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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
UrbanFT Co-Founder Mark Kilpatrick named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30.
Entrust Datacard IntelliTrust Cloud Service strengthens authentication for Microsoft Azure customers.
NIIT Technologiespartners with R3 to build solutions on the Corda Platform.
CardFlightearns top 50 ranking in the 2018 Deloitte Fast 500 roster.
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.
Financial tools company MoneyHubannounced today it received an undisclosed amount of funding from the venture arm of financial services giant Nationwide, which used a portion of its $64.5 million fund to take a minority stake in the U.K.-based fintech.
Tony Prestedge, deputy chief executive at Nationwide Building Society, said, “It’s important that the Society invests for the future to ensure we remain at the forefront of innovation. Investing in start-ups like Moneyhub helps us identify, learn about, and explore new capabilities and technologies that will help deliver our technology strategy both now and in the future.”
Interestingly, this isn’t MoneyHub’s first tie-up with the insurance industry. The company was acquired by South African insurance company MMI Holdings in 2014.
Founded in 2009, MoneyHub offers direct-to-consumer, direct-to-advisor, and enterprise versions of its personal financial management technology. The company aggregates consumers’ financial data onto a single platform to offer a holistic view of their overall financial health. In August, MoneyHub received authorization as a payment initiation services provider from the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority. This certification enables the firm to allow users to initiate payments across accounts from within its platform.
In April, MoneyHub solidified its commitment to open banking by partnering with challenger banks Monzo and Starling in an integration that enables the banks’ clients to use the Moneyhub app to link their checking and savings accounts, credit cards, pensions, loans, mortgages, SIPPs, ISAs, and investments. “While we have years of experience in innovating and unlocking the benefits of new technology, we aren’t complacent. We know that by working together with start-ups we can learn from each other and ensure we are best placed to help our members get the most out of new technology in the future,” said Prestedge.
MoneyHub most recently presented at FinovateEurope 2017, where it debuted the SmartAssist tool for the enterprise version of its software. SmartAssist is an intelligent messaging feature that leverages AI to help consumers manage their finances and plan for the future.
Revenue-based small business financing startup Lighter Capitalannounced today it has increased its funding limit by 50%.
The Washington-based company will now provide tech startups with up to $3 million in working capital in exchange for 2% to 8% of their business’ future revenue. The $3 million cap is up from Lighter Capital’s previous funding limit of $2 million. Unlike with VC funding, startups retain full ownership of their company.
“As more and more tech entrepreneurs discover alternatives to equity-based venture funding, we realized the need for even more significant financial commitment,” BJ Lackland, CEO of Lighter Capital said. “The reality is, most banks won’t fund small, early-stage tech startups, and venture capitalists demand significant equity in the company. By increasing our loan amounts by 50 percent, we can ensure burgeoning tech startups can rapidly expand and get ahead of competition.”
Founded in 2010, Lighter Capital has funded more than 270 early stage tech startups in 450 funding installments totaling $125 million. The company today announced it has provided an additional $555,000 in funding to proptech company ListReports. Thanks to the more than $2 million in total financing from Lighter Capital, ListReports has increased its revenue by 11x since Lighter Capital first began investing in it in 2016, Regarding the round, Lackland said, “Since day one, ListReports has been on an upward trajectory, showing continuous growth, while building out a sustainable business model. We’ll happily provide them with the financing they need to become a dominant force in the real estate technology market.”
Lighter Capital most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2013 where it showcased loan analysis and monitoring tools. Last month, the company launched a new Client Perks Program and a few weeks back appointed Anthea Louie as Chief Marketing Officer.
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.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Fintech digital crowdsourcing platform, Fintech Galaxy, honors leaders of MENA’s fintech industry at its FinX – Excellence in Fintech awards.
Entrepreneur magazine looks at how recent investment trends are impacting the growth of fintech in the MENA region.
ADGM announces partnership with Bahrain’s central bank to encourage innovation in financial services in both the UAE and Bahrain.
Central and South Asia
Bangladeshi sales automation and credit assessment firm ShopUp picks up $1.62 million in seed round led by Omidyar Network.
Kazakhstan’s Bank CentreCredit buys 111 ATMs with integrated security and monitoring technology from BS/2.
TechCrunch interviews ZestMoney CEO Lizzie Chapman on the building a fintech startup in India.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Decision Report featuresFinn AI in a look at how chatbots are revolutionizing the financial sector. In Portuguese.
