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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Mambu and Salt EdgeTeam Up to Boost PSD2 Compliance.
RightCapitalPartners with Wealth Manager CircleBlack.
MastercardWorks with P27 to Launch Real Time Payments in the Nordics.
Around the web
Product and pricing control solution provider Zafinannounces alliance with end-to-end IT services firm DXC Technology.
Trade finance and supply chain expert David Hennah joinsIGTB.
LoanScorecard to powerACORN, the new automated underwriting system from Sprout Mortgage.
FinovateFall Best of Show winner SpyCloudtakes home top honors at SourceMedia’s 2019 Digital Banking conference.
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.
Fall has become synonymous with product launches, and this year’s demoing companies will deliver.
This September at FinovateFall, see dozens of new fintech services and solutions, including: retirement tools for wealth management advisors, data breach response plans for businesses of all shapes and sizes, API libraries for digital banking, portfolio aggregators to help investors, colleague planning tools for financial advisors, chatbots to better engage customers, and more. All 75+ products will be showcased through live, seven-minute demos.
Learn more about the first wave of companies now. And remember that tickets to FinovateFall are available online and you can save a whopping $1,000 when you book by July 12.
First Wave of Demoing Companies
Stay tuned — more companies to be announced!
ALTR is a transformative data security platform that protects against insider and human threats to data using intrinsic security and integrity properties of blockchain.
ARM Insight‘s innovative data refinery engine securely monetizes data for financial institutions and payment processors.
Bambu‘s API library for digital wealth technology reduces the cost and time to market for financial services firms.
BidMoni‘s integrated end-to-end 401(k) solution targets the lack of fiduciary-focused 401(k) technology for financial execs and VCs
BlytzPay‘s text-to-pay solution is a mobile point of sale delivered directly to a customer’s phone that meets the need for real time payments and communication for all types of billers and payers.
Boost.ai‘s conversational AI solution uses intelligent virtual agents that can be continuously trained and improved and that seamlessly hand off conversations and customers to humans when appropriate.
Breach Clarity uses dynamic algorithms, a design-forward UI, and deep research experience as an expert witness in all large data breaches to demystify response plans to the current epidemic of data breaches for consumers and their financial providers to reduce their risk of becoming a fraud victim.
Chatbots.Studio‘s platform digitalizes communication between small enterprises, like coffee shops and barber shops, and their customers using a cloud marketplace of commercial bot templates for iMessage and other smartphone messengers.
Cinchy is a real-time Data Collaboration Platform used by enterprise financial service providers to solve data integration, data access, data governance, and solutions-delivery challenges. The results are accelerated projects, more secure services, and vastly reduced development costs.
College Aid Pro combats the student loan crisis using late stage college planning strategies to enable families and their financial planners make educated and financially responsible college decisions.
Datanomers‘ Customer Insight Manager uses AI to provide comprehensive customer insights and preemptively detect churn for banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions.
ebankIT uses out-of-the-box digital channels for bank and credit union digital transformation.
Edmit‘s Edstimate® algorithm targets the student loan crisis by pre-emptively estimating college cost and future earnings for high school students and their families.
Eigen Technologies‘ natural language processing software uses machine learning to analyze qualitative data for banks and other organizations.
Envestnet | Yodlee has developed a solution to solve for consumers managing complex financial lives, it enables FIs and FinTechs to provide their consumers with the ability to curate and create their own financial insights based on their individual needs, using comprehensive and accurate financial data, analytics, and conversational AI.
Flybits‘ easy-to-use digital experience platform solves the challenges of developing and implementing AI and machine learning capabilities for marketers, customer experience leaders and creative teams in financial services.
Glance‘s Mobile App Sharing utilizes in-app visual engagement to improve customer service and support within financial service mobile apps.
Glia‘s system of engagement uses a combination of technology and the human touch to solve complex online inquiries for large enterprises.
Illuma Access is a voice authentication service for identity and access management for finance and insurance applications relying on voice as an actionless, efficient, and privacy compliant implementation.
