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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Curve, a U.K.-based payment card technology company, announced its own version of a buy now, pay later (BNPL) product this week.
The company is known for its unique payment solutions, such as its Go Back in Time feature that lets consumers switch payments from one card to another for up to 90 days after the transaction was made. Today, Curve is launching Curve Flex, a tool that builds on Go Back in Time.
Curve Flex allows consumers to convert almost any purchase from the past 12 months into an installment plan, as long as the card they used is linked in the Curve Platform. After the customer makes a purchase, all they need to do is swipe the transaction and select the number of installments. Then, Curve refunds their transaction in full almost instantly.
Unlike most BNPL tools, Curve Flex isn’t limited to specific merchants, cards, or products. It can be used on retail purchases, online orders, household bills, and more. Also unlike many BNPL tools, Curve’s offering charges interest based on the purchase amount and the number of installments.
“Curve is giving customers the unprecedented ability to convert transactions made up to a year ago into free or low-interest installment loans,” said Head of Curve Credit Paul Harrald. “Being able to Go Back in Time and Pay Later is going to forever change how U.K. customers think about managing their personal finances and cashflow.”
Curve Flex, which has been in beta for a year, already has 1,600 users that have opted to pay later on 7,000 transactions worth over $1.4 million (£1 million).
Earlier this week we celebrated the return to in-person events with FinovateFall. Though this year’s event felt a bit different from years past, with vaccination wristbands and social distancing replacing handshakes and hugs, there was an undeniable energy present. While it was wonderful to see many familiar people face-to-face, it was also refreshing to see new ideas and technology presented by the experts themselves.
With three days of demos, panels, keynotes, and networking, there was a lot to take in. Whether you attended in person or digitally, you were able to see some of the newest ideas and technology in banking and finance. And if you weren’t able to attend this time around, here’s a recap of what you saw and what you may have missed.
Overarching themes
Consumers have changed how they choose their bank. This one seems like a theme we’ve been hearing for a couple of years now, but I think it is becoming even more concrete as the move to digital is ever-accelerating. The anecdote I heard multiple times was how consumers used to base their banking relationship on which FI had the closest branch or the most ATMs in their region. Today, with the abundance of neobanks, consumers have a different mindset. They choose their banks based on the brand. Does it appear trustworthy and transparent, or is there too much fine print? Does it offer unique features such as early wage access that speak to the customer’s needs? Does it benefit the community? Does it speak to the unique needs of the customer’s tribe?
Cybersecurity should still be top-of-mind. The cybersecurity and fraud prevention theme is one that has been around since the dawn of fintech. It is also one that isn’t going away any time soon. With the push to digital, fraudsters are finding increased profits. At this week’s event, we saw multiple fintechs looking to stem the flow of cash into criminals’ pockets.
Regtech is rising. The U.S. has been slow to adopt existing regtech tools and create new ones. However, we’ve seen an increase in regulation around consumer data and customer communication. Not only that, but new technologies are also bringing pending regulation around AI, smart contracts, and cryptocurrencies. Fintech is here to fill the dearth of regtech solutions and save financial services companies and fintech alike from legal headaches.
Consumers are ready for self-service. We now live in a world where people no longer want to make a phone call to order a pizza, but would rather do so via an app. On top of this mobile-first preference, consumers also expect things on-demand. For these reasons, the chatbots that were dismissed in years past as a solution-looking-for-a-problem. At this week’s conference, however, we heard that chatbots are now some of the most practical tools FIs can implement to best serve their clients.
My highlight
My favorite session was the Investor All Star panel featuring Alexa Von Tobel, Founder and Managing Partner of Inspired Capital, and Matt Harris, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. The two discussed the new “creator economy,” a sub sector of the gig economy that represents not just social media influencers, but anyone who monetizes content online.
Harris pointed out that, in general, relatively little money trickles down to creators such as musicians and artists because much of the funds are gobbled up by middlemen such as studios, auction houses, galleries, and publishing companies. However, with the advent of NFTs it is now possible for any artist to directly reap the rewards of their labor using only an NFT Marketplace.
Von Tobel added that banks need to be ready to serve the unique needs of this new workforce, many of which are Gen Z, that wants to ditch traditional jobs to work for themselves.
Hints at what to expect for 2022
We’ll see more no code and low code solutions. At FinovateFall this year, it was obvious that the no code movement is having a moment. It democratizes the internet, making it easy for almost anyone to launch a new tool, product, solution, or even an entire business. Competition in this arena has been slowly heating up for years and next year we can expect it to explode.
