wellness. Mansfield added that working with Moven will also help the $3.9 billion AUM bank gain the kind of customer insights that will enable it to “compete with both larger banks and fintech competitors.”
Citizens Bank of Edmond ($350 million in assets) CEO and President Jill Castilla was even more direct, highlighting both the importance of “deliver(ing) exceptional products and exceptional customer service in an increasingly digital manner” as well as the key role that community banks play in the financial lives of a sizable number of individuals and families.
“No one is more skilled at developing relationships and meeting customer needs than community banks,” Castilla explained. She praised both Moven and Q2 as companies that not only understood this reality but also were “committed to bringing a first-class digital experience to underbanked and underserved communities in need.”
The initiative announced this week is not the first time Moven and Q2 have collaborated. Most recently, in the fall of 2020, the two companies teamed up to offer a turn-key digital bank-in-a-box that can be deployed by financial institutions in as few as 30 days. Combining financial data aggregation and savings tools from Moven with Q2’s CorePro cloud processing technology, the new offering provides real-time alerts and notifications, the ability to issue savings and demand deposit accounts, as well as instant external account verification, wishlist savings, and an emergency account.
“Community financial institutions are frustrated with their legacy core provider(s) and want flexibility and affordability in delivering solutions that empower the consumer,” said Bryan Clagett, industry expert and advisor who helped bring Moven and Q2 together for the project. “Digital banking, as we know it, is evolving quickly and bringing together fintech organizations that have complementary competencies is key to the future of the financial services industry.”
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.
Cinchy dataware platform’s unique approach of decoupling data from applications removes data silos and the need for integration.
Features
Delivers change 5x faster
Reduces IT overhead by 50%
Includes flexible data models that can evolve with business needs
Why it’s great Dataware is a new concept whose benefits are already being leveraged by leading financial services organizations and the top global banks by moving from an app-centric to a data-centric approach.
Presenter
Dan DeMers, CEO & Founder DeMers is CEO & Founder of Cinchy, the dataware platform that makes integration obsolete. For over a decade, DeMers has built large IT systems for FIs worldwide. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.
IMPESA is a software developer fintech. Monibyte is a P2P payments app that offers customers card controls and offers banks new revenue opportunities.
Features
Integrated finance controls that include transaction controls
P2P plus in-app split transactions with social experience
Affordable for small financial institutions
Why it’s great Monibyte is an affordable and time-to-market solution for small financial institutions. It creates a new revenue channel and leadership in innovation and benefits for clients with minimum investment.
Presenters
Mario Hernández, CEO & Co-Founder Hernández is an expert in payments solutions focusing on new technologies and innovation. He has had a successful trajectory in the financial sector in several countries. LinkedIn
Gloriana Carballo, PR & Marketing Director Carballo has extensive experience in marketing, retail, and market strategy. At roughly 28 years, she was named one of the ‘Top 5 Oustanding Women in Business in Costa Rica’ by EKA magazine in 2017. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.
Informed.IQ automates the consumer loan verification process for lenders using AI.
Features
Faster funding
Ability to free up staff to work on higher-order functions
Greater accuracy and reduced fraud
Why it’s great Informed.IQ is used nation-wide across major consumer lenders such as Ally Bank and Westlake Financial to turn their applicants’ documents and data into decisions.
Presenter
Justin Wickett, CEO & Co-Founder Prior to founding Informed.IQ, Wickett led product management at Credit Karma, Lyft, and Zynga. He has a bachelor’s in Computer Science from Duke University and holds several U.S. patents. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.
Directlink is an AI-powered conversational banking platform built to transact, deal, and direct seamless experiences for bank and credit union customers – whenever and wherever they like.
Features
Control dialog and content in an easy-to-use portal
Transform and test customer experiences across channels
Take action on data insights in real-time
Why it’s great Directlink makes it easy for banks and credit unions to devise, deploy, and maintain intelligent automated banking experiences for their customers without burdening their human team members.
Presenters
Mark Vanderpool, President Vanderpool is a leader and team builder with enterprise, channel and on-demand, and SaaS success. In addition to true operational experience, he has extensive experience with omni-channel communications. LinkedIn
Ben Nichols, Head of Product Nichols leads the product and technology departments at Directlink by IMS. He has over a decade of experience building data-driven software for both large financial institutions and SaaS startups. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.
Income Discovery increases a client’s retirement paycheck by as much as 30% by using AI to optimize strategies and simplify execution of the strategy.
Features
Maximum paycheck in retirement – increase by as much as 30%
Powerful one-click AI based optimization engine
Scalable paycheck disbursals for planned and unplanned spending
Why it’s great Income Discovery solved the “nastiest, hardest problem in finance” by using AI to simplify the solution for increasing a client’s retirement paycheck by as much as 30%.
Presenter
Manish Malhotra, CEO & Founder Prior to forming Income Discovery, Malhotra was a Senior VP at Citigroup Global Wealth Management, leading the application architecture function for strategic initiatives. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.
Thinknum provides a real time alternative web data index for CIOs.
Features
Generate real-time insights about private and public companies via UI and API
Access 5+ years of history of alt web data on 500,000 companies updated daily
Visualize your insights and share dashboard
Why it’s great Thinknum democratizes access to alternative data with an easy-to-use interface and API deployment at scale.
Presenter
Marta Lopata, Chief Growth Officer Lopata is the Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Thinknum Alternative Data and KgBase – a no-code knowledge graph tool. LinkedIn