Insuritas‘ ilnsure platform builds a new source of value-added, annuitizing fee income for FIs and their retail and commercial customers that promotes customer share and retention through offering Property, Casualty, Life, Accident and Health Insurance.
Intellaegis‘ masterQueue software uses AI to solve the complexity of collecting debt for large financial institutions and their party vendors.
InterGen Data‘s personal financial health and wealth operating system uses AI-based machine learning and a digital advisor cash flow forecasting widget to preemptively measure the economic impact of major life events of banking industry clients so that they can make well-informed financial decisions.
JSOL‘s AI-based business forecasting technologies for financial institutions resolve the delay in analysing corporate credit ratings and growth and decline of businesses.
Kindur combats the modern retirement crisis by providing a variety of wealthtech, insuretech, and other cutting-edge fintech products for the baby boomer generation.
Meniga‘s SaaS solution increases the intelligent capabilities of data usage for banks to make people’s lives and world a better place.
NYMBUS‘ SmartLaunch enables financial institutions to rapidly transform into fully operational, digital-only banks without converting their legacy technology.
Persistent‘s Conversation Round-About technology solves the problem of frequent redirection of retail banking and insurance customers to call center human agents when they are chatting with a bot.
Plinqit Build Skills improves the financial literacy of millennials using relevant, paid, education-focused content.
Qwil Messenger is a global client chat platform that enables safe and compliant business conversations for all professional service organizations from one single app.
SalaryFits‘ platform tackles the issue of financial exclusion and abusive pricing for employees of big corporations and SME’s around the world using salary deduction technology that offers more sustainable financial products.
Stratifyd‘s unsupervised and supervised AI workflows analyze and automate omni-channel Voice of the Customer for financial experience and digital transformation teams.
SwapsTech‘s Galaxy Banking platform modernizes open banking by delivering treasury services to banks extremely quickly.
Trulioo‘s global solution solves cross-border compliance pain points with scalable, future-proof technology for banks and fintechs.
Utluna‘s web application collects, aggregates and analyzes data relating to multi-asset class, multi-currency, multi-broker portfolios using financial institutions’ and market data providers’ APIs.
ValidiFI’s Payment Risk Optimizer is a payment processing service for fintech companies that targets ACH returns and card declines.
VeriTran’s low-code, omnichannel and open platform lets users deploy faster and better digital applications for banking and payment solutions.
NuData Security SVP and Chief Technology Officer Christopher Bailey has been named CEO of the company, replacing Michel Giasson who is retiring after 12 years at the helm. The two men co-founded NuData Security in 2007; the firm was acquired by fellow Finovate alum Mastercard ten years later. In addition to his new role as CEO of NuData, Bailey will also serve as Mastercard’s executive vice president of EMV/Digital Devices.
“Michel has been a mentor for me and is a reference for many in the cybersecurity industry, so it is a privilege to continue his legacy,” Bailey said. He added that as CEO is focus will be primarily on maintaining “unparalleled” customer service and a professional environment “that fosters the creation of secure and innovative products.”
Bailey (pictured) will drive the NuData’s strategic vision and the direction of user verification intelligence. He will also, via Mastercard’s Digital Devices division, manage the creation of an integrated security path with EMV. The goal is to evolve NuData’s technology into solutions that extend beyond a specific login or device and provide user verification in different contexts and at different stages of engagement. Bailey noted in the appointment press release that he believed NuData and Mastercard are well positioned to drive adoption of technologies like passive biometrics as centralized authentication becomes more prevalent in the payments industry.
Previous to NuData, Bailey founded gaming company H20 Entertainment, which provided games for Nintendo. Hd also co-founded vulnerability assessment specialist Secure Networks, which was acquired by Network Associates in 1998.
NuData Security demonstrated its universal identity solution at FinovateSpring 2018. The technology differs from other device identification technologies by building a signal that tracks the identity of multiple users rather binding a single device to a single FI account. Passive biometrics, including the user’s own inherent behavior and data from multiple devices, are all connected to one identifier that can access the account.
