Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • PaySimple Adds New Integrations for Targeted Email Marketing.
  • Deutsche Bank Takes Equity Stake in Modo Payments.

Around the web

  • US Alliance Group looks to Fiserv Debit Gateway and Accel Network partnership to support growth.
  • Xero opens new Americas HQ in downtown Denver.
  • Sberbank becomes Founding Partner of World Economic Forum Centre for Cybersecurity.

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.

Shoeboxed Acquired by Earth Class Mail

Shoeboxed Acquired by Earth Class Mail

Receipt and business card digitization company Shoeboxed unboxed some major news today. The North Carolina-based company sold to Earth Class Mail, after having raised $2.5 million since it was founded in 2007. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2004, Earth Class Mail offers a postal mail scanning and forwarding service to help businesses and frequent travelers clear paper clutter. The Texas-based company receives, processes, and digitizes clients’ paper mail. It then enables users to view, access, search, and share the cloud-hosted, digitized versions. After processing the paper copies, Earth Class Mail either stores physical copies on premise or shreds the paper, if the client prefers. Additionally, Earth Class Mail leverages integrations with third parties to automate actions required. For example, if the piece of mail is an invoice, it will send it to Bill.com or sync it to cloud storage. The company will even deposit a check on the user’s behalf.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=38&v=ASi6EAJNzi0

With the acquisition of Shoeboxed, Earth Class Mail will help users get rid of another source of pesky paper– receipts.  Another benefit Earth Class Mail gains with the acquisition are Shoeboxed one million customers in 90 countries, half of which are small businesses in the U.S.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Shoeboxed CEO and co-founder Tobias Walter said, “The combined power of our two companies will be a massive shift for small businesses to finally become paperless and say goodbye to old workflows that cost them hours of their productivity. I could not be happier with the new home we found for the company, the team and our customers!”

At FinovateSpring 2015, Shoeboxed won Best of Show for demonstrating how banks can leverage the company’s receipt capture platform. In the demo, Walter showcased how banks can use Shoeboxed to help clients view line item data from email receipts, receive reminders about product return deadlines, product recall information, and more. Last August, the company launched Fetch, an “expense-report-free” expense reporting solution for small businesses.

Sentifi Secures Top Honors at Swisscom Startup Challenge 2018

Sentifi Secures Top Honors at Swisscom Startup Challenge 2018

The votes have been cast and financially-relevant crowd intelligence provider Sentifi is among the winners of the Swisscom Startup Challenge 2018.

“I would like to send my sincere thank you to the trust of our investors, and to all Sentifiers who have worked hard to make Sentifi a global player,” Sentifi CEO and founder Dr. Anders Bally said. “This would not have been possible without your contribution, commitment and belief in creating the most powerful financial AI and big data based collective intelligence system in the world.”

Sentifi founder and CEO Dr. Anders Bally demonstrating Sentifi Alerts at FinovateEurope 2017.

Sentifi bested more than 230 rivals to win the challenge. Along with five other winning companies, Sentifi will participate in a one-week business accelerator program in October, and receive mentoring from Swisscom and venture lab experts. The jury consisted of members of the Swisscom Group Executive Board, Swisscom Ventures, and business angels and investors. Sharing the winner’s circle with Sentifi are AAAccell, an AI-powered asset and risk management solution provider; rovenso, a maker of agile seeing robots; Dotphoton, a raw image compression solution; and Exeon Analytics, a cybersecurity firm.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, Sentifi demonstrated its Sentifi Alerts solution at FinovateEurope last year. Sentifi Alerts scours more than five million relevant sources from the news media, blogs, and social networks to signal investors when significant events in the financial markets occur. The customizable, real-time alerts give investors the opportunity to make timely adjustments to their asset holdings – whether to seize new opportunities or minimize potential risks.

Sentifi appointed Marina Goche as Chief Operating Officer in May. The same month, the company announced that Walter Berchtold, an industry veteran with board and executive experience at Credit Suisse and Falcon Private Bank, would join Sentifi’s advisory board. Last month, Sentifi teamed up with Argus Data Insights, integrating its crowd intelligence technology with Argus Predict IndustryScan solution.

Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World

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.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Officials from the incoming Mexican administration see fintechs and corporate banks as key to increasing financial inclusion in the country.
  • LATAM Tech looks at “Peru’s promising startup future.”
  • Bolivia’s Pagina Siete previews Digital Bank’s efforts to bring Latin American fintech and Latin American banks closer together. In Spanish.