Banco Ficensa of Honduras goes live with new core banking technology from e-IBS.
Brazil’s Banco Bradesco partners with Japan’s MUFG Bank to develop Ripple-based cross-border payments service.
Asia-Pacific
Singapore’s Grab raises $50 million in new funding from Thailand-based Kasikornbank; unveils co-branded mobile wallet, GrabPay by KBank.
Courtesy of a joint venture with China’s LianLian, American Express becomes the first foreign card scheme to gain direct access to China’s payment card market.
Ondot Systemsannounces new end-to-end digital card services platform for Asian banks.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Kenyan fintech startup Pezesha unveils financial education academy to help educate would-be borrowers.
Rand Merchant Investment Holding (RMI) via AlphaCode, awards R16 million to eight South African fintech startups.
Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo urges the nation’s banks to make reforms in order to “cope” with what he called “a quick convergence between technology and financial products.”
Central and Eastern Europe
Tinkoff Mobile extends service to seven additional areas of Russia including Smolensk and the Republic of Mordovia.
Czech Republic’s Moneta embraces cloud-based banking with test of automatic application deployment in the AWS environment.
Russian microfinance company MFC Zaymer joins automated P2P platform, Robo.cash.
“We are taking advantage of our expertise in consumer credit and personal loans to build a product that removes the complexity and time-consuming barriers in applying for a HELOC,” Prosper Marketplace CEO David Kimball explained. “For many of our customers, a HELOC could be a better choice for their financial needs and we’re thrilled to be working with our bank partners to render the traditional process obsolete with a new digital HELOC process that is simple, fast, and painless.”
In a press release, Prosper cited a TransUnion study that indicated rising home values encourage homeowners to consider HELOCs as an option for financing. The study estimated that 10 million consumers would pursue HELOCs between 2018 and 2022, more than 2x the number of HELOCs taken out between 2012 and 2016.
Prosper and its bank partners will look to serve this demand by streamlining the HELOC application process, including offering an online application that can be completed in minutes, and an instant HELOC prequalification offer. No origination fee will be charged with HELOCs originated via Prosper, which pledges to offer the same competitive rates as the banks.
Founded in 2006 and one of Finovate’s earliest alums, Prosper demonstrated its P2P platform at our first conference in 2007. Since then, the company has originated more than $13 billion in loans to help borrowers finance debt consolidation, home improvement projects, medical expenses, and special occasions.
“Maintaining a balanced marketplace that provides value to both borrowers and investors remains our highest priority,” Kimball summarized when the company’s Q2 results – and its milestone of more than one million loans originated – were announced in August. “Throughout 2018, Prosper has been raising interest rates and significantly tightening credit in order to ensure that we continue to provide a fair price for borrowers and a solid risk-adjusted return for investors,” he said.
The company unveiled Q3 2018 financial results this week, underscoring Prosper’s emphasis on “credit and pricing discipline” as well as plans for new products like the new digital HELOC offering.
Prosper has raised more than $428 million in funding, most recently closing a $50 million Series G round led by FinEx Asia.
New York-based Nvstrdemonstrated its machine learning-powered stock selection platform just over a year ago at FinovateFall. By leveraging technology and the collective wisdom of the investing crowd, Nvstr offers individual investors access to the same sort of “smart processes” to discover good investment opportunities and build profitable portfolios that professional investors have long enjoyed.
“Roughly half the U.S. population is invested in the stock market. But in reality, many people do not learn about investing formally. This makes it incredibly difficult to find information on investing intelligently – or to even know what to look for,” Nvstr co-founder and CEO Bernard George (pictured) explained in an email conversation.
“We understand that building a stock portfolio can be time consuming and intimidating, and that’s why we created Nvstr. Studies suggest that Americans are leaving $60 billion on the table each year due to poorly allocated portfolios,” he said.
We caught up with George to talk about the company’s technology and plans for the future. The company recently launched a promotion to add up to $500 to any newly-opened brokerage account.
Finovate: What does Nvstr do and how does it do it?
Bernard George:Our social trading platform empowers individuals to invest smarter by leveraging technology and the collective experience of other investors to make more educated investment decisions. Our software is based on independent Nobel Prize-winning research that works behind the scenes to guide users towards intelligent portfolio allocations in just one click.
Finovate: Who are your primary customers?
