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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Tax Compliance Innovator AvalaraPartners with Billing Automation Platform Ordway
Finovate Global: Indian Fintech Get Funding; Finastra, Avaloq Bring New Leadership to APAC
Around the web
Plaidbecomes a Nacha Preferred Partner for account validation.
Finastrataps Wissam Khoury as its new head of its Asia Pacific (APAC) team.
Revolutteams up with the WWF and The Rainforest Alliance to raise support for the Amazon rainforest.
Frost & Sullivan namesOnfido the winner of its 2019 European Technology Innovation award for its AI-based hybrid identity verification solution.
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.
Bazaarvoice, a startup that leverages product reviews and user-generated content (UGC) to help banks and retailers find and reach consumers, marked its fifth acquisition this week with the purchase of Influenster. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
The deal offers Bazaarvoice access to the six million community members on Influenster’s product discovery and reviews platform. Combined, these members have written more than 38 million product reviews and create more than 50,000 pieces of content on a daily basis. This network, coupled with Bazaarvoice’s own database of 6,000+ global brand and retailer websites, will offer brands a one-stop shop where they can build customer relationships, create product reviews and UGC strategy, and scale word-of-mouth marketing.
Offering insight into the acquisition decision, Joe Davis, CEO of Bazaarvoice, said, “Influenster’s product sampling and review generation offerings further strengthen our core product ratings and reviews solutions, and their hyper-targeting and gamification capabilities will allow us to better support our customers’ broader marketing initiatives.” He added, “We’re excited to partner with a company that shares our belief in the power of the everyday consumer.”
Before today’s acquisition, Influenster had raised $8 million since it launched nine years ago. Post-acquisition, the company’s founders, Aydin Acar and Elizabeth Scherle, will remain involved in “key functions” at Influenster. The companies have not disclosed the founders’ official roles or titles.
Austin, Texas-based Bazaarvoice, which also has offices in Chicago, London, Munich, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, and Sydney, is now offering the new integrated platform in North America. The company will launch in Europe this fall and expand to more international locations in 2020.
Bazaarvoice’s other acquisitions include AddStructure in 2018, FeedMagnet in 2014, and Power Reviews and Longboard Media, both in 2012. The company demoed at FinovateSpring 2012.
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 23 through 25, 2019 in New York City. Register today and save your spot.
ARM Insight’s synthetic data process unlocks the value of data by delivering actionable insights from hard-to-access financial transaction data while ensuring privacy is protected.
Features
Privacy data protection: reduce the use of raw data
Regulation compliance: manage privacy and data obligations
Product innovation: use artificial intelligence/machine learning tools to enable data-driven innovation
Why it’s great Synthetic data is the breakthrough data set for maximizing your data potential while minimizing your risk. It is the future of data and you should be using it now.
Presenters
Steve Shaw Shaw is responsible for the overall marketing, branding, and communications strategy for the company. He has over 20 years of marketing experience at startups and Fortune 500 companies. LinkedIn
Jonathan Chin Chin oversees overall product strategy. He started building websites at the age of 13 and later developed professional experience in corporate finance and accounting for technology companies. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 23 through 25, 2019 in New York City. Register today and save your spot.
Horizn’s award-winning platform equips frontline employees and customers directly with the knowledge needed to improve customer experience and dramatically increase digital adoption across all channels.
Features
Gets employees and customers fluent on the latest digital innovation
Improves customer experience and drives digital adoption
Combines simulation microlearning methodology with gamification and analytics
Why it’s great Using Horizn, banks increased digital adoption by 25% and brought call center times down by 45 seconds. Using the in-branch demo with non-digital customers, up to 20% converted to digital banking.
Presenters
Steve Frook VP of Sales, Frook is focused on working closely with financial service companies to significantly increase their adoption/awareness of new and existing innovation. LinkedIn
Robin Dindayal COO and well-respected leader, Dindayal joined Horizn six years ago and has been integral in helping Horizn develop into an industry leader. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 23 through 25, 2019 in New York City. Register today and save your spot.
Eigen’s NLP software goes to work on your documents, extracting information to answer your unique questions. Eigen puts the power of machine learning (ML) in your hands.
Features
Puts the power of ML in your hands
Enables you to build a ML model with 20 to 50 examples
Can be used by anyone
Why it’s great Eigen’s natural language processing (NLP) software is highly flexible and easy to use.
Presenter
Lewis Liu Liu co-founded Eigen Technologies in 2014 after earning his physics Ph.D at the University of Oxford. He started his career with McKinsey in London. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 23 through 25, 2019 in New York City. Register today and save your spot.
IndiVideo is BlueRush’s interactive personalized video platform. IndiVideo improves marketing and sales performance across the buyer journey from acquisition to engaging statements and customer care.