Asia-Pacific

  • Singapore-based Funding Societies tops S$200 million in crowdfunded SME loans.
  • Alipay introduces the world’s first paperless mobile tax refund in South Korea.
  • Cambodia Fintech Association officially launches in Phnom Penh.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • Nigerian early-stage investment fund Microtraction invests in a pair of fintech startups Wallet.ng and Allpro.
  • Equity Group announces its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Finserve will operate autonomously to help spur fintech innovation in Kenya and other parts of Africa.
  • IT News Africa highlights “African fintech startups to look out for in 2018.”

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Lithuania’s Debitum Network leverages blockchain technology to help connect small business with alternative financing options.
  • Business Review features Romanian’s first technology accelerator, Techcelerator.
  • Ukraine considers legislation to recognize cryptocurrencies as financial assets.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • ZDNet explains why Egypt’s unbanked and underbanked population is “ripe for a FinTech revolution.”
  • Dubai’s Jabbar Internet unveils new company, Kambio Ventures, that will develop a blockchain-based funding platform for startups.
  • Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain discuss “coordinated approach” to supporting fintech innovation in the area.

Central and South Asia

  • Talks between Alibaba and Reliance Retail could signal the Chinese e-commerce titan’s plans for greater presence in India’s retail market.
  • Flipkart acquires India-based speech recognition start-up, Liv.ai, in a bid to boost voice-based ecommerce.
  • Paytm launches Paytm AI Cloud for India, offering a set of solutions for developers to automate workflows and integrate payments and other features.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Sentifi Secures Top Honors at Swisscom Startup Challenge 2018.
  • Shoeboxed Acquired by Earth Class Mail.

Around the web

  • Revolut introduces metal card with crypto cash back.
  • Wisconsin-based Unity Bank will leverage technology from Finastra to streamline commercial and consumer lending processes.
  • Fiserv announces addition of step-up authentication and identity verification to fight call center fraud.
  • Insuritas announces partnership with Androscoggin Bank to launch digitally-powered insurance agency.
  • Baker Hill expands client base, moves to new office.
  • Crypterium to let Australian citizens pay bills and make bank transfers with crypto. Come check out Crypterium at FinovateFall next month.
  • InComm Celebrates 10 Years in the Asia-Pacific Region.
  • National Association of Credit Union Services Organizations accepts Kony as a Gold Partner.
  • Payroll in Xero launches encryption for UK payslip PDFs.

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.

First Data Partners with Ellie Mae to Improve Security of Lending Payments

First Data Partners with Ellie Mae to Improve Security of Lending Payments

A new partnership between Ellie Mae and First Data will make it easier for Ellie Mae customers to securely accept payment for costs related to loan origination, processing, underwriting and credit reports.

First Data will integrate with Ellie Mae’s Encompass Consumer Connect lending platform. Part of Ellie Mae’s Digital Mortgage Solution, Consumer Connect enables borrowers to apply for mortgages online, engage with loan officers, and securely eSign and upload documents. The technology provides lenders with a customized digital mortgage workflow that leverages automation to deliver a streamlined experience across functions. Ellie Mae will leverage First Data’s BluePay Gateway, part of the company’s CardConnect ISV platform, which helps companies add secure payment processing within SaaS, mobile, and POS apps.

“First Data is thrilled to deliver our fast, simple and secure payment technology to the banks, credit unions, and mortgage lending companies Ellie Mae serves,” EVP and Head of CardConnect at First Data, Jeff Shanahan said. “Our relationship will enable Ellie Mae to deliver a simple and secure solution for its clients and further enhanced consumer engagement for lenders.”

Ellie Mae demonstrated Encompass Consumer Connect at FinovateSpring 2017. In addition to the lending platform, the company introduced its set of developer tools – including APIs, interactive documentation, and API playground – called Encompass Developer Connect. Earlier this year, Ellie Mae teamed up with mortgagetech innovator Blend, who will leverage Ellie Mae’s electronic disclosure delivery, part of its Encompass mortgage solution. Also this spring, the company announced an integration with Lender Price, the digital mortgage platform from Cre8tech Labs, and partnered with fellow Finovate alum Finicity. The agreement between the two companies will integrate Finicity’s digital verification of assets technology into Ellie Mae’s Encompass solution.

Headquartered in Pleasanton, California, and founded in 1997, Ellie Mae has more than 1,000 U.S.-based workers and revenues in 2017 of $417 million. The company serves 3,500 financial institutions and mortgage lending firms, and processes more than a third of all mortgage loan applications in the U.S. Ellie Mae trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “ELLI” and has a market capitalization of $3 billion. Jonathan Corr is CEO.

