Xero Buys Paperless Accounting Firm Hubdoc

Xero Buys Paperless Accounting Firm Hubdoc
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Mergers & Acquisitions, Xero

Cloud accounting platform Xero claimed today that “business has never been so beautiful.” That’s because the New Zealand-based company made its second acquisition, purchasing Hubdoc, an application that helps accountants and bookkeepers capture and maintain documents online.

Xero, which has always sought to improve the lives of accountants and bookkeepers, said the purchase helps them “focus their efforts on making sense of a small business’ financial data – not collecting it.” Hubdoc will help Xero bolster its machine learning models, serve customers who have no direct data connection, and increase its presence in Canada via Hubdoc’s Toronto roots.

Here’s how the integration of the two technologies works: first, Hubdoc automatically gathers financial documents from 700+ billers, extracts the financial data, and syncs the data into Xero. Then, Xero automatically matches data imported from Hubdoc with bank feed transactions to keep clients’ books up-to-date. All of this data is verified with the source document, which clients and accountants can easily search.

The Hubdoc team, which is located in offices across Australia, the U.K., and Canada, will work independently on a standalone basis until Xero forms an integration plan. The terms of the acquisition were undisclosed.

Xero most recently presented at FinDEVr San Francisco 2014 when the company’s Head of U.S. Partnerships David Pollock spoke about building an API-driven ecosystem for small businesses. At FinovateSpring 2011, CEO Rod Drury debuted the company’s Business Identification solution. Last month, Xero signed a strategic alliance with fellow Finovate alum Gusto, allowing Xero to provide full-service payroll in the U.S. And earlier this spring, Xero launched Connected Accounting, a set of new features designed to automate daily business tasks.

Founded in 2006, Xero listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 2007 and the Australian Securities Exchange in 2012. The company has raised more than $319 million (NZ$470 million) in funding, including $1.4 million pre-IPO; $10.2 million at its IPO; and follow-on rounds from investors including Peter Thiel, Matrix Capital Management, and Accel Partners. More than 1 million subscribers in 180+ countries use Xero.

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IdentityMind Global to Help ZED Network MTOs Meet KYC, AML Compliance 

IdentityMind Global to Help ZED Network MTOs Meet KYC, AML Compliance 
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: IdentityMind Global

Just weeks after announcing that it would provide KYC/AML compliance solutions for Ontology Trust Ecosystem, IdentityMind Global is back in the news. ZED Network, an international payments platform, will deploy the newly-released version 2.0 of IdentityMind Global’s solution to ensure KYC and AML compliance for its money transfer operators (MTOs) around the world.

“We are pleased to work with an innovative company like ZED Network that has created a comprehensive money transfer platform for global, small-to-medium-sized MTOs so that they can effectively compete against larger MTOs,” IdentityMind Global CEO Garrett Gafke said. “We have a successful track record of working with ‘breakthrough’ companies like ZED Network to help them grow rapidly and scale while remaining compliant.”

ZED Network specializes in small to medium sized MTOS, providing them with a distributed ledger-based platform-as-a-service solution including state of the art online and mobile apps, back office administration, and built-in compliance tools. The company calls its solution a “comprehensive remittance in a box” that enables smaller MTOs to participate in a faster, more transparent, less expensive money transfer network that does not rely on banks.

“Partnering with IdentityMind helps streamline the KYC and AML process for MTOs,” regardless of their jurisdiction, ZED Network founder and CEO Alan Safahi said.

IdentityMind Global demonstrated its platform earlier this year at FinovateSpring 2018. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the company launched version 2.0 of its technology last month. The enhanced platform leverages dynamic modeling, a transparent access framework, and contextual identity analysis to provide accurate AML compliance with fewer false positives.

The company has been making friends at a fast pace in 2018, helping companies like decentralized private social media platform ONe Network, Canadian blockchain technology firm, Etherparty Smart Contracts; and Mexican currency value management innovator AirTM meet KYC and AML compliance requirements, as well as conduct PEP screening and transaction monitoring.

IdentityMind Global has raised more than $20 million in funding. The company includes Benhamou Global Ventures, Lakewood & Company, and Eastern Link Capital among its investors.

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Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Experian, Finovate Global, IBM, MasterCard

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.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Poland’s Horum Bank, a mobile bank based on blockchain technology, prepares for launch, most likely in the Baltics.
  • VTB Bank in Armenia goes live mobile banking and enhances internet banking services.
  • Emerging Europe examines the fintech industry in Romania “and beyond.”