Features
Seamless CX, improved conversions and ROI
Higher customer engagement and satisfaction for increased up/cross-sell
Data-driven customer insights for improved sales and marketing performance
Why it’s great Predictive analytics and customer data flow through IndiVideo for intelligent video production. Customer interactions with each video are captured for data analysis and deeper customer understanding.
Presenter
Ted Mercer From chartered accountant to sales consultant, Mercer leads the sales team at BlueRush, searching for new ways to drive value for leading financial institutions using interactive, personalized video. LinkedIn
3E Software’s portfolio management system Teslar closed a $2 million funding round this week. Leading the investment is the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA).
“We provide the solutions necessary for community banks to operate more efficiently and effectively, while focusing on what matters most: exceptional customer service,” said Teslar CEO and Founder Joe Ehrhardt. “This investment and ICBA’s support will provide resources to grow our team and continue advancing our technology, furthering our mission to help community bankers prosper.”
The Arkansas-based company will use the funds to add to its workforce, specifically in its client support, marketing, and technology development departments. Teslar graduated from ICBA’s ThinkTECH accelerator program earlier this year where its demo won the Banker’s Choice Award for Most Impactful Solution.
Teslar offers a lending and credit management SaaS solution that offers banks a holistic tool for managing credit and lending operations. At FinovateSpring 2015, Ehrhardt demoed how Teslar serves as a one-stop shop for lenders.
A full 60% of the company’s staff are former bankers, a pedigree which offers them insight into the headaches often faced during the lending process. This group of former bankers relies on what they call the “four pillars:” empowering bankers, integrating multiple systems, streamlining processes, and making it scalable. These objectives translate into everything from a toolset to manage loan reviews, to loan portfolio management, exceptions management, and more.
Innovation in the lending space is becoming increasingly relevant as bankers are taking a second look at their loan portfolios to make sure they are recession-proof. Solutions like Teslar offer a faster way for loan officers to close deals and minimize risk.
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 23 through 25, 2019 in New York City. Register today and save your spot.
Instnt Inc. is the first customizable, risk and compliance liability insured, online account opening and onboarding service for businesses.
Features
Increase revenue by reducing your rejection rates
Shift your risk and compliance costs and loss liability for onboarding with a single line of code
Cut operating costs by outsourcing onboarding
Why it’s great Instnt helps improve business’ approval rates
Presenters
Sunil Madhu Madhu is a serial entrepreneur with IPO and acquisition exits including Socure (Series C, venture backed), Hopskoch (M&A exit to WPP), Securent (M&A exit to Cisco), and Netegrity (IPO). LinkedIn
Mimi Salcedo Salcedo was the first Product Manager at Simple Finance and went on to co-found WinWin (acquired in 2019). She is now Instnt’s co-founder and VP of Product. LinkedIn
Cloud banking provider Ohpen has migrated close to one million Dutch and German savings accounts of LeasePlan Bank to its core banking engine in the bank’s major technology overhaul, reports Sharon Kimathi of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
The project was completed by migrating the aforementioned accounts and more than 17 million historical records. The smooth transition was the result of a close collaboration between LeasePlan Bank and Ohpen, the vendor said.
“We set out to reduce our IT complexity and improve the flexibility, reliability and efficiency of our services, whilst wanting to avoid any negative customer impact as much as possible during the transition phase,” said Sander Frons, director at LeasePlan Bank.
Frons believes that the migration and implementation to the purely cloud-native Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution from Ohpen was a textbook example of how such an operation should be run.
Angelique Schouten, board member at Ohpen, observed that “more and more financial organizations want to increase the digitization of their technology stack, and at the same time want to decrease their IT complexity”.
In the case of LeasePlan Bank, the Ohpen Platform replaced a number of legacy solutions, including Flexcube from Oracle FSS, which were installed on-premise. The new platform is hosted on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud.
Ohpen demonstrated its core banking platform at FinovateFall 2012. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, the Ohpen announced earlier this year that NPM Capital had acquired a 35% stake in the company. Ohpen began 2019 with a big change at the top, appointing its Chief Operational Officer Matthijs Aler as CEO. Aler replaced Ohpen founder Chris Zadeh, who will continue to serve as chairman of the company’s board of directors.
PNC now usingRipple’s XRP for cross-border payments.
Mortgage Media interviews Steve Butler, founder and GM of AI Foundry.
Flywirepartners with Vietnam Prosperity Bank to simplify international tuition payments for Vietnamese students.
InSpirAVE is being issued its first patent for the technology underlying its savings social network system. The patent is part of the company’s portfolio of patents published internationally.
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.
Less than a month after securing a $37 million debt financing from BMO’s Technology and Innovation Banking Group, mobile application development platform Kony is back in the fintech headlines with even bigger news: the company has agreed to be acquired by digital banking technology giant and fellow Finovate alum Temenos for $559 million and an earn-out of $21 million.