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: ebankIT

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: ebankIT

FinovateFallA look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 24 through 26, 2018 in New York. Register today and save your spot.

ebankIT’s award-winning platform helps financial institutions deliver digital banking transformations, allowing their customers to be one step ahead at a fraction of cost, time, and effort.

Features

  • Omni-channel digital banking delivered fast
  • Full suite applications for banks, credit unions, and mobile-first institutions
  • Core-agnostic, omni-channel digital banking platform

Why it’s great

ebankIT Studio enables rapid development of applications and services whilst maintaining high standards of quality and performance, guaranteeing a superior user experience and quick ROI.

Presenters

Pete Atkinson, VP United Kingdom, North America
Currently Vice President U.K. and Ireland for ebankIT, Atkinson has spent much of his career operating at the convergent point of technology and consumers.
LinkedIn

 

 

Vitor Barros, Pre-Sales Director
Barros is Project Director for R&D department of ebankIT, having managed and implemented several projects over the years, ranging from middleware to mobile platforms and development of innovative applications.
LinkedIn

eToro Adds IOTA Cryptocurrency to Platform

eToro Adds IOTA Cryptocurrency to Platform

After launching its cryptocurrency exchange earlier this year, social trading platform eToro has bolstered the number of the cryptocurrencies it offers, adding IOTA to the roster.

IOTA was launched in 2015 to provide fast communication and transactions for internet of things (IoT) platforms and has a market capitalization of $1.4 billion. The currency shows promising use as an IoT platform and, as eToro states in its blog, has received “quite a bit of attention” from the blockchain and cryptocurrency communities.

The addition of IOTA to eToro’s platform boosts the Israel-based company’s total cryptocurrency count to 12. This is up from the 10 cryptocurrencies eToro announced when it launched the exchange in March.

eToro CEO Yonni Assia, along with the company’s VP of Product, Tal Ben-Simon, demonstrated CopyFunds for Partners at FinovateEurope 2017. Since then, the company announced that clients can now invest directly in shares on the platform and it has gone on to raise a $100 million in Series E round in March, more than doubling its funding to $162 million.

What’s on the Analysts’ Hot Lists

What’s on the Analysts’ Hot Lists

If you’ve always wanted to hear top fintech analysts’ take on what’s hot in the industry, now’s your chance. Next month at FinovateFall, we’ll host four fintech research analysts on stage as they pitch what they think is the top opportunity for banks and financial services companies.

Each analyst will have seven minutes on stage (slides allowed!) to describe their thoughts on what’s hot in fintech right now. Here’s who you can expect to see on stage:

Jacob Jegher

Jegher is an experienced fintech executive and digital banking thought leader. He advises clients on emerging technologies and business strategies related to retail, small business, and corporate digital banking. Jegher provides strategic consulting to financial institutions and solution providers on issues ranging from digital strategy to vendor selection. In addition to his client-facing responsibilities, Jacob leads Javelin’s overall strategy, marketing, and product development efforts.

Most recently, Jegher was Vice President of Global Solution Marketing and Head of Analyst Relations at FIS, where he was responsible for marketing strategy efforts across all business units and solutions. He also brings extensive expertise in the banking research and consulting field, having spent over 10 years as a Research Director at Celent.

Alyson Clarke

Clarke is a principal analyst at Forrester. With more than 19 years of financial services industry experience, she is a highly skilled expert with extensive industry experience in both wealth management and banking. Clarke has global expertise, having previously worked at Forrester in the financial services vertical in its Sydney, London, and San Francisco offices. She is now based in New York and specializes in digital and non-digital channel strategy and innovation, in particular the sales, service, and customer experience of financial services and advice across online channels, smartphones, tablets, and branches.

Daniel Latimore

Latimore, CFA, is the Senior Vice President of Celent’s Banking group and is based in the firm’s Boston office. Latimore’s areas of focus include the banking ecosystem, digital and omnichannel banking, and innovation. Underlying each is a keen interest in consumer behavior and technology-enabled strategy. Latimore is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and client gatherings, having addressed audiences ranging from intimate meetings of CEOs and central banks to conference keynotes in more than a dozen countries. He led research groups at Deloitte and IBM, worked in industry Liberty Mutual and Merrill Lynch (where he lived in New York, Tokyo and London), and was a consultant at McKinsey & Co.

Thad Peterson

Peterson is