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Turkey’s İşbank opens API portal with 14 APIs including payments plans, credit scores, and customer accounts.
  • UAE’s Trriple announces upgrades to its mobile wallet app, making top-ups easier and adding a loyalty program.
  • Growth Business UK features Dubai-based crowdfunding platform, Eurecca.

Central and South Asia

  • Mastercard launches its Simplify Commerce platform in Sri Lanka.
  • Forbes looks at how the election of Imran Khan as Pakistan’s new prime minister could impact the country’s fintech industry.
  • Paysense, a fintech based in Mumbai, India, raised $18 million in funding in a round led by PayU.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Worldline and Brazilian fintech EBANX produce new payment method for Brazilian users of Spotify.
  • Bradesco and Banco do Brasil launch urban mobility payment company, Veloe.
  • International Tax Review looks at the tax policy and the crowdfunding industry in Mexico.

Asia-Pacific

  • Experian leads $28 million investment in C88 Financial Technologies Group as part of effort to boost financial inclusion in Southeast Asia.
  • U.K.-based Online Blockchain introduces ManilaCoin, a cryptocurrency designed to promote financial inclusion in the Philippines.
  • IBM lands managed services deal with Thailand’s Krungsri (Bank of Ayudhya) valued at $140 million.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Kenyan fintech Tulaa raises $627k in seed funding. The Nairobi-based company helps small farmers access credit and markets.
  • Alpha Code, an accelerator and incubator headquartered in South Africa, begins accepting applications for its AlphaCode Incubate Programme.
  • Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission encourages private and public sector IT leaders to focus on digital inclusion.

Top image designed by Freepik

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Arxan Technologies, Averon, Bluescape, CRMNEXT, Dwolla, Fenergo, IdentityMind Global, NestReady, Neustar, PayActiv, ProfitStars, Xero

On Finovate.com

  • Xero Buys Paperless Accounting Firm Hubdoc
  • NestReady Collaborates with Alterna Savings on Home Buying Solution.
  • PayActiv Partners with ADP Marketplace.
  • IdentityMind Global to Help ZED Network MTOs Meet KYC, AML Compliance.

Around the web

  • ProfitStars to automate commercial lending for Ion Bank.
  • Fenergo earns Top Performer status in the Overall Rankings of the RegTech 2018 Report.
  • One World Identity highlights Averon as a Company to Watch in its annual report on innovations in identity and authentication. See Averon at FinovateFall 2018 in September.
  • Arxan experiences double-digit revenue growth, expands global reach.
  • Flashtalking and Neustar partner to fill the void created by the removal of DoubleClick ID.
  • Insight on Business interviews Dwolla’s Stephanie Atkin.
  • Immervox features Bluescape and CRMNext in its list of Five Companies Leading the Charge in the Changing Workplace.

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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Entrust Datacard Acquires SMS Passcode

Entrust Datacard Acquires SMS Passcode
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Entrust Datacard, Mergers & Acquisitions

Identity authentication and secure card issuance company Entrust Datacard announced it purchased SMS Passcode from CensorNet, a cloud security company. Additionally, Entrust Datacard made a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount in CensorNet. Terms of both the investment and the acquisition remain undisclosed.

With the acquisition of Copenhagen-based SMS Passcode, an adaptive multi-factor authentication technology solution, Entrust Datacard hopes to further establish itself in the authentication space while expanding its global footprint throughout DACH/Benelux and The Nordics. The company will integrate the new technology with its IntelliTrust SaaS authentication tool, a solution launched last year that removes friction for users and provides strong protection for data, apps, and networks.

Regarding the purchase, Ed Macnair, CensorNet CEO said, “The acquisition of SMS Passcode will benefit the broader IAM market as well as SMS Passcode customers, and this new relationship will continue serving customers as Entrust Datacard builds upon existing partnerships and enhances our USS offering.”

Collaborating with CensorNet on its USS platform, which offers a cloud access security broker, multi-factor authentication, and web and email security, will help Entrust Datacard bolster new offerings across authentication, PKI and SSL. Specifically, Entrust Datacard will leverage the strategic partnership to enhance its Authentication Insight Engine by providing faster authentication decisioning.

“Identity-centric data analysis is in CensorNet’s DNA, and identity assurance capabilities in ours,” said Todd Wilkinson, president and CEO for Entrust Datacard. “This new relationship and investment in CensorNet presents opportunities for collaboration to enhance both companies’ offerings and re-shape the market together.”