NuData began the year with news that its NuDetect solution would be deployed by Mastercard to help fight payment fraud in the African payments market. The company was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
U.K.-based wealth management firm, LGT Vestra, has selected Swiss-headquartered digital banking software provider, CREALOGIX, to develop new mobile capabilities to enhance the digital experience for their high-net-worth clients, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
LGT Vestra offers investment management and wealth planning services and, as at April 2019, manages over £12.7 billion in assets.
The firm is adding new mobile functionality to enhance digital services for their high-net-worth clients. The app will enable LGT Vestra clients to easily access their account and portfolio information, providing an efficient digital experience which will enhance client engagement.
Ben Snee, CEO of LGT Vestra, said: “Developing new digital and mobile capabilities with Crealogix will increase accessibility and efficiencies, which will benefit our client experience.”
David Joyce, senior vice president of CREALOGIX UK, said: “A well-designed digital wealth management platform increases engagement, trust, and loyalty among private clients, while leveraging the capabilities of the firm’s investment and advisory expertise.”
Founded in 1996, CREALOGIX demonstrated its TimeWarp application at FinovateEurope earlier this year. The company took home a Best of Show award for its user-friendly, self-service financial planing and insights solution.
Revolutgoes live with support for Apple Pay in 12 additional countries in Europe.
TransferWiseunveils its borderless account in the U.S.
Salt Edgeannounces integrations with more than 200 banks across Europe.
CardFlightoffers Level 2 credit card processing support for SwipeSimple.
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.
MX, a provider of financial services data, has announced a $100 million financing round led by Battery Ventures, with participation from new and existing investors including the Tokyo-based venture capital firm, Digital Garage, reports Sharon Kimathi of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
The Series B round brings the company’s total equity financing to $175 million. The new investment reflects the value of financial technology data to banks, credit unions and other fintech companies, while allowing MX to accelerate its already rapid product development and customer growth.
With this round, the company will continue to be focused on the power of data that is cleansed, categorized, presented and usable.
“The use of data is essential to every industry, including financial services, and we are thrilled to support MX in its mission to leverage data to help drive better customer experience and deeper engagement for banks, credit inions, and fintechs,” said Michael Brown, general partner at Battery Ventures. “(It) leads to financial strength for everyone.”
He added “The company is already powering some of the top financial institutions in the world and is uniquely positioned to provide the smart aggregation and insights that the financial industry will need.”
Aside from Battery Ventures, new investors HIG Capital, Point72 Ventures, Sorenson Capital, Pelion Venture Partners, and Cross Creek Capital, also participated in the round, alongside National Bank of Canada and Washington Federal.
“With our surge in growth, we are proud of the fact that we have operated profitably the past two years, leading naturally to this next round of funding,” said Ryan Caldwell, founder and CEO of MX.
“We could have raised several times this amount, but we simply didn’t need the capital. We are disciplined in our spending and building for the long term. This additional investment will be spent on continuing to grow MX’s high-performing sales team, building upon our industry-leading user experience and partnerships, releasing a new product category that will be forthcoming, and hiring more of the best talent in the industry.”
MX is scaling quickly, with 15% of banks and credit unions in the U.S. already adopting MX technology and user growth rising in the last 24 months.
Headquartered in Utah, MX most recently demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2017. A multiple Finovate Best of Show award winner, MX was founded in 2010.
Automated document analysis platform, Ocrolus, has raised $24 million in funding in a Series B round led by Oak HC/FT. The new capital will help the company develop workflows for new document types, as well as improve the company’s analytic and fraud-detecting capabilities.
Ocrolus puts human empowered automation to work to help financial services firms and other companies make back office operations more efficient. Ocrolus’ technology leverages pattern recognition, crowdsourced data verification, and fraud detection to automatically analyze financial documents, digitize the data, and input it directly into the firm’s credit models. Even poor quality data scans from e-statements and smartphones can be effectively read by the technology and transformed into 99%+ accurate, validated datasets.
“Sometimes humans are better than robots,” Ocrolus CEO and co-founder Sam Bobley said. “We combine machine processes with live human intelligence to provide customers with a complete solution.”
Also participating in the round were FinTech Collective, and existing investors including Bullpen Capital and QED Investors. The investment takes the company’s total capital to more than $30 million.
