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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
OurCrowd to open its 13th global office in São Paulo, Brazil.
Jack Henryappoints Ted Bilke as new CTO and promotes Greg Adelson to new Chief Operating Officer position.
Deloitte Romania and FintechOSpartner to offer banks digital transformation and automation solutions.
Finastralaunches Fusion Mortgagebot Data Insights, a tool to benchmark mortgage borrower information for banks and credit unions against other Fusion MortgagebotPOS users.
InCommadds Giant Eagle to its Healthcare OTC Network.
Westcon-Comstor to distributeCheck Point Software.
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.
A pair of Finovate alums – Privakey and bleu – have earned spots in the 2020 class of the IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator. The program, launched this June, is dedicated to supporting innovative startups in both the fintech and healthtech industries. A total of 15 companies from nine countries were selected for the Accelerator’s incoming class.
Each participating startup will get up to $120,000 in IBM Cloud credits, an in-person workshop in the U.S., technical and business mentorship, and business value design assistance, as well as access to IBM’s network of partners, customers, and stakeholders. Startups will also work with program collaborators such as IBM Alpha Zone, Queen City Fintech, and MEDICI.
The IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator added that it will use IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Services powered by LinuxONE to ensure program startups have “the highest level of security, uptime, availability” as they innovate and scale their solutions.
Privakey demonstrated its cloud-based, identity and authentication service at FinovateFall 2017. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Privakey began the year with the release of the latest version of its Privakey CX solution. Last month, the company launched its PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) solution.
“Our PSD2 compliant solution is designed to eliminate what merchants fear most about SCA – shopping cart abandonment,” Privakey CEO Charlie Durkin said. “The customer experiences a transaction flow that is intuitive, simple, consistent, and contextual. Privakey eliminates out-of-band codes and other inconvenient authentication methods typically associated with SCA.”
Making its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2015, bleu leverages low energy Bluetooth beacons to facilitate mobile transactions. A small wireless device sends a Bluetooth signal to a customer’s Bleu app when they enter a store. The beacon links the customer with the store and when the customer is ready to pay, they choose their preferred method of payment to automatically complete the transaction.
The Los Angeles, California-based company was founded in 2014. Sesie Bonsi is CEO.
Along with Privakey and bleu, the rest of the cohort is below:
Azaad Health (healthtech – Pakistan)
BioTrillion (healthtech – U.S.)
Cube Wealth (fintech – India)
encore (fintech – U.A.E./Pakistan)
Fostrum (fintech – Canada)
Galen Data (healthtech – U.S.)
Home Lending Pal (mortgagetech – U.S.)
MotionsCloud (insurtech – German)
My Allergy (healthtech – U.K.)
px pulse (healthtech – U.S./Pakistan)
Verge.Capital (fintech – Ireland)
Wayapay (fintech – Kenya)
Well Kept Beauty (healthtech – U.S.)
The startups selected for the Class of 2020 were chosen by an expert panel of peers from IBM and Queen City Fintech. The criteria used by the panelists included team, value proposition, mission, problem statement, vision, target market, business and economic model, and technical roadmap.
With FinovateEurope set to make its German debut next February, it is especially gratifying to hear that investors are voting with their dollars when it comes to identifying and backing innovative European fintechs.
Hamburg-based online lender and POS financing firm Kreditech announced late last week that it has raised $24 million (€22 million) in funding. The round, led by Runa Capital, takes the company’s total equity financing to more than $519 million, and will be used to deepen its presence in existing markets, especially in Asia.
“I am really excited about our growth plans in India,” Kreditech CEO David Chan said. “We hold a first-of its-kind digital NBFC (non-banking financial company) license in a large and fast-growing market. We have been successful in finding our niche and have established the right proof of concept. Now it’s time to scale up while a key target customer segment remains unaddressed by the competition.”
Also participating in the round were existing investors HPE Growth and Amadeus Capital Partners, as well as private German investors.
Kreditech specializes in offering financing products to “near-prime” customers. In 2014, the company made its Finovate debut, demonstrating how its self-learning, proprietary algorithm accurately assessed the creditworthiness of loan applicants in less than a minute. The technology leverages up to 10,000 current data points to provide better insights into the finances of underbanked applicants who might otherwise struggle to secure credit.
The funding news for Kreditech comes as the company previews its 2018 financial statement, to be released in October. Chan said that Kreditech was “on track” to hit profitability targets, and added that the company was up to the task of “rapid, profitable growth.” In its funding statement, the company noted that it is aiming for $1 billion euros in revenue by 2025.
