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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Finantix, a supplier of software for wealth management, insurance and private banking industries globally, has been selected by HSBC Private Banking as it launches a new global client wealth management portal for its clients, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures, Finovate’s sister publication.
The firm’s solution, Finantix Components, has been deployed to support the new portal, which aims to be a simplified, seamless, and globally standardized platform.
Alessandro Tonchia, co-founder of Finantix, said, “HSBC Private Banking built the portal incorporating Finantix Components APIs and, in doing so, are creating a consistent, modern omni-device experience, easy and secure self-service access to accounts, portfolio information and analytics.”
Finantix worked with HSBC Private Banking to provide business logic, insights, user journey standards and interfaces with its core banking platform.
The solution has been rolled out in the U.K. and is being extended to other markets where HSBC Private Banking operates.
This news comes just a few days after the Italy-based company announced a deal with Deutsche Bank Wealth Management, which will leverage Finantix’s KYC solution for its onboarding process.
Finantix most recently showcased its Banking Assistant at FinovateEurope 2013 after taking home Best of Show honors at FinovateEurope 2011 for its demo of Wealth Apps. Founded by Alessandro Tonchia in 1994, Finantix was acquired last year by Motive Partners for an undisclosed amount.
The campaign to rid the mortgage industry of as many cumbersome, expensive, and error-prone manual processes as possible continues as AI Foundryunveils the latest enhancement to its Cognitive Business Automation Platform. The company announced this week that its new mortgage document model will add key functionality to its automation platform, leveraging machine learning, machine vision, and AI to provide better automated data classification and data extraction.
“The model enables any lender to upload its loan application material and in return receive fully indexed and extracted data within seconds,” Head of Solution Development for AI Foundry Peter Piela explained. Piela added that the technology has a 95% accuracy rate, which he said was comparable to manual accuracy rates, and is superior to legacy text classification methods. Leveraging both cognitive and deep neural techniques, the solution was trained on more than 100,000 mortgage documents, 300 document types, and 2,000 data extractions.
“The impact of using our document model means significant time savings for the lender and the replacement of expensive manual processes with far more efficient automated ones,” Piela said.
And because the mortgage document model is part of AI Foundry’s Cognitive Business Automation Platform, users will be able to work with the existing model with its powerful rules engine, as well as broaden the functionality of the platform to manage specific mortgage workflow processes. In its statement, the company noted that the model is enhanced “continuously” with new variants that are easily deployed and equally accessible to customers thanks to the solution’s SaaS environment.
Headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts, AI Foundry demonstrated its Agile Mortgage solution at FinovateFall last year. In February, AI Foundry teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Ellie Mae to put AI to work accelerating the mortgage lending process. Steve Butler is founder and President of the company, which was founded in 2016.
To 100 countries and beyond! Identity verification specialist Truliooannounced this week it is bulking up the list of countries for which it is able to conduct electronic identity verification (eIDV).
Customers in Bahrain, Georgia, Iceland, and Qatar can now be verified via GlobalGateway, a database that enables organizations to run identity verification checks on a wide range of the global population. GlobalGateway’s online eIDV service helps businesses comply with AML and KYC rules, as well as a range of international electronic identity verification requirements. The service offers organizations real-time access to more than 400 data sources to verify five billion people in more than 100 countries.
Each of the four countries has recently enhanced its efforts to counter online fraud. For Bahrain and Iceland, this move was motivated by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which said that Bahrain needed to bolster its AML and Counter Terrorist Financing (CTF) systems. The task force also recommended that Iceland take steps to mitigate money laundering.
Qatar recently created a Memorandum of Understanding signed by both the country’s General Authority of Customers and the Financial Information Unit. And Georgia is participating in an EU partnership program to promote AML and Counter Terrorist Financing (CTF) in accordance with European and international standards.
“Fraud and money laundering have hit these four countries especially hard and as a result they are navigating complex regulatory waters. Adhering to strict compliance requirements while successfully fighting financial crime is no easy task,” said Stephen Ufford, CEO and founder of Trulioo. “By extending our identity verification capabilities, organizations can quickly verify the identities of consumers in these markets, while also increasing trust, privacy, and access to digital financial services.”
Combined, these four countries have more than 8 million residents. Being able to verify identities of this group places Trulioo one step closer to its mission to provide (KYC) and AML-compliant identity verification for every individual around the globe.
In addition to today’s four countries, Trulioo recently added Malta, Bangladesh, Poland, and the Philippines to its Global Gateway coverage. The company is now able to verify more than two-thirds of the world’s population.
In addition to Global Gateway, Trulioo offers a data exchange platform that allows data partners to provide access to consumer data for electronic identity verification purposes, allowing them to set bid prices for electronic ID verification on a region-by-region basis.
At FinovateSpring 2019, Trulioo’s Head of Growth, Anatoly Kvitnitsky, demonstrated GlobalGateway’s instant onboarding with EmbedID. EmbedID enables businesses to query Trulioo’s GlobalGateway API and instantly verify customers in multiple markets by embedding a snippet of code to their website. Trulioo will demo its latest technology later this year at FinovateFall, which begins September 23rd in New York. Register today to be part of the action.
eToro has launched a portfolio of firms involved in Facebook’s new digital currency Libra.
Jumio to power digital identity for Brazil-based BTG Pactual.
Settlelaunches its mobile payments app in Croatia.
Worldpay and the University of Cincinnati partner to fill business talent shortfall.
Coast Capital Savings teams with OnDeck to offer small business members financing options.
Scooter fleet company Spin joinsPassport’s micro-mobility pilot program.
First Rate and HiddenLeverspartner to provide risk analytics and business intelligence to the wealth management industry.
BeSmarteeannounces direct integration with private mortgage insurance provider Arch MI.
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.
Global payout provider Hyperwallet is helping citizens scoot through the streets– that is, helping the freelancers that keep users scooting through the streets get paid. The PayPal-owned fintech announced today that it has agreed to power outbound payments for Lime, the scooter and bike rental startup that aims to reduce reliance on cars for short-term trips.
Lime, which has scooter rental operations in 100 cities across the globe, is leveraging Hyperwallet to help its network of freelancers (a community Lime calls Juicers) receive payment for keeping Lime’s fleet of scooters charged. Brent Warrington, Hyperwallet’s General Manager, commented on Lime’s “creative business model,” saying that it “provides a new, flexible earning opportunity for individuals.” With Hyperwallet, the Juicers get paid on a daily basis.
“Hyperwallet’s platform gave us the functionality we needed to scale quickly and offer our Juicer community fast and convenient payouts,” explained Ryan Foutty, Global Head of Business Development at Lime. “This partnership has allowed us to launch our business in new markets and deliver a great localized experience for Juicers all over the world. We are excited about expanding our collaboration with Hyperwallet in the coming months.”
Austin-based Hyperwallet fit the bill for Lime’s list of specific requirements, which included sending fast payments, facilitating local disbursements to multiple geographies, and allowing Juicers to receive payouts using their preferred method. “Hyperwallet’s platform has helped add value to our Juicer program by giving us the ability to offer fast, efficient, self-service payment disbursements,” added Foutty.
Founded in 2000, Hyperwallet most recently presented at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016. At the event, Bill Crowley, Chief Product Officer, and Blair Olynyk, Software Architect, gave a presentation titled, Pay the Planet: Implementing Frictionless Global Payout Distribution.
PayPal acquired Hyperwallet last November for $400 million. The company, which was founded in 1998 and has a market capitalization of $138 billion, showcased its Instant Account Creation feature at FinovateFall 2012.
In a post titled “What is the Bitbond STO and Why Should I Care?” published this spring, Bitbond Marketing Manager Mollie Thick criticized the cryptocurrency industry for “too much hyperbole, failed projects, and disappointed investors.” By contrast, Thick said that Bitbond – via its then just-announced security token offering (STO) – offered “a new breed of stable crypto investment with fixed income returns that other asset classes don’t deliver today.”
This week, the Berlin, Germany-based company announced that it had successfully completed its spring STO, raising more than $2.3 million (€2.1 million) in the process. The token offering makes Bitbond the first issuer to have its prospectus approved by BaFin, Germany’s security regulator. Bitbond noted that investors from 87 countries were involved (investors from the U.S. and Canada were not allowed to participate). The company also pointed out that more than $36,000 (€32,000) was earned by affiliates who helped promote the offering.
The new, tradable security BB1 offers a 4% annual rate, but has a targeted return of double that insofar as the security will pay out 60% of Bitbond’s profits to tokenholders for the duration of the term (10 years). The first payments are expected on October 1. Investors were able to participate in the offering via Euros as well as other crypto currencies such as bitcoin, Ethereum, and Stellar – which is the network upon which BB1 was issued.
The STO brings Bitbond’s total funding to $13.1 million. The company includes Hevella Capital and angel investor Sekip Can Gokalp, co-founder of mobile advertisement network, Mobilike, among its financial backers.
Founded in 2013, Bitbond offers a combined technology and data platform designed to provide financing to SMEs around the world. With customers in more than 120 countries, Bitbond helps small business owners access the working capital they need to grow their businesses by connecting them with both individual and institutional investors. With loan amounts up to €25,000 and terms up to 12 months, Bitbond leverages automation to accelerate the decisioning process and relies on the bitcoin blockchain to ensure efficient payments across borders.
As a platform for investors, Bitbond has enabled more than 1,800 individual and institutional investors to fund more than 1,300 loans. Investors can expect returns of approximately 13% per year via Bitbond’s fixed income investments in SME loans, and can invest for terms ranging from six months to five years.
Bitbond returned to the Finovate stage in 2016 to demonstrate its global automated SME scoring solution. Automated scoring enables loan applicants to instantly request a loan upon completion of the borrower application rather than wait up to 24 hours with traditional scoring methods. The solution is universal across countries, and leverages verifiable data from online revenues, payment processors, business software and accounts, as well as other sources.
Financial markets data provider Xignite has inked a deal with data usage, tracking, and business monitoring software firm Xpansion that will give capital markets customers even better visibility into and management of their data use and expense.
“Market data is a complex environment where vendor fees and commercial licensing models continue to change, putting pressure on buy and sell side firms to control access and costs,” Xignite CEO and founder Stephane Dubois explained. He added that helping customers more efficiently use market data flow was a key element in the company’s goal of “simplifying, the acquisition, management, and dissemination of market data.”
The strategic partnership will enable Xignite to integrate Xpansion’s XMon analytics and reporting functionality into its Market Data Cloud Platform. This will give Xignite customers enhanced business intelligence, analytics, and reporting capabilities, as well as dashboards and reporting tools to help users analyze and control market data use, as well as manage costs across multiple data vendors.
“Clients consume increasing amounts of data and coupling powerful analytics with a robust data distribution platform is essential in today’s data landscape,” XPansion director and co-founder Amjad Zoghbi said. Zoghbi referred to bringing greater transparency and spending controls to the use of market data as the company’s “focus from the beginning.”
XPansion specializes in cloud-based solutions that help data operations and management teams control data usage better, improving both cost-effectiveness and data governance. The company’s flagship XMon Static Data solution delivers real-time tracking of data requested from external data vendors, data flowing between internal applications and systems, and data exiting the firm as in reports or customer exports. Based in London, U.K., XPansion was founded in 2013.
Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Xignite demonstrated its Cloud Add-in solution at FinovateAsia 2017. The add-in caters to the 1.2 billion Excel users worldwide, enabling them to easily and quickly introduce data – including real-time streaming data – into their Excel spreadsheets.
Earlier this month, Xignite announced that it was the first market data vendor to join the Snowflake Data Exchange. This spring, the company was named to the WealthTech 100, along with seven of its clients including fellow Finovate alums eToro and Tradeit. Also this spring, Xignite announced a partnership with StockCharts.com.
Xignite has raised $37.6 million in funding. QUICK Corporation and StarVest Partners are among the company’s investors.
Corporate banking startup Neoannounced it has just been authorized to offer multicurrency business accounts. The approval comes from the Bank of Spain and allows Neo to create a PSD2 payment institution.
“Our vision back in 2017 was to create a platform that can replace the old fashioned banking platform. A true â€one-stop shop’ that offers all the financial products a corporate client needs to operate in a global environment,” said Laurent Descout, CEO. “Operating with Neo does not require any complex installation. It is 100% on demand with the client being in complete control. The platform ensures clients can reduce costs and increase efficiency by reducing manual tasks and improving processes. Our 100% API approach also offers clients great automation possibilities.”
By “one-stop shop” Descout means that Neo offers both investment and payment services and aims to bring all corporate finance functionalities together on a single platform.
Hosted on a core banking platform developed by Neo Fintech Lab in the U.K., Neo’s multicurrency account allows account holders to receive, store and pay in 30 currencies. The bank also enables clients to digitize their treasury department and offers features inspired by treasury management systems.
These banking products will run in tandem with Neo Capital Markets’ FX hedging services, which allow clients to hedge 90+ currencies and receive or make payments in 30+ currencies.
Receiving its banking license places Neo in competition with the likes of Sweden’s Klarna, which received its banking license in 2017, and Transferwise, which offers a borderless account that allows accountholders to receive funds from 30+ countries.
Neo’s multi-currency account will be available in Spain, France, U.K., and Poland in 2020.
At this year’s FinovateEurope conference in London, Descout, along with Neo’s Chief Product Officer Emmanuel Anton, demoed the company’s risk management solution and FX hedging engine. The company has 20 employees and has raised $5.6 million (€5 million).
Business payments company Bill.com is helping small businesses pursue international objectives– now in even more corners of the globe. This week, the California-based company doubled its International Payments offering by building out support for more than 70 countries and 50 currencies.
“Historically, innovation in international payments has been geared towards consumers,” said John Flora, VP of Product at Bill.com. “The sharp rise of cross border business growth and global interactions is driving demand for our International Business Payments platform which enables SMBs to easily and seamlessly do business globally.”
Launched last July, International Payments allows companies to conduct business abroad with visibility and payments control on a single platform. The tool offers the option for businesses to exchange payments by using a wire transfer for increased speed and security. When paying vendors in local currencies, there is no wire transfer fee. For international wires sent in U.S. dollars the fee is $9.99. The company estimates that this, combined with its competitive exchange rates, saves businesses up to 32% of the cost of traditional overseas transactions.
Flora noted that the company is far from finished building out International Payments. “We plan to aggressively expand our international payment capabilities in the coming months,” he said. In fact, Bill.com’s business as a whole seems to be bustling lately. Since the beginning of this year, the company’s payment volume has increased by 124% while monthly transactions have grown by 135%.
Founded in 2006, Bill.com helps businesses manage accounts payables and receivables with online billpay, custom invoicing, document storage, collaboration tools, and more. At FinovateSpring 2012, CEO Renee Lacerte debuted the company’s CashView tools. Since then, Bill.com has grown to process more than $60 billion each year for its network of three million members.
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.
Email security specialist GreatHorn has raised $13 million in a funding round led by RRE Ventures and .406 Ventures. Existing investors Techstars Ventures, V1.VC, and Uncork Capital also participated in the round, which boosts the firm’s total capital to $21.8 million.
GreatHorn said it will use the new capital to continue its innovation in the email security space. The company offers organizations a 100%, cloud-native platform designed specifically to defend email systems before, during, and after an attack. The technology’s proactive approach blends integrated threat detection, in-the-moment user education, and comprehensive incident response to combat threats ranging from credential theft and email compromise to ransomware and phishing.
“As we continue to meet customer demand and drive the market,” GreatHorn CEO Kevin O’Brien said, “we remain fundamentally interested in redefining email as a secure system for all users, and ensuring that organizations who have adopted cloud email platforms are not relying on outdated perimeter controls or simple user education to protect their most critical assets.”
GreatHorn’s funding news comes as the company celebrates its third consecutive year of 3x revenue growth, as well as its “rapid expansion into the enterprise market.” RRE Ventures General Partner Raju Rishi praised GreatHorn as being among the “category-defining businesses” the firm prefers to invest in. He credited the company for providing an overhaul in the way that organizations think about protecting their email systems.
“GreatHorn has delivered a platform that comprehensively protects enterprises against the rising sophistication of today’s threats,” Rishi said. “We’re excited to support GreatHorn as the company that continues to build upon its current innovation and grow in the enterprise space.”
Founded in 2015, GreatHorn demonstrated its inbound email security platform at FinovateFall 2017. More recently, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company was awarded a patent for a new method for detecting email impersonation. GreatHorn began the year with news that its latest version was now enabled to detect credential theft involving Microsoft Office 365 and Google G Suite.
Prepaid payments innovator InComm is continuing its shopping spree this week. The Atlanta-based company announced it has agreed to buy Meridian Loyalty, a loyalty and incentives company that creates engagement tools for large corporations. The amount of the acquisition was undisclosed.
The move not only offers InComm access to Missouri-based Meridian Loyalty’s global database of Fortune 500 clients, it also will bolster InComm’s incentives product offerings that include B2C, B2B, and employee programs. Specifically, Meridian Loyalty’s technology will help InComm reach beyond its stored value products and offer holistic, brand-focused services such as travel and merchandise redemptions.
Explaining the purchase, InComm CEO Brooks Smith said that it’s moving the company towards “helping [its] customers maximize the performance of their programs.” Sam Toumayan, President and Owner of Meridian Loyalty, added, “… [O]ur point of view has been rewards-agnostic from day one. We’re incredibly excited to be joining the InComm team and finding innovative ways to drive positive client outcomes.”
InComm offers more than 500,000 points of retail distribution with 1,000+ brand partners in more than 30 countries. The company debuted CorFire Mobile Commerce at FinovateFall 2011. More recently, InComm showed off the Cashtie API at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2014. Last month, the company purchased Hallmark Business Connections, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards that provides employee incentive programs. In March InComm acquired Linq3 Technologies, an Atlanta, Georgia-based digital lottery company.
