Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: CashStar, Crypterium, Eltropy, Fenergo, Fiserv, ITSector, Lighter Capital, NestReady, SigFig

On Finovate.com

  • SigFig Launches CoPilot, a Digital Wealth Platform for Financial Advisors.
  • Fiserv Finalizes Acquisition of Elan Financial Services’ Debit Processing Solutions.

Around the web

  • Eltropy partners with NWCUA to Bring Text Messaging to More than 180 Northwest Credit Unions.
  • CashStar named one of the best places to work in Maine for 8th consecutive year.
  • Lighter Capital appoints Anthea Louie as Chief Marketing Officer.
  • CCN names Crypterium among top 5 coins to watch in 2018.
  • Fenergo Launches Client Lifecycle Management Solution for Natixis.

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.

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Coinbase Raises $300 Million, Becomes Unicorn 8x Over

Coinbase Raises $300 Million, Becomes Unicorn 8x Over
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Coinbase, Funding

In its largest round of funding to-date, digital currency wallet Coinbase closed a $300 million investment today. The Series E equity round, which brings the company’s total funding to just over $525 million, was led by Tiger Global Management. Y Combinator Continuity, Wellington Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain, and others also participated.

In a blog post announcement, the company said it plans to use the funds ” to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrencies and digital assets.” Specifically, Coinbase will expand globally, offer more crypto assets, focus on utility applications for cryptocurrencies, and bring institutional funds into the cryptocurrency space.

Asiff Hirji, Coinbase president and COO, commented on the optimism for the future of crypto. “We see Coinbase’s growth as validation that the ecosystem will only continue to grow in size, influence and impact — ultimately ushering in a more open financial system for the world,” Hirji said. The funding brings with it a spike in Coinbase’s valuation.

The company became a unicorn valued at $1.6 billion after its previous funding round in August of last year and announced today that it is now worth over $8 billion. And that valuation is not unfounded– Coinbase has done a lot over the course of the past year to earn its 8x boost in valuation. Among its news-making accomplishments, the company launched Coinbase Custody to help institutional investors store digital assets, acquired Memo.AI and Earn.com, launched Coinbase Commerce, was granted an e-money license from the FCA, launched its own venture fund, and launched institutional grade solutions for cryptocurrency trading.

Founded in 2012, Coinbase demoed Instant Exchange at FinovateSpring 2014. The company was founded in 2012. Brian Armstrong is CEO.

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FinovateAsia Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateAsia Best of Show Winners Announced
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Arival Bank, Avaloq, Best of Show, FinovateAsia 2018, Voca.ai

Congratulations to the trio of companies that earned Best of Show honors from our FinovateAsia 2018 audience. This year’s selections reflect two key themes in fintech: the importance of enabling banks with the resources they need to empower SMEs to better serve their customers, and the rise of intelligent virtual assistants to improve efficiency and enhance the customer experience.

Arival Bank for its ArivalOS digital banking platform that integrates a full suite of third party fintech products tailored for SMEs, including bank accounts, money transfers, debit cards, mPOS, factoring, and lending. Video.

 

Avaloq for its platform that provides seamless access to fintech solutions via a “double marketplace” that brings the app store concept to banking. Video.

Voca.ai for its human-friendly, virtual intelligent agent for financial services call centers that helps drive lead generation, cross-sales, notifications, scheduling, and more. Video.

To see all the demo videos from FinovateAsia 2018, visit our video archives.

Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The three companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2018 conferences are below:
FinovateEurope 2015
FinovateSpring 2015
FinovateFall 2015
FinovateEurope 2016
FinovateSpring 2016
FinovateFall 2016
FinovateAsia 2016
FinovateEurope 2017
FinovateSpring 2017
FinovateFall 2017
FinovateAsia 2017
FinovateMiddleEast 2018
FinovateEurope 2018
FinovateSpring 2018
FinovateFall 2018

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Coinbase, eToro, Insuritas, Lendio, Temenos

On Finovate.com

  • Coinbase Raises $300 Million, Becomes Unicorn 8x Over.

Around the web

  • The Financial Brand features Michigan First CU’s tech powered by Insuritas.
  • eToro lists Binance Coin (BNB) on its platform.
  • Leading Libyan private bank selects Temenos to power Islamic growth.
  • Lendio announces the opening of a Lendio franchise in Utah.