Ocrolus demonstrated the Perfect Audit feature of its platform at FinovateFall last year. Perfect Audit provides cash-flow analytics from financial documents that have been digitized and analyzed by the Ocrolus platform. These analytics function as superior credit model inputs that enable lenders to price risk more effectively.
“Ocrolus is a unique company providing a rare combination of smart automation, analytics, and accuracy in its solution,” Oak HC/FT Venture Partner Dan Petrozzo said. “By combining its tremendous technology with an added human touch where required, the platform delivers amazing results for its customers.”
Last month, Ocrolus teamed up with inFactor to enhance the underwriting process for the small business financing platform. In April, the company partnered with fellow Finovate alum BlueVine to help accelerate financial application processing. Founded in 2014, Ocrolus is based in New York City.
CREALOGIX to power new digital and mobile capabilities for LGT Vestra’s wealth management app and client portal.
Strands announces achieving ISO 27001 certification in all offices.
Horizon Investments to implementFiserv’sUnified Wealth Platform for core portfolio management.
Personeticsannounces that users of Salesforce and Microsoft CRM platforms will be able to access the company’s data-driven actionable insights via new APIs.
Diebold Nixdorflaunches a new series of self-service, digitally-connected ATMs.
NetGuardiansappoints Swissquote co-founder Paolo Buzzi to its board of directors.
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.
In a round led by Temasek and General Atlantic, digital lending technology innovator Blend has raised $130 million in new funding. The Series E round boosts the company’s total capital to $310 million and will help power its development of additional consumer lending solutions as Blend pursues what it calls “a one-tap lending future.”
Also participating in the round were existing investors 8VC, Founders Fund, Greylock Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Blend also announced that former Pixar CFO Ann Mather will join the company as an independent board member.
“Together with our partners, we’ve made significant strides in transforming lending experiences for consumers and institutions across the country,” Blend founder and CEO Nima Ghamsari said. “As we build toward a more transparent and frictionless future where lending transactions happen in one tap, we’re grateful to have the experience of Ann (Mather), along with the teams at Temasak and General Atlantic, in our corner for this journey.”
Blend’s funding news comes in the wake of the company’s latest product release, a new mobile-first deposit account solution that lenders can offer to loan applicants. The solution helps lenders build loyalty and convert mortgage customers into account holders, and integrates seamlessly into other Blend workflows, core banking, and CRM systems.
Speaking for Mountain America Credit Union, which partnered with Blend last spring, SVP Kelly Albiston highlighted the upsides of committing to Blend’s technology: “By partnering with them on multiple products, including deposit opening, we are providing a consistent and streamlined experience for our members across the board and taking friction out of the process,” Albiston said. Utah-based Mountain America CU has $8.5 billion in assets, and is the 12th largest credit union by membership in the United States with more than 740,000 members.
Blend demonstrated its Data-Driven Mortgage at FinovateSpring 2016. The company also participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, later that year. Founded in 2012, the company offers a digital lending platform for mortgage and home equity lending that reduces loan cycle times by as much as 50%. Blend has spent much of this year launching new products – including digital HELOC and HELOAN offerings – as well as expanding its partnership with Salesforce. The company currently processes almost $2 billion in U.S. mortgages daily, supports more than 150 lender clients, and has grown its customer base by 3x from 2017 to 2018.
Blend was named one of the best places to work by Inc. earlier this year, and was honored with a spot in the Forbes Fintech 50, as well. Also this year, the company added former Fannie Mae CEO Tim Mayopoulos as President. Blend is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Credit union service organization, CU Solutions Group, is teaming up with NestReady to “expand and enhance the delivery of NestReady solutions to credit unions.” The Newcastle, Delaware-based mortgagetech, which debuted at FinovateFall last year, gives lenders an end-to-end digital homebuying solution that delivers better customer engagement and higher conversions.
“Using AI and machine learning to create transparent environments that allow loan originations at credit unions and real estate professionals to collaborate will create a stellar homebuying experience for members,” NestReady co-founder and CEO Mauro Repacci said. “Our platform eliminates pain points in the homebuying process and gives loan originators the chance to deepen their relationship with members.”