George: Our primary customers are individuals who already have some experience in investing. However, anyone can create a free simulated trading account to familiarize themselves with our platform and to practice investing risk-free. This is a great way for beginners or intermediate investors to get more comfortable investing before having to commit real money.
Finovate: How does Nvstr solve the problem better?
George: Existing brokerages are not designed to help customers achieve their fundamental goal, which is to build wealth by intelligently allocating their money for the long-term. Nvstr fills this void by bringing a social, technology-driven approach to investing. First-time users can buy and sell stocks (at cheaper fees than many competitors) with a front row seat for what other really successful investors are thinking and doing.
Not only can they view their portfolios, but they can collaborate and discuss investment ideas and their pros/cons. To make things better, everyone’s input on each stock is automatically summarized. This means everyone can access the key benefits – and risks – of each stock at a glance.
Finovate: Tell us about a favorite feature of the Nvstr platform.
George: Nvstr’s machine learning technology is used behind the scenes throughout the product to surface relevant and interesting ideas to the Nvstr community. One of the most exciting implementations is the Collective Intelligence filter. This filter lets users quickly find stocks that our algorithm determines will be most interesting in based on a user’s actions on the site.
It will even tell them how these stocks might fit into their current portfolio. This list can be further filtered by traditional data like market cap, P/E ratio, industry, and more. It’s like browsing for a new TV series on Netflix, but for stocks.
Finovate: What in your background gave you the confidence to tackle this challenge?
George: We’ve been professional investors at some of the world’s most sophisticated institutions, but we’ve also experienced the frustrations of personal investing. Nvstr’s leaders are former hedge fund managers, game designers and ed tech engineers who left those industries to make intelligent investing easy and engaging.
Our team has spent time working for companies like J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch, The Carlyle Group, and Electronic Arts, and we know where the gaps in this market lie, and that’s what we have set out to fix.
Finovate: Where do you see Nvstr a year or two from now?
George: Nvstr is the best place for people to discuss stocks with friends and find new trade ideas from their network and a community of smart investors. As our community continues to grow, more investors will benefit from the advanced portfolio allocation and machine learning technology within the platform.
Our ultimate goal is for Nvstr to be the platform of choice for investors of all skill levels to gain insights and to build and manage their portfolios – all in one place.
NvstrBrings Brokerage Optimized Investing to the Masses.
Around the web
Kasasapartners with rateGenius to offer Kasasa Loans on behalf of Kasasa’s community financial institution network.
Infosys to open technology and innovation hub in Texas and hire 500 American workers by 2020.
Xeroannounces new integrations with Tide, Starling Bank, TransferWise, Revolut, and Soldo.
Javelin namesOneSpan ‘Best in Class’ provider, honoring it with the 2018 Mobile Biometrics Platform Award.
Emailageannounces Tom Miller as new Chief Revenue Officer.
Quovobecomes the first U.S.-based financial data provider granted registration in the Open Banking Directory.
Javelin Strategy & Research namesDaon a 2018 Mobile Biometrics Platform Awards Leader in the Functional category.
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.
Personal finance app Fintonicannounced today it will collaborate with Amazon in Spain. Starting next week, Fintonic customers in Spain will be able to finance their Amazon.es purchases ranging from $225 to $1,100 (€200 to €1,000) at a rate of 0% interest for up to four months.
Fintonic Founder and CEO Lupina Iturriaga said, “It’s an exceptional collaboration, as it opens a new way of cooperating between the fintech sector and online distributors, settling new alternatives for users to access e-commerce in beneficial conditions.”
While the idea is similar to point of sale financing, the actual logistics are a bit more complicated. Before making their Amazon purchase, users must first go to the Fintonic app, apply for the credit, and buy an Amazon gift card. The gift card can be used for multiple Amazon purchases and the balance is good for a maximum of ten years.
To apply for the credit, Fintonic users select the gift card amount and choose when they plan to pay the balance. As an underwriting method, Fintonic uses its FinScore, a score between zero and 900 that is determined by more than 160 factors about a user’s creditworthiness. Users with a score of 450 or higher are eligible for the Amazon.es purchase financing.
Founded in 2012, Fintonic is a consumer-focused financial management platform that aggregates all of an individual’s financial accounts to offer a single view of their overall financial health. In addition to helping its 500,000 users keep track of their finances, Fintonic also presents relevant loan and insurance offers through a free brokerage service.