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.

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Welcome to the Second Day of FinovateAsia

Welcome to the Second Day of FinovateAsia
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2018

We’re off to a great start at FinovateAsia, and after yesterday’s sessions and demos, we’re already craving more.

Registration opens at 8 am again today, and the first session begins at 8:45 am. And don’t miss the Best of Show awards ceremony today, taking place at 16:40 in the auditorium.

Visit our website for a full, interactive agenda, or check out a quick preview below:

8:00 to 8:45 Registration and continental breakfast

8:45 to 8:50 Welcome

8:50 to 9:15 Keynote address

9:15 to 9:25 Analyst all stars

9:25 to 10:15 Demo session #3

10:15 to 10:45 Intermission, refreshments, and networking break

10:45 to 10:55 Analyst all stars

10:55 to 11:05 Challenges in building global financial infrastructure for crypto-assets

11:05 to 11:50 Demo session #4

11:50 to 12:10 Special address

12:10 to 13:20 Lunch plus expert briefing on Indian fintech

13:20 to 14:45 Breakout streams

  • Lending
  • Digital transformation and customer experience
  • Focus on mainland China

14:45 to 15:20 Intermission, refreshments, and networking break

15:20 to 16:00 Investors debate

16:00 to 16:40 Accelerator showcase

16:40 to 16:50 Best of Show awards ceremony

16:50 to 17:50 Reception and networking

Thanks to all of you for helping to make this year’s event a success! We’ll see you at FinovateAsia next year, or come see us at any of our shows in between:

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NTT DATA Services to Acquire Sierra Systems

NTT DATA Services to Acquire Sierra Systems
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Mergers & Acquisitions, NTT Data

Consulting and software development firm NTT Data announced it is bolstering its presence in Canada this week with the pending acquisition of IT services and consulting firm Sierra Systems.

Terms of the deal were undisclosed but NTT Data anticipates the acquisition will offer the Tokyo-based company a “significant” presence in Canada. Sierra Systems, which was founded in 1966, also comes with brand reputation and client relationships in addition to new talent in areas such as Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, and ServiceNow.

“Sierra Systems’ reputation as a trusted advisor in Canada is evidenced by the strength of their client relationships, many of which have spanned decades,” said Bob Pryor, CEO of NTT DATA Services. “With the addition of Sierra Systems’ talented team, we’ll expand our ability to deliver innovation and business outcomes to clients in Canada and extend our North American delivery capabilities. Growth prospects are very strong in Canada, so this is an attractive market as we continue to grow globally.”

Sierra Systems’ 700 Canada-based employees will join the NTT Data team. The transaction is expected to close later this year.

Founded in 1988, NTT Data went public in 1995. The company has 110,000+ employees across Japan, the Americas, EMEA, APAC, and China. Earlier this year, the company acquired DevOps firms MagenTys to complement its existing digital transformation capabilities. At FinovateSpring earlier this year, NTT Data demoed Tready, a social community investment platform.

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Quid Lands $37.5 Million Round Led by Lexis Nexis Parent

Quid Lands $37.5 Million Round Led by Lexis Nexis Parent
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Quid

Data insights and visualization startup Quid has been putting AI and machine learning to work since it was founded in 2010. Today, the California-based company landed a generous amount of funding to continue that work.

The $37.5 million round was led by REV Ventures, the investment arm of Lexis Nexis, and bumps Quid’s total funding up to just over $108 million. Also participating in the round are Julian Roberson, Henry Kravis, Lixil Group, Artis Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. In addition to the investment, Quid also took out $8 million in debt; its valuation remains undisclosed.

Quid told Bloomberg that the fundraising process for this round began over a year and a half ago. The company’s founder, Bob Goodson, decided to keep the round open to other investors and ended up receiving buy-in from REV Ventures, among others, to buoy the round up to the current amount. In a discussion with Bloomberg, one of REV Ventures’ founding partners, Kevin Brown, commented on the problem Quid is working to solve. “There’s an explosion of unstructured data and no one knows how to handle it,” Brown said.