There will be more chat bots and AI-enabled help channels. With all of the mentions of self-service technology that pulsed throughout this week’s conference, it became clear that the chatbot movement isn’t just a passing fad. Given this, combined with the difficulty of creating self-service tools that actually meet customers’ needs, we can expect to see more, smarter chat bots and a wider variety of self-service tools.
This was Finovate’s last event for the year. Keep an eye out for updates on our conference roster for next year, including:
The future of finance is being ushered in. And the pioneers of the new era lead the change from the FinovateFall stage this year.
We can’t tell you how exciting it was to welcome so many people back to Manhattan. It was made even sweeter by the fact that we were able to engage so many digital attendees at the same time. It felt good to be able to bring our community together again!
Following the long-anticipated meeting of minds and ideas, we looked back on the themes that emerged and will steer the industry forward into unchartered territory. It’s impossible, of course, to distill so many conversations down to a few high-level takeaways. However, within these pages are snippets and insights from on-and-off-stage to give you a taste of the action and a spark of the knowledge shared.
After two days of live demos from innovative fintechs and financial services companies, today is a day dedicated to discussing the key themes and critical issues facing our industry today.
From our Investor All-Stars presentations to our special focus tracks on Future Tech, Future Payments, SME and Consumer Lending, and Digital Transformation, Day Three of FinovateFall gives us the opportunity to put two day’s worth of fintech innovation into context – and to turn that context into action: to grow and evolve, to improve ROI, and to change the customer experience for the better.
Thank you for spending the week with us here at FinovateFall. Here is the agenda for today. All times Eastern.
8:15am – 9:00am | Registration, Breakfast, and Networking
9:00am – 9:05am | Welcome from Finovate
9:05am – 9:35am | Investor All-Stars
9:35am – 9:50am | Mastermind Keynote featuring Jon Curtis of Samsung Electronics America
9:50am – 10:40am | Seven in Seven: 7 Expert Speakers Tackle Top Issues in Fintech
10:40am – 11:10am | Networking Break
11:10am – 11:25am | Special Address: The Growth of In-Car Intelligent Assistants
11:25am – 11:40am | Mastermind Keynote: The Future of Digital Identity is NOW
11:40am – 12:05pm | Five in Five: 5 Expert Speakers Tackle Top Issues in Fintech
12:05pm – 1:05pm | Lunch and Networking Break
1:05pm – 2:25pm | Finovate Focus Tracks
Future Tech
Fireside Chat: Digital Currencies, Diem, Central Bank Digital Currencies & Blockchain – Are Digital Currencies & Blockchain Finally Gaining Traction with FIs?
Mastermind Keynote featuring Nick Mates of Lendr
Keynote Address: Harnessing AI to Improve Efficiencies, Increase Margins, and Prevent Fraud
Power Panel: The Conversational AI Market is Expected to Reach a $14 Billion Valuation by 2025 – How Can You Leverage It to Deliver ROI-Driving CX?
Future Payments
Mastermind Keynote: Creating a Winning Cardholder Experience
Fireside Chat: The Need for Speed – Where Next with Faster Payments?
Keynote Address: eCommerce and Post-Pandemic Priorities
Power Panel: How Will New Technologies, New Competitors, and New Business Models Shape the Future of Payments? Is Payments Orchestration About to Have its Moment?
2:25pm – 4:00pm | Finovate Focus Tracks
Digital Transformation
Keynote Address: Customer Insights – Sharing Real Life Examples of Best Practices in CX and How to Blend Human and Digital CX
Keynote Address: Financial Services Digital Transformation: Embracing the Next Generation of Technology
Power Panel: How Open Innovation & Strategic Partnerships Can Help You On Your Digital Transformation Journey
SME & Consumer Lending
Keynote Address: PPP Loans – How Community Banks Rose to the Occasion & What Lessons Can We Learn from Their Success?
Mastermind Keynote: Onboard at the Speed of Digital – Flatten Silos, Fuel Lending, and Regain Control
Power Panel: Lending 2.0 – What Are the Problems that Need to Be Solved for Consumers & SMEs in the New COVID-19 World?
The Best of Show winners of FinovateFall this year featured both veterans and newcomers, established companies and bold, Millennial-led startups, fintech innovators from as far away as Europe and Latin America, as well as home-grown talent from right here in the U.S.A.