NestReady’s solutions integrate readily into the credit union’s current mortgage lending process. Intent-based marketing powered by machine learning, and automated sales activities driven by AI are among the benefits NestReady provides mortgage lenders. The mobile-first technology offers homeownership engagement platforms to identify when customers are ready to make the next move in their homebuying journey. The company also provides CRM-integrated actionable insights to help lenders best accommodate that moment.
With more than 3,400 customers in the U.S., CU Solutions Group said it will use its existing suite of solutions and its client base to coordinate the marketing and sales of NestReady solutions. The organization is based in Livonia, Michigan, and is majority-owned by the Michigan Credit Union League.
“In today’s changing market, credit unions are always looking for new and valuable resources to help their members,” CU Solutions Group President and CEO Dave Adams said. “Our agreement with NestReady will connect credit unions with a partner that not only provides the online home search capability that members have come to expect, but also resources that (simplify) the home buying process.”
The partnership also includes an investment – amount undisclosed – in NestReady. The company has raised $5.7 million in funding as of the end of 2018, and includes the National Bank of Canada, TechStars, 500 Startups, BDC Capital, 7Seas Partners, Stage1Ventures, and NXT Ventures among its existing investors.
Founded in 2012, NestReady made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateFall 2018, demonstrating its NestReady Total Homeownership Experience platform. The technology uses AI and machine learning to automate much of the mortgage lending process, and leverages consumer behavior analysis and psychographics, real estate transactional data, and other sources to give mortgage lenders insights during the customer lifecycle to ensure “the right action at the right time.”
Recent headlines for NestReady include the company’s partnership with Resource Financial Services, a mortgage banking company based in South Carolina, announced in March. Resource Financial is using NestReady’s machine learning technology and predictive analytics to help its loan originators better understand customer behavior and preferences.
Passport’s parking app now available at Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges.
Biometric Signature ID’sBioTect-ID gesture recognition platform has users draw their password.
Expensify becomes first fintech company to win a Cannes Lion for its Expensify This marketing campaign including a rap song featuring 2 Chainz and Adam Scott.
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.
As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.
Asia-Pacific
CIMB Niaga and Liquid Group forge strategic partnership to drive cross-border QR payments between Singapore and Indonesia.
Active.Ai, developers of a conversational AI platform for financial services companies, raises $3 million in Series A funding.
Dianrong, a Chinese P2P lender, completes its latest funding round. The amount raised was not disclosed.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Nigerian lender Kudimoney rebrands as Kuda; picks up banking license from the country’s central bank.
Virgin Money South Africa to launch zero monthly fee bank account and low-cost cross border payments via its app.
Sixteen companies, fully one-third, in the Inclusive Fintech 50 of early-stage startups working on solutions to advance financial inclusion, hail from sub-Saharan Africa.
Central and Eastern Europe
CallVUteams up with Banca Transilvania to boost mobile banking.
Romanian consumer app Beez picks up more than $284,000 (€250,000) in new funding.
Russia’s Sberbankacquires stake in Islamic charity platform, PayZakat.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Egyptian fintech startup Paynas wins Visa’s FinTech pitch-off competition at the Seamless North Africa 2019 conference, taking home a prize of $50,000.
Libya’s Yaqeen Bank partners with Oracle FSS to deploy its core platform and digital banking experience.
What is the future of the bank branch in MENA? Khaleej Times takes a look.
Central and Southern Asia
National Bank of Pakistan partners with financial systems supplier Autosoft Dynamics to automate the branch’s operations in Bahrain.
India’s central bank to revisit regulations on the storage of payments data.
Could the success of Kenya’s M-Pesa show the way to higher fintech adoption in India?
Latin America and the Caribbean
Brazil launches regulatory sandbox for fintech and blockchain-related projects.
Colombian consumers are adopting fintech solutions at a faster rate than consumers in any other Latin American country according to the latest survey from EY Global.
Celcoin, a Brazilizian fintech that enables users to their smartphone into a hub for reselling mobile phone recharges, earns a spot in the Inclusive 50 list.