Entrust Datacard was founded in 1969 and presented at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016. Jason Soroko, Security Technologies Manager, and Matt Rose, Technical Sales Consultant, spoke to the audience of developers on Safeguarding Your Banking Applications. Earlier this week, Entrust Datacard unveiled TruCredential 7.5, software that enables tablet and mobile-based capture and issuance of ID cards.

With 2,200 employees in 34 locations across the globe, Entrust Datacard is a privately held company headquartered in Shakopee, Minnesota. The company issues 10 million+ identity and payment credentials daily and manages billions of transactions on an annual basis.

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Tavant Technologies Powers New Personalized Mortgage POS System from Ditech

Tavant Technologies Powers New Personalized Mortgage POS System from Ditech
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Tavant

Technology from Tavant is playing a role in the comeback of mortgage lender Ditech.

Having completed a financial restructuring that helped bring it out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, Ditech has unveiled a mortgage point of sale solution geared toward Millennial and Generation Z borrowers. The new technology was developed as part of a joint effort between Ditech’s own in-house team and Tavant Technologies, with its digital lending platform, VELOX.

“Tavant is excited to partner with Ditech in an effort to provide a game-changing experience to customers and partners,” Tavant Chief Revenue Officer Hassan Rashid said. “The collaboration brought to life a system that is powered by VELOX and customized for Ditech’s needs based on customer journeys and workflows created by its Innovation Lab.”

Founded in 1958, Ditech Holdings is a Fort Washington, Pennsylvania-based independent servicer and originator of mortgage loans, as well as a reverse mortgage loan servicer. With 3,700 employees, the company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “DHCP” and has a market capitalization of $27 million.

“We have been extremely focused on transforming our organization’s customer experience through the adaption of digital solutions that entice the next generation of borrowers, including Millennials and Generation Z.” Ditech Chief Operating Officer Ritesh Chaturbedi said. “Our new system, built on the Tavant VELO platform, is expected to allow for a harmonious, omni-channel experience that will drive trust with customers.”

Tavant’s partnership news comes just days after the company announced another collaboration, this time working with ComplianceEase, an automated compliance solutions provider. The company will integrate with Tavant’s VELOX technology to improve the digital experience for borrowers and make it easier for lenders to close loans. Tavant teamed up with Freddie Mac in May to enable one-click submission of loan data to Freddie Mac’s automated underwriting system. That same month, Factual Data, a major U.S. credit and data validation services provider to the mortgage industry, announced credit integration with Tavant’s VELOX solution.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Tavant Technologies demonstrated its VELOX at FinovateSpring 2017. The VELOX product suite consists of four elements: FinXperience, a suite of portals and companion mobile apps; FinCapture, an autonomous document ingestion platform; FinConnect, a modern mortgage data and services hub; and FinSight, an analytics engine for predictive insights.

Tavant Technologies was founded in 2000. Sarvesh Mahesh is CEO.

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Gusto Brings in $140 Million, Doubling Valuation to $2 Billion

Gusto Brings in $140 Million, Doubling Valuation to $2 Billion
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Gusto

Payroll, benefits, and HR platform Gusto broadcast some news today with, well… gusto. The San Francisco-based company closed $140 million in Series C funding.

This brings Gusto’s total amount raised to $310 million and boosts its valuation to almost $2 billion. Joining existing investors in the round are MSD Capital (Michael Dell), portfolios managed by T. Rowe Price Associates, Dragoneer Investment Group, and Y Combinator Continuity Fund.

Josh Reeves, Gusto CEO and co-founder, said that the new investors share the company’s passion for “creating a world where work empowers a better life.” He added, “We chose these investors because they care about enabling small businesses with modern payroll, benefits and HR. There are millions of companies out there to help, and this is a long-term journey for us. We’re just getting started.”

Gusto will use the investment to enhance its payroll, benefits, and HR technology to add more direct-to-employee benefits that allow employees to manage how and when they get paid. The company recently unveiled a development along these lines with the launch of Flexible Pay, a solution that allows workers to choose a payday that works best for their cashflow situation, outside of their employer’s standard payroll schedule.

Henry Ellenbogen, T. Rowe Price New Horizons Fund portfolio manager, noted that Gusto’s expertise isn’t just limited to payroll. “We believe Gusto has an opportunity beyond the payroll category in which they have demonstrated leadership for the last six years,” He said. “The company has a strong and focused management team, and it has the potential to become much larger as it expands its efforts to employees who seek to improve their financial mobility and achieve greater personal prosperity.”

Gusto, which launched in 2012 under the name ZenPayroll and showcased its flagship payroll solution at FinovateSpring 2014, has been busy lately. Not only has the company expanded its client base to serve more than one percent of all employers in the U.S., the company also paired up with Xero earlier this month and in June launched a directory of accounting firms suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.