The acquisition will bolster Temenos’ ability to compete in the digital front office solutions market, specifically strengthening the company’s Infinity offering – which currently has more than 500 banking customers and is widely recognized as a leading technology by industry analysts from Forrester and Gartner. Kony Chairman and CEO Thomas Hogan will serve as President of Temenos North America, post-acquisition, and will join the company’s Executive Committee.
“The power of the Temenos portfolio, combined with Kony’s digital banking applications and multi-experience development platform, will bring the industry’s most robust suite of applications for delivering service, value, and efficiencies from the digital edge to the modern core,” Hogan said. “The strength, scale, and commitment of Temenos will also help protect and extend our market-leading innovation.”
The acquisition is expected to be completed by Q4 2019, and is subject to standard regulatory approvals.
Calling Kony the #1 SaaS digital banking company in the U.S., Temenos CEO Max Chuard highlighted the synergies between Kony and his company. “We are acquiring a digital front office product that has already been successful in the U.S. market and is connected to most third party cores,” Chuard said. “We are also adding a significant amount of exciting functionality and ease of generating customer journeys and experiences that will accelerate Temenos Infinity, providing banks in both North America and internationally with an unrivaled customer experience and omnichannel banking product.”
A long-time Finovate alum, Kony first demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2010, and returned to the Finovate stage two years ago for FinovateFall 2017 to present its retail banking solution. Founded in 2007 and based in Austin, Texas, Kony launched its Conversational AI DevKit earlier this month to enable businesses to deploy new technologies to improve customer engagement. In May, Kony announced that its Quantum digital experience development platform would power the new CareLogic mobile app from Qualifacts, and unveiled a new partnership with multiple Finovate Best of Show winner and fellow alum, MX.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, Temenos demonstrated its Connect Mobile Banking solution at FinovateEurope 2015. The company is also an alum of our developers conference, having presented its B2B Financial Marketplace at FinDEVr Silicon Valley – also in 2015. More than 3,000 banks in 150+ countries – including 41 of the top 50 banks – rely on Temenos’ banking technology to process the daily transactions and interactions of more than 500 million banking customers.
Kony is the second major acquisition by Temenos this year. In July, the company announced its purchase of explainable AI innovator Logical Glue and plans to integrate the company’s machine-learning-as-a-service technology into its cloud-native banking solution. Aside from acquisitions, Temenos has been on an energetic partner-making pace, working with IIG Bank, who agreed to use the company’s Infinity digital front office platform earlier this month; as well as teaming up with FIs like Israeli bank Mizrahi-Tefahot, New Zealand’s TSB Bank, and Pakistan’s Bank of Khyber.
The promotion of Chief Operating Officer Todd Clyde to the top job at Token marks the open banking technology provider’s transition “from start-up to scale-up,” the company noted in a statement today.
“Token has grown from an idea formed in the basement of Stanford into a commercially viable, leading fintech poised to change financial services forever,” founder and now-former CEO Steve Kirsch said. Kirsch, who introduced the company to fintech audiences at FinovateSpring in 2015, will assume the role of Chief Innovation Officer and focus on developing Token’s product roadmap. Featured prominently on that map is the company’s digital money business, including its digital currency for banks, Token X.
“Open banking is a huge opportunity for banks and fintechs across the world and Token has delivered a product with solid market fit,” Kirsch said.
New Token CEO Todd Clyde
With more than 30 years of experience in the enterprise and financial software business – including 12 years at Accenture – Clyde was responsible for all of Token’s commercial and financial operations during his three-year tenure as the company’s COO. In his new role as CEO, Clyde will drive the company’s open banking business worldwide, and build on a year that has seen Token forge partnerships with institutions like TurkishBank UK, Estonia’s Tallinn Business Bank, Sberbank Croatia, Omnio Group, Khaleeji Commercial Bank of Bahrain, and U.K. challenger bank Tandem.
“Open banking is already enabling the next generation of digital financial services,” Clyde said. “It’s one of the biggest disruptions to hit the payments and banking industries in decades.” He praised Token for “providing the infrastructure to power these services, at this crucial time.”
With more than 4,000 connected banks, Token offers financial institutions a single API and Smart Token technology that provides an easy route to PSD2 compliance, as well as a way to make multi-banking available to their customers. Merchants can leverage Token’s technology to connect directly to customer bank accounts, enabling direct payments and lowering costs.
Clyde is the second big C-level change for Token in 2019. The company began the year by hiring 15-year technology and payments veteran Gaurav Kohli as its new Chief Technology Officer. Kohli was previously VP of Product Development, Architecture, and Platform Engineering at Visa where he oversaw merchant and acquirer processing.
This summer, Token was honored at the second annual PayTech Awards, taking home the top prize for Best Consumer Payments Initiative. In March, the company announced a collaboration with Konsentus to launch a fast PSD2 compliance solution that combines a PSD2 API with automated third party provider verification.
Token has raised $32 million in funding – including more than $16 million raised in June in a round led by Opera Tech Ventures. Founded in 2015 and based in San Francisco, California, the company made its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateEurope 2017.