To be honest, we could not imagine a better way to celebrate Finovate’s return to New York!
So please join us in offering a hearty congratulations to the companies selected by our attendees as the FinovateFall 2021 Best of Show.
Array for its personalized consumer credit, identity, and financial wellness tools available via both API as well as embeddable components. Video.
AutoBooks for its small business digital invoicing and online payment acceptance tools for FIs. Video.
Bambu for its B2B robo-advisory platform for financial institutions and fintech disruptors. Video.
Dreams for its banking platform that leverages behavioral science to boost customer engagement and financial well-being. Video.
Horizn for its platform that helps banks accelerate digital banking knowledge, fluency, and adoption. Video.
Infocorp for its Mobile Native App, that brings hyper-personalized experiences for every user in one single bank app. Video.
Long Game for its gamified finance app that helps banks acquire new customers and increase engagement with their Millennial and Gen Z customers. Video.
Ocrolus for its intelligent automation technology that transforms documents into data analytics, helping lenders make timely, high quality credit decisions. Video.
PwC for its Customer Link solution that turns customer data into smarter action and provides a 360 degree view of your customers. Video.
Thanks to all the demoing companies, our sponsors and speakers, and our attendees for making our return to live fintech conferencing such a resounding success. Keep in touch with us via the Finovate blog for updates on our upcoming events next year in London for FinovateEurope, in San Francisco for FinovateSpring, and beyond!
Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The nine companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2021 conferences are below:
SellersFundinglanded $166.5 million in Series A debt and equity funding this week. The company, which provides working capital to ecommerce marketplaces, now has almost $275 million in total debt and equity funding.
The investment was led by Northzone with additional investments from Endeavor Catalyst and Fasanara.
Founded in 2017, SellersFunding offers working capital solutions, payments tools, and analytics to help online marketplace sellers unlock capital, access invoice payments faster, collect payments, manage taxes, and more.
The New York-based company will use the financing to enhance its technology and payments platforms, grow its team, boost sales and marketing efforts, and fuel both domestic and international expansion. SellersFunding plans to gain more clients not only in the U.S. but also in the U.K., Europe, and Australia.
“We are thrilled to complete our capital raise and have Northzone and Endeavor joining our company, and to see the renewed commitment of Fasanara in supporting the expansion of our portfolio,” said SellersFunding CEO Ricardo Pero. “This underscores our dedication to providing world-class financial solutions for our clients and partners and is a testament to the overall growth of the global ecommerce space.”
Today we’re busting out the virtual confetti to announce the winners of the 2021 Finovate Awards, recognizing excellence in fintech across 25 different categories. This is the third annual Finovate Awards competition, which aims to highlight strong work done by the companies who are driving fintech innovation forward and the individuals who are bringing new ideas to life.
We may not get to congratulate the award winners with handshakes this year, but that doesn’t make the accomplishments any less compelling. These companies and individuals have proven that they have what it takes to capture the attention of the fintech world through standout products, services, and overall excellence.
Judges for the awards include media analysts, board members, bankers, fintech founders, and more. Each were given the difficult task of taking a record number of nominations and distilling them down to just a single winner in each category.
Best Alternative Investments Platform: Pipe
Best Back-Office / Core Service Provider: MANTL
Best Consumer Lending Platform: Salary Finance
Best Customer Experience Solution: TMRW by UOB
Best Digital Bank: Oxygen
Best Digital Mortgage Platform: LendingHome
Best Embedded Finance Solution: ApexEdge
Best Enterprise Payments Solution: GoCardless
Best Financial Mobile App: Simplifi by Quicken
Best Fintech Accelerator/Incubator: Financial Solutions Lab
Best Fintech Partnership: T-Mobile and BM Technologies
Best ID Management Solution: IDology
Best Insurtech Solution: FloodFlash
Best Mobile Payments Solution: Simpl
Best RegTech Solution: Featurespace
Best SMB/SME Banking Solution: Ramp
Best Use of AI/ML: Zest AI
Best Wealth Management Solution: Charles Schwab
Excellence in Financial Inclusion: Airtel Money
Excellence in Pandemic Response: Biz2Credit
Excellence in Sustainability: BlocPower
Executive of the Year: Barbara Morgan, FIS
Fintech Woman of the Year: Jo Ann Barefoot
Innovator of the Year: Jon Schlossberg
Top Emerging Tech Company: Synctera
While only one company can win each category, it’s also worth recognizing the quality of all of the finalists who made it to the last stage in the process.