With more than 300 employees in seven countries and lending operations in India, Poland, Russia, and Spain, Kreditech is also developing regional centers of excellence and tech centers in its native Poland, as well as Romania and Thailand. The company was founded in 2012.
Toronto-based DUCA Financial Services Credit Union has selected Fiserv and its DNA core account processing platform with the aim to modernise its operations and improve overall agility and efficiency, reports Alex Hamiton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
Doug Conick, president and CEO of DUCA, says the credit union’s approach has always been about “high touch” and “high tech.” “We needed an intelligent, agile core platform provider that will strengthen our ability serve members both now and in the future,” he added.
Founded in 1954 as Dutch Canadian Toronto Credit Union, DUCA operates 16 branches and employs more than 260 people. The credit union’s transition to the new core platform will be led by Canadian financial technology provider Celero.
“Our focus is on helping credit unions like DUCA gain the operational and relationship management advantages they need to accelerate their growth strategies,” said Simon Vincent, executive vice president for banking and omnichannel at Celero.
“Through our technology integration experience and relationships with organizations like Fiserv, we are helping drive credit unions’ digital transformation goals forward.”
Rob Palin, general manager for Canada at Fiserv, said that DNA is a system that can provide a “complete view” of member relationships: “Along with our partner, Celero, we are committed to helping DUCA meet its aggressive implementation timeline and growth initiatives.”
Fiserv demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2018. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, the company merged with First Data earlier this year in a deal valued at $22 billion.
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on October 14 through 15, 2019 in Singapore. Register today and save your spot.
Arnexa’sBinbox is the world’s first phishing-free secure messaging platform focused on the needs of businesses and governments.
Features
Phishing-free
End-to-end encryption
APIs available for easy integration
Why it’s great Arnexa offers the world’s first phishing-free messaging platform.
Presenter
Sridhar Ramakrishnan, Founder Ramakrishnan is an engineer and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley with over 30 years of experience. He obtained his B. Tech in CS from IIT Mumbai and MS CS from the University of New Hampshire. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on October 14 through 15, 2019 in Singapore. Register today and save your spot.
Compliy is an AI web-platform that simplifies and automates regulatory change and risk management processes for compliance teams in financial institutions through collaboration and centralized data.
Features
Review AI regulatory insights, write, and share your regulatory interpretations
Map business units to key regulatory requirements
Compare regulatory clauses and requirements across multiple jurisdictions
Why it’s great Compliy uses smart automation to empower compliance teams to quickly collaborate to review, implement, and monitor regulatory requirements in APAC, all while centralizing regulatory practices for the company.
Presenters
Adrian Latortue, Co-Founder and COO Latortue is a former APAC City Launcher at Uber, Country Manager at Easy Taxi Vietnam (Rocket Internet), and Fulbright Scholar (2010 to 2011). He received his B.A. from Yale University. LinkedIn
Anthony Mai, Co-Founder and CEO Mai has been a serial entrepreneur since he was 18 years old and is former CEO/CTO of Quodisys Software Development. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on October 14 through 15, 2019 in Singapore. Register today and save your spot.
The WAAY’sLifestyle Banking platform helps banks understand people and become a Lifestyle Assistant for their customers.
Features
Deeply personalized lifestyle content based on VALS (values and lifestyle) profiling with over 300 attributes
Lifestyle first, money management second
Micro-value every day
Why it’s great Banking soon will shift from a traditional, commoditized approach to a new, non-banking premise and The WAAY’s platform would be the core personalization engine to talk to customers about the things they want.
Presenters
Ivan Kochetov, CEO Kochetov has spent many years in data analysis labs with a focus on understanding people’s behavior based on data that banks have inside. LinkedIn
Kirill Lisitsyn, CBDO Lisitsyn has spent 11 years in operational and management consulting for the financial sector, including working for major players such as Accenture and Mastercard. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on October 14 through 15, 2019 in Singapore. Register today and save your spot.
PearlPay’s mission is to create a unified payment network in the Philippines by providing an end-to-end payment solutions framework that will allow institutions to transform digitally properly.
Features
Affordable
End to end
Aggregated – each PearlPay solution integrates into a larger unified network allowing users and institutions alike to access more beneficial financial services
Why it’s great PearlPay offers an end-to-end solutions framework that addresses basic institutional concerns down to the cultural and behavioral aspects that have long stood in the way of financial inclusion.