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Microsoft, Nationwide Invest $12 Million in SME Lender BlueVine

Microsoft, Nationwide Invest $12 Million in SME Lender BlueVine
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BlueVine, Funding

Small business financing specialist BlueVine has raised $12 million in new funding. Combined with the $60 million investment the company picked up last month, BlueVine’s Series E amounts to $72 million, and takes the company’s total funding to $590 million. Of this amount, $185 million represents equity financing.

This week’s investment comes from Microsoft’s venture fund, M12, and the venture arm of insurance and financial services company, Nationwide. M12 partner Elliott Robinson praised BlueVine’s “market traction to date,” while Nationwide Ventures’ Erik Ross highlighted the funding as emblematic of Nationwide’s commitment to serving SMEs. “This investment aligns with our strategy to co-create value for our members to help them protect what’s most important and to plan for a secure financial future,” Ross said.

BlueVine provides working capital to small and medium-sized businesses, offering lines of credit up to $250,000 and invoice factoring up to $5 million. With rates as low as 4.8% and approvals as quick as 20 minutes, the company recently surpassed $1 billion in total funding volume.

“We had very limited resources when we began and we were up against bigger and more established competitors,” said BlueVine CEO and founder Eyal Lifshitz, who reflected on the company’s fifth anniversary as well as this week’s funding. He credited the company’s “cutting edge technology and product innovation” for its success and added, “these new investments will help us offer more financing to even more entrepreneurs.”

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, BlueVine demonstrated its SME online lending platform at FinovateFall 2014. This spring, BlueVine partnered with cross-border payments specialist, Veem, to make the process easier and less expensive for SMEs. Named one of the top 360 entrepreneurial companies in the U.S. by Entrepreneur, BlueVine added Women in Fintech Powerlist member Ana Sirbu as its new Chief Financial Officer at the beginning of the year.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BlueVine, Coinbase, CurrencyFair, FIS, Gusto, Kofax, Prosper, Tavant, Thomson Reuters

On Finovate.com

  • Microsoft, Nationwide Invest $12 Million in SME Lender BlueVine.
  • Gusto Brings in $140 Million, Doubling Valuation to $2 Billion.
  • Tavant Technologies Powers New Personalized Mortgage POS System from Ditech.

Around the web

  • Coinbase taps Jeff Horowitz as its next Chief Compliance Officer.
  • Thomson Reuters announces strategic partnership with global cryptocurrency market data aggregator, CryptoCompare.
  • FIS and blockchain platform Billon sign letter of intent to pursue joint product development.
  • Prosper surpasses 1 million loans have been originated, totaling about $13 billion.
  • Kofax enters sales agreement with JIEC to deliver RPA and digital transformation solutions.
  • CurrencyFair surpasses milestone: €7 billion traded.

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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AlphaPoint to Power DCEX, an XRP-Based Currency Exchange

AlphaPoint to Power DCEX, an XRP-Based Currency Exchange
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: AlphaPoint

Digital asset exchange platform AlphaPoint announced today it will power DCEX, a digital currency exchange platform powered by AlphaPoint’s blockchain technology.

DCEX will serve as a digital currency exchange for retail and institutional investors and is using Ripple’s digital currency, XRP, as its base currency. This move makes DCEX the first marketplace to use XRP exclusively. At launch, the exchange allows users to trade in 15 coin pairs, including the most popular currencies, Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. The exchange plans to add more pairs later this year.

Features of the exchange include:

  • Conduct high-speed transfers between exchanges
  • Designed to facilitate up to one million transactions per second
  • Connect to APIs to facilitate high frequency crypto trading
  • Move XRP between DCEX and other marketplaces at a low cost

In a blog post announcement on Medium, Salil Donde, AlphaPoint CEO said, “We, as founders, have been in the crypto space since its inception… At DCEX we firmly believe that a true industry leader must be unrivaled in every element of the service it offers. We offer the excitement of trading, and provide you with the means to navigate the uncharted waters of cryptocurrency trading.”

The exchange will begin trading in a couple of weeks, but users can sign up for early access.

Founded in 2013, AlphaPoint powers digital asset networks and maintains the AlphaPoint Distributed Ledger Platform (ADLP), the platform on which the asset issuance and custody solution is based. The ADLP interoperates with more than 20 ledger technologies. At FinovateFall 2017, the company showcased the ADLP Reconciliation Platform, which combines blockchain-based asymmetric access controls and machine-enforced domain compliance for order management and other activities. The Reconciliation Platform reduces time and cost associated with manual, post-trade reconciliation processes.