We owe a huge thank you to the panel of judges, followers, and everyone who took the time to submit a nomination. Congratulations to the winners!
“Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome …” to Day Two of FinovateFall 2021!
From the smiles on the faces of the hundreds who joined us yesterday at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square to the thunderous applause that greeted virtually every demoing company and keynote speaker, yesterday was a wonderful reminder of both how much we missed hosting live events and how much so many of you have enjoyed attending them.
Today on Day Two we plan to keep the momentum going with another full day of fintech demos, insightful keynotes, and fireside chats. And to finish off the day – in addition to our Best of Show Awards Ceremony – we’re hosting a quartet of free-wheeling, no-holds-barred, Champagne Executive Boardroom sessions held under Chatham House Rules. With topics ranging from New Technology and Fighting Financial Crime to Open Banking and how to take advantage of “the Single Biggest Wealth Transfer in History,” these cocktail-hour sessions are not to be missed.
Here’s the schedule for today. All times Eastern Standard.
8:00am – 8:50am | Registration, Breakfast, and Networking
Credit and risk underwriting firm TransUnion announced plans today to acquire digital identity solutions company Neustar. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year for $3.1 billion.
“The credit information and analytics that TransUnion provides make trust possible between consumers and businesses,” said TransUnion President and CEO Chris Cartwright. “As digital commerce continues to grow globally, TransUnion’s powerful digital identity assets, enhanced by Neustar’s distinctive data and digital resolution capabilities, will enable safer and more personalized online experiences for consumers and businesses.”
With the addition of Neustar’s data and analytics to enable consumers and businesses to transact online with greater confidence, TransUnion expects the purchase will expand its digital identity capabilities.
Specifically, TransUnion’s acquisition is expected to help the company break out of the traditional credit scoring space by leveraging Neustar’s OneID platform, which will help TransUnion unify its digital identity capabilities. This includes TLO data assets and fusion platform, the iovation device reputation network, and the digital marketing capabilities of Tru Optik.
As part of the purchase, TransUnion will acquire Neustar’s employees, data, and products.
The day we’ve been waiting for is here. After more than a year and a half of all-digital events, Finovate is LIVE!
With more than 75 innovative fintechs scheduled to demo their latest technologies and 1,100+ registered attendees (900+ in person), we could not be more excited for the start of FinovateFall this year.
Our return to the live stage begins bright and early Monday morning and continues through Wednesday afternoon with live demos, dynamic panel discussions, and keynote addresses from some of fintech’s most insightful and accomplished analysts and entrepreneurs.
For those who are joining us in New York at the Marriott Marquis Times Square, we look forward to seeing you in person this week. We also want to assure you that we take the challenges of COVID-19 seriously, and have taken a number of steps to comply with local guidelines and requirements to provide the safest possible environment for this week’s event.
To this end, please review our FinovateFall 2021 At-Event Safety FAQ, which provides information on vaccination requirements, masking policy, and other additional measures we are following.
And if you can’t make it here, you can still enjoy Finovate anywhere you’ve got an internet connection via our Digital Pass offering.
However you plan to join us, here are the essentials for Day One of FinovateFall 2021 that all attendees – in-person and virtual – need to know. All times Eastern Standard.
8:00am – 8:50am | Registration, Breakfast, and Networking
We have 70+ demo companies at this year’s FinovateFall event, taking place September 13 through 15 online and in-person in New York City. These demos, combined with a full lineup of keynotes and panel discussions, will bring a wide variety of themes. To get an idea of what’s trending this year, we’re taking a look at the key themes repeated throughout both the demos and the discussions.
For the demos, we’ve distilled the themes into five major categories, as outlined below.
Data
Today’s data discussions transcend the conversations of Big Data that were en vogue in 2015. This year, data is everywhere; it touches everything. Companies will be looking at how they can help gather, clean, and analyze data; how they can place the customer in charge of their own data while allowing the firm to leverage consumer data; and how they can collaborate with others around data. They will also be discussing specific use cases such as receipt data and pulling data from paper documents. At this year’s event, seemingly everything is data-driven.
Fraud prevention & compliance
We can expect to see solutions to prevent financial crime at pretty much every event. Fraud is ubiquitous in financial services because bad actors consistently benefit from it. This fintech sub-sector is continuously evolving as hackers become more and more cunning. And this year, we’ve noticed the addition of more compliance tools to assist with regulations and audits around fraud.
Digital assistant
With the Delta variant in full force, we still have not entered a post-COVID world. Given that our social distancing habits must persist, companies are investing more energy in developing digital assistants. No matter how you may feel about chatbots, they have proven to be a viable way to communicate with clients when in person discussions are no longer an option. And this theme goes beyond chatbots. Digital assistants including AI-powered call centers and automated customer interactions of all types are rising up to help take the burden off of customer service agents during a time when in-branch conversations are not possible.
Customer engagement
Another byproduct of COVID’s aftermath, customer engagement technologies continue to be front-and-center on the minds of banks, fintechs, and (of course) consumers alike. Because so much of our lives currently takes place online, customers now expect an engaging, personalized customer experience.
One of the ways financial firms are tackling this challenge is by creating a gamified user experience. By taking wha typically is viewed as a chore and making it into something fun, customers are more likely to use and return to an app or an online experience.
Another key to customer engagement is, of course, personalization. By leveraging data to center the user experience around the customer’s needs, fintechs and banks can ensure to captivate their existing client base and reign in new ones.
Financial planning and investing
The roboadvisor craze of 2015 has matured, and has left a number of powerful fintechs in its wake. This is thanks to increased popularity combined with enabling technologies of the new decade. Unlike the first wave of roboadvisory tools, today’s offerings tend to take a more holistic and personalized approach. At this year’s event, we’ll see tools that look at consumers’ financial wellness as a whole, not just their retirement savings.
Another difference from early wealthtech tools is that more of today’s offerings are B2B instead of strictly B2C. At FinovateFall 2021, we’ll see tools that help advisors create more value for their clients and products for employers to help their workforce build better financial health.
What’s missing?
Notably absent from this list are two major themes I would have expected to see. The first is Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), the payment technology that allows customers to pay for purchases in installments after receiving the product. Companies like Afterpay, Affirm, Klarna, and Sezzle have popularized BNPL, and many retailers and payment companies alike have implemented various versions of this model. Given the seemingly viral nature of BNPL, it’s surprising that only a single demo company, Zeta, offers BNPL technology.
The second missing piece this year is AI, which has been a top trend for years. So how can discussions of such a pervasive theme be so absent? The answer is in the question; AI is so pervasive that it has now become table stakes for every fintech sub-sector. In other words, AI has blended into the background. If firms want to compete and offer worthwhile products and services, they must, at a minimum, be leveraging AI.
FinovateFall won’t just be about the demos. We have an impressive lineup of keynote speakers, panelists, and fireside chats to share a range of perspectives on today’s hottest fintech topics. While you’re at the event, keep an eye out for the following themes:
Cybersecurity & financial crime
Neobanks
ESG
Financial inclusion
Leadership
Automation
Open finance
Wealth management
Digital transformation
Cryptocurrency
Faster payments
Customer experience
We’re so excited to return to New York this year! We’ll see you either online or in person starting September 13 at 8 a.m. Eastern time and continuing through the 15th. Book your tickets here.
Founded in 2015, CipherTrace offers security and fraud monitoring activities for clients’ crypto-related programs. As CipherTrace CEO Dave Jevans states it, the company helps “banks or cryptocurrency exchanges, government regulators or law enforcement to keep the crypto economy safe.”
Mastercard will combine CipherTrace, which offers insights into more than 900 cryptocurrencies, with its own cyber security solutions to provide customers “the same trust and peace of mind that consumers currently experience with more traditional payment methods.”
CipherTrace’s solutions will help Mastercard differentiate its card and payments offerings and help the company’s clients protect their own clients, comply with regulations, and build their own digital asset products. Additionally, Mastercard’s purchase will help the payments company increase its presence with new clients such as fintechs, crypto-wallet providers, and governments.
“Digital assets have the potential to reimagine commerce, from everyday acts like paying and getting paid to transforming economies, making them more inclusive and efficient,” said Mastercard President of Cyber & Intelligence Ajay Bhalla. “With the rapid growth of the digital asset ecosystem comes the need to ensure it is trusted and safe. Our aim is to build upon the complementary capabilities of Mastercard and CipherTrace to do just this.”
Today’s move isn’t Mastercard’s first foray into the crypto realm. The New York-based company already holds partnerships with Uphold, Gemini, and BitPay to create crypto cards; has created tools support CBDCs; and has launched programs to support blockchain technology, NFTs, and stablecoins on its network.