Presenter
Precious Valerie Silva, Chief Strategy Officer Silva has more than 10 years of experience in research, marketing, and strategy. She has overseen teams across USA, EMEA and APAC regions. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on October 14 through 15, 2019 in Singapore. Register today and save your spot.
Xen is transforming the alternative asset management industry by creating a fintech solution which allows accredited investors in Asia fractionalized access and tradability in alternative investments.
Features
Secondary trading of illiquid assets
Fully digital KYC / onboarding
Built-in compliance and AML
Why it’s great Xen offers access and liquidity in private market opportunities.
Presenters
Katrina Cokeng, CEO Cokeng is CEO of Xen and previously was co-founder of digital finance company Oriente. She brings over 16 years of experience from McKinsey, Merrill Lynch, Pomona Capital, and Estee Lauder. LinkedIn
Andrei Karpushonak, CTO Karpushonak is CTO of Xen and has extensive experience in blockchain and software architecture for fintechs and exchanges. He has previously worked for Motorola, BetVictor, and Coral. LinkedIn
Thursday, October 17, 2019 | 2pm EDT | Register now
Technology advancements and the proliferation of consumer apps have created a new customer experience paradigm that is changing how people are using credit cards. Customers expect brand interactions to feel like a dialogue, one that is relevant, timely and personal to them; regardless of whether that’s online or offline.
Watch this webinar to learn more about:
The customer experience paradigm shift, from episodes to journeys
How to leverage the power of contextual marketing to enhance the cardholder lifecycle
How to optimize your cardholder lifecycle management
Featuring Jason Davies, VP, Enterprise Innovation, FlyBits and Rebecca Engelberg, Marketing Intelligence Manager, FlyBits.
Worldline closes 36.4% stake acquisition in equens Worldline.
Moven parent company receives patent for financial wellness product.
MastercardlaunchesThreat Scan to assess bank fraud exposure.
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.
Cash management solution provider MaxMyInterest introduced a new high-yield checking account called Max Checking last week. The latest offering from the New York City-based fintech will help individuals and advisors make more out of their cash holdings. Max Checking offers a 1.00% APY, FDIC-insured account that seamlessly connects the client’s brokerage, checking, and savings accounts to ensure that all of their cash has access to the best rates available.
Max Checking has no fees or minimums, enables free access to ATMs around the world, gives customers the ability to earn rebates on Max membership fees and, via a separate banking app, provides full mobile banking services including mobile check deposit, billpay, and P2P transfers.
In a blog post titled “Why We Launched Max Checking,” MaxMyInterest founder and CEO Gary Zimmerman noted that the reason for introducing the new solution was not to encourage consumers to change banks or checking accounts. Conceding that most people are content with their current banks, Zimmerman wrote that his goal was simply to give checking account users the same access to better cash rates that MaxMyInterest savings account users enjoy.
“Max Checking was designed to deliver on the promise of helping everyone in America earn higher returns on their cash,” he explained, before highlighting new capabilities that were the direct response to client requests. This new functionality ranges from the ability to access a wider number of supported banks to broader management over the technology’s automatic fund-sweeping process.
“Max was originally (created) for households who saw no distinction between checking and savings,” Zimmerman said. “Over the years, we’ve come to know many people who are saving for a specific purpose, and who prefer to allocate a discrete amount of cash to savings to earn more, without touching their checking account. With the launch of Max Checking, you can now earn more on savings without Max sweeping funds in/out of your existing checking account, so you’ll have even more control over your funds.”
The new offering is made possible courtesy of a partnership with Radius Bank, a firm Max has worked with since 2018. “Following our success with Radius Max Savings, we were excited to continue our work together to offer Max members a premium checking account,” Radius Bank President and CEO Mike Butler said. “This extension will allow depositors and their financial advisors to have a unified digital banking experience for both their savings, and now checking, needs in just a few clicks.”
MaxMyInterest demonstrated its automated cash management solution at FinovateFall 2014. The company’s technology offers both individuals and financial advisors the ability to optimize the return on their cash by automatically directing funds to FDIC-insured accounts that offer the highest yields. MaxMyInterest customers currently earn up to 2.28% APY on their savings accounts, significantly higher than the national savings average of 0.10%.
Founded in 2013, MaxMyInterest is operated by Six Trees Capital. More than 750 wealth management firms across the U.S. use the company’s technology to help their clients meet their cash needs.