In June of this year, AlphaPoint raised $15 million in funding, bringing its total capital to $16.6 million. Last week, the company appointed Kristin Boggiano as Chief Legal Officer.

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ebankIT to Power Digital Banking for Coast Capital

ebankIT to Power Digital Banking for Coast Capital
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ebankIT

Canada’s largest credit union by membership has partnered with ebankIT to overhaul its digital banking offerings. Coast Capital Savings, with $13 billion ($17 billion CAD) in assets, will leverage ebankIT’s omni-channel digital banking platform to power both the credit union’s online and mobile banking channels, as well as its website.

“With ebankIT’s versatile platform and award-winning digital banking experience, we will be able to offer a wide range of exciting new features to Coast Capital members in the future, along with rich security and personalization features,” Chief Transformation Officer for Coast Capital Savings Jeff Wong said. He also praised the way the platform supports integration with third-party technologies, “which will enable Coast Capital to drive ongoing digital channel innovation.”

ebankIT’s omni-channel banking solutions empower FIs to deliver a cutting edge, technology-enabled solutions to their customers. The company is an innovator applying many of the latest technologies – including augmented reality, beacons, and voice – to both traditional and emerging banking channels like mobile and wearables.

ebankIT’s Diana Winstanley (Business Solutions Manager) and Pete Atkinson (VP Sales U.K. & Ireland) demonstrating the company’s digital banking platform at FinovateEurope 2018.

“Our vision at ebankIT is to help organizations like Coast Capital tap the full potential of all the fast-paced innovations available in the quickly shifting technological landscape of banking,” Renato Oliveira, a member of ebankIT’s board of directors, explained. “As we embark on our North American expansion, the ebankIT team is thrilled to support Coast Capital with a robust and scalable platform, featuring our award-winning next generation solutions, coupled with an engaging user experience.”

Founded in 1940, British Columbia-based Coast Capital now has 52 branches and 555,000 members. Named one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures, the credit union invested $5.6 million in local communities last year to help empower and engage youth. This month, Coast Capital earned “B Corporation” certification from nonprofit B Lab, an acknowledgement that it has met the standard for social performance, transparency, and accountability.

The partnership news from ebankIT comes just a few weeks after the company announced that it was teaming up with fellow Finovate alum unblu. The joint venture will integrate unblu’s co-browsing, live chat, and video technology into ebankIT’s digital banking platform. “Joining forces with unblu was a natural fit for us,” ebankIT CEO Joaquin Santos said in a statement, “because both companies are aligned in how they want to transform the future of banking.”

ebankIT demonstrated its digital banking platform, including new applications of voice technology, at FinovateEurope 2018 in March. The company also participated in our inaugural FinovateMiddleEast conference in February. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Porto, Portugal, ebankIT was featured in Accord Market’s Global Digital Banking Multichannel Integration Solutions Market Status Report earlier this month. This spring, ebankIT celebrated the launch of Kuwait International Bank’s retail banking app, which was implemented using ebankIT’s digital banking platform. Also this year, ebankIT announced a partnership with Cyprus-based GCC Computers.

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Shaping the Future of Financial Services in Asia: First Wave of Demoing Companies

Shaping the Future of Financial Services in Asia: First Wave of Demoing Companies
By Heather Stowell Posted on
Categories: Finovate Marketing, FinovateAsia 2018

This October, Finovate reunites with HK Invest to headline Hong Kong Fintech Week.

The celebration kicks off with the third annual FinovateAsia over the first two days, merging live product demos and insights on the latest regional trends and macro issues affecting financial technology. Fintech Week continues days three and four, hosting speakers to examine key themes in fintech, then crosses the border to Shenzhen, China’s Silicon Valley, for the first time, to continue its fintech exploration.

Each year, Hong Kong Fintech Week highlights the individuals and companies shaping the future of financial services. Trends and themes this year include AI, blockchain, payments, lending, open APIs, and open banking. All of these are areas in which Finovate’s presenters are innovating.

The first wave of demoing companies for FinovateAsia 2018 are problem solvers. Here are some of the issues they are tackling:

Remember, tickets to FinovateAsia are available online. Save $400 when you book before this Friday, August 3.

If you’re interested in demoing at the event, visit the demo page or email us at asia@finovate.com. And if you’d like to get involved as a demoer, speaker, or sponsor with our launch event in Cape Town, South Africa this November, let us know at africa@finovate.com.

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