At FinovateSpring 2016, Quid won Best of Show honors for its demo of Opus, a product that enables users to upload their own data into Quid and receive an interactive, visual map to help interpret raw data from earnings reports, earnings call transcripts, customer feedback, or any other text-based dataset. The company also offers solutions for consulting, healthcare, and marketing sectors, that provide insights on competitive intelligence, brand perception, and market landscape. Among its clients are Cisco, IBM, KPMG, UBS, and Visa.

While powerful, Quid’s software isn’t cheap. The company, which brought in $28 million in sales over the past year, charges $25,000 per user per year. Among Quid’s accomplishments in the past year are assisting the Wall Street Journal in spoting fraudulent entries on FCC’s website during net neutrality debate and helping Walmart build the American Family Today report.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BioCatch, Equifax, Fiserv, Geezeo, Neener Analytics, NTT Data, Quid

On Finovate.com

  • Quid Lands $37.5 Million Round Led by Lexis Nexis Parent
  • NTT DATA Services to Acquire Sierra Systems.

Around the web

  • Equifax partners with consents.online to develop Open Banking solutions.
  • Fiserv powers digital banking platform for Bogota Savings Bank.
  • Neener Analytics launches pilot with MAPFRE Insurance.
  • Best Innovation Group deploys Geezeo PFM SDK.
  • BioCatch partners with 7 tier-one Latin American banks.

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.

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Welcome to FinovateAsia

Welcome to FinovateAsia
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2018

We’re back in Hong Kong this week for what is shaping up to be Hong Kong’s most dynamic fintech event of the year, FinovateAsia. We have a dozen companies ready to demo their freshest ideas. And our impressive speaker lineup, along with panelists representing some of the region’s top banks and fintechs, also are ready to impress.

FinovateAsia will take place at the Hong Kong Convention Center where registration opens at 8:00 am and the first session starts at 8:45 am. There’s still time to register and if you have any questions, please contact a member of our event staff.

You can check out today’s full agenda, complete with speaker information, online, but here is a quick preview:

8:00 to 8:45 Registration and continental breakfast

8:45 to 8:50 Welcome

8:50 to 9:20 Keynote address

9:20 to 9:25 Opening remarks

9:25 to 9:35 Analyst all stars

9:35 to 10:25 Demo session #1

10:25 to 11:05 Intermission, refreshments, and networking break, plus fireside chat

11:05 to 11:15 Analyst all stars

11:15 to 12:05 Demo session #2

12:05 to 13:10 Lunch plus expert briefing on financial inclusion

13:10 to 15:15 Breakout streams

  • Insurance and payments
  • Artificial intelligence and blockchain
  • Open banking and the API economy

15:15 to 15:45 Intermission, refreshments, and networking break

15:45 to 16:25 Off the record session with global regulators

16:25 to 17:05 Digital change leaders debate

17:05 to 18:05 Reception and networking

Best of Show winners will be announced tomorrow

Doors open again tomorrow at 8:00 am, with the first session beginning at 8:45 am.

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Welcome to Wan Chai: FinovateAsia Kicks Off Hong Kong FinTech Week

Welcome to Wan Chai: FinovateAsia Kicks Off Hong Kong FinTech Week
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateAsia 2018

Rehearsal day is underway here at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Wan Chai. With FinovateAsia 2018 starting Monday morning, our demoing companies are busy practicing their pitches in preparation for two days of live fintech demonstrations.

That said, FinovateAsia is more than just fintech demos. As part of Hong Kong FinTech Week, FinovateAsia will also host a variety of in-depth presentations – from keynote addresses and expert briefings to breakout tracks on topics such as AI and blockchain technology, open banking, insurtech, payments, digital transformation, lending, and more.

And in addition to Analyst All-Star panels and our Accelerator/Incubator Showcase, FinovateAsia will also feature an “off the record” session with global regulators, a conversation among VCs on where the smart money is investing in fintech, and a special breakout track focusing on fintech opportunities on mainland China.

More detailed information about our agenda is available on our FinovateAsia event page.

We’re looking forward to seeing you this week. The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center is located at 1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Once you arrive at the venue, please follow the signs to rooms S221s on Level 2. The Center is readily accessible by Mass Transit Railway (MTR), bus, train, tram, ferry, and taxi.