Madrid-based Fintonic has raised almost $30 million, thanks in part to a $28 million round garnered in June of 2017. At FinovateSpring 2016, the company debuted its alerts and inbox system to help users act in a timely manner on their financial needs and recommendations. Earlier this year, Fintonic teamed up with BBVA to boost its in-app lending capabilities, allowing users to borrow up to $39,400.
In a round led by Kamet Ventures – an insurtech startup studio backed by AXA – life insurance recommendation engine Anorak Technologies has raised $6.5 million (£5 million) in new funding. The investment, which takes the U.K.-based company’s total equity financing to more than $11.6 million (£9 million), will be used to fuel further development of and applications for its technology. In a press release, Anorak specifically highlighted plans to use its life insurance recommendation engine as the basis for an advisor platform.
“The life insurance sector is on the verge of transformation and Anorak is leading the way,” Anorak co-founder and CEO David Vanek said. “Kamet’s investment enables us to deliver on our vision. We are committed to using cutting-edge technology to bring (the) life insurance sector into the digital age and make protection advice accessible to the millions unprotected in the U.K.”
Anorak leverages AI, and advanced data science, and actuarial science to build a fully automated advice platform for life insurance consumers. Designed to serve the nine million families in the U.K. that Anorak estimates are underserved, Anorak’s technology and APIs enable distribution partners to offer life insurance recommendations alongside other financial, investment, and e-commerce services.
Guillaume Borie, Chief Innovation for AXA, praised Anorak’s technology as “transformational” and underscored how the recommendation engine could be deployed in a variety of contexts. “(The technology) enables carriers to create a new breed of distribution partnerships from banking to gig economy platforms, whilst also reinventing the experience of existing intermediaries networks,” Borie said.
Anorak Technologies made its Finovate debut at the beginning of the year, demonstrating its platform at FinovateEurope. In September, the company announced that it would provide life insurance advice for users of money management app, Yolt. Also that month, Anorak teamed up with Starling Bank to provide insurance advice for customers of the U.K. mobile-only bank. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in London.
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAfrica on November 27 and 28, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Register today and save your spot.
Craft Silicon is a global leader in financial technology services and consulting. The company enables clients in more than 32 countries to craft and execute solutions for their digital transformation.
Features
Significantly enhances a bank’s acquisition process
Provides a true “anyplace is a banking place” experience to bank customers
Offers an Instant Loans On Phone solution for banks’ customers and non-customers
Why it’s great
Craft Silicon offers a single engagement platform to open new accounts and loan services through any handheld device. These tools significantly enhance the “anyplace is a banking place” experience to clients of financial institutions.
Presenter
Kamal Budhabhatti, Chief Executive Officer
In his more than 20 years of international experience, Budhabhatti has developed deep expertise across a range of technology solutions that moved him to build complex products in the financial space. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAfrica on November 27 and 28, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Register today and save your spot.
XENO is a goal-based, automated investment platform that helps users plan, save, and invest for financial goals like retirement, education, income, etc. The company will demo a group-linked investment account.
Features
The group is on-boarded as a sponsor and members are on-boarded as investors
Each member has a unique investment portfolio
Users are able to track individual and group contributions and manage their portfolio
Why it’s great
The XENO group linked account introduces a robo-advisor that savings and investment groups can use to save and invest for financial goals together transparently.
Presenters Aeko Ongodia, Chief Executive Officer
Ongodia is a former pension fund manager with the largest pension fund in East Africa. He has extensive industry experience and training. LinkedIn
Joel Niwogaba, Software Developer
Niwogaba has extensive experience developing software applications for firms. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAfrica on November 27 and 28, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Register today and save your spot.
truID is a South African fintech that has created a data sharing ecosystem inspired by Open Banking. truID’s innovative Collect platform enables consumers to safely and rapidly share their digital banking information with third parties in a manner that guarantees ease-of-use and privacy.
Why it’s great
truID has made bank integration simple. With just a few lines of code, developers can securely access real-time bank data from South Africa’s largest banks.
Presenters
Dmitry Drabkin, Co-founder
Drabkin started his career as a chartered accountant, specializing in financial services. His passion for technology and innovative solutions led him to co-found truID.
Paris Valakelis, Co-founder
Valakelis has a background in actuarial science. He gained his experience as an equity analyst covering banking and insurance, where his deep insights inspired the co-creation of truID. LinkedIn
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Presenter
Joel Niwogaba, Software Developer
Presenters
Paris Valakelis, Co-founder