The conference begins Monday, October 29th, and continues through Tuesday, October 30th. Registration opens at 8am, with continental breakfast and networking, and our program begins with Welcoming Remarks at 8:45am and our Keynote Address at 8:50am. Live demos on Monday will take place between 9:35am and 10:25am, and between 11:15am and 12:05pm. Monday will also feature two Analyst All-Star panels – one in the morning and one in the afternoon – as well as breakout tracks on AI and blockchain technology, open banking and the API economy, and insurance and payments.

Tuesday will run similarly to Monday, with registration at 8am, Welcoming Remarks at 8:45am, and our Keynote at 8:50am. Tuesday will also feature morning and afternoon Analyst All-Star panels, and our two live demo sessions are scheduled to start at 9:25am and 11:10am, respectively. As on Monday, our breakout tracks on Tuesday will begin after lunch and will focus on digital transformation, lending, and fintech innovation on mainland China. Tuesday will also feature our investors debate, our Best of Show awards, and our accelerator/incubator showcase.

As you can see, this year’s FinovateAsia is an action-packed affair. Be sure to check out our agenda for more details on our demoing companies, our speakers and panelists, and our breakout tracks, summits, and expert briefings.

And once you’re here, be sure to join the FinovateAsia community on our Knect365 event app. Search for “FinovateAsia 2018” once you are in the app to access Sli.do, Best of Show voting, our networking platform Brella, our attendee list, agenda, floorplan, and more. If you have any difficulty with the app, please contact us at info@finovate.com for assistance.

Remember that tickets to FinovateAsia are still available. If you are interested in attending, please visit our FinovateAsia registration page and save your spot. We’ll see you in Wan Chai!

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Swych Powers WeChat’s Travelex Pay Service

Swych Powers WeChat’s Travelex Pay Service
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Swych

Digital gifting platform Swych partnered with WeChat and Travelex this week, announcing that its blockchain-based gift card technology will power Travelex’s Travelex Pay, a cashless spending tool hosted within messaging app WeChat.

Travelex Pay will enable Chinese travelers visiting the U.S. to use digital gift cards on the Swych platform to make purchases at U.S. retailers within the WeChat app using funds in their WeChat Pay account. To make a purchase at one of the 700 retailers participating with Swych, WeChat’s 800 million WeChat Pay users can use Travelex Pay to generate an electronic gift card close to the purchase amount, and WeChat automatically deducts the amount in their home currency in real time. To complete the purchase, the cashier either scans a barcode or enters a payment code and receives payment in USD.

The gift cards are fee-free and help users avoid foreign exchange fees which could add up to 3% to 5% of their purchase. However, as a potential added cost to users (and potential benefit to retailers), users can only purchase gift cards in increments of $10.

“Chinese tourism in the U.S. is increasing – both in number of people and the amount of money spent,” CEO and Founder of Swych, Deepak Jain, said. “With more than 90 percent of Chinese tourists expressing interest in using mobile payments overseas if given the choice, Swych, Travelex, with WeChat Pay, have combined service offerings to fill the demand for a frictionless and zero-fee payment option. This is yet another innovation aimed at furthering cross border commerce and making Swych the most advanced digital gifting platform in the market.”

According to Jing Travel, Swych not only plans to add retailers to the platform, it also hopes to launch Travelex Pay in geographies other than the U.S. that are popular with Chinese tourists. There are no plans in place currently, however, to expand Travelex Pay outside of the WeChat ecosystem.

At FinovateSpring earlier this year, Swych demonstrated how it facilitates cross-border money transfers using its digital gifting platform in a presentation that won the company Best of Show. With 50+ employees, Swych boasts 50,000 registered users in the U.S., 100,000 users in India, and more than 50 corporate customers. Earlier this year, the Texas-based company announced it is leveraging its recent acquisition of GiftCardsIndia to facilitate cross-border gifting between the U.S. and India.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bazaarvoice, Bento for Business, Blockchain, Expensify, Ledger, PayActiv, Swych

On Finovate.com

  • Swych Powers WeChat’s Travelex Pay Service.

Around the web

  • Bento for Business partners with payroll and HR company Cast & Crew
  • PayActiv announces Walmart as Destination to Pick Up Cash-Based Earned Wages.
  • TechCrunch: Blockchain startup Blockchain to launch hardware wallet in partnership with Ledger.
  • Monetate and Bazaarvoice partner on product recommendation strategies.
  • CLA selects Expensify for its clients’ receipt tracking and expense reporting app.

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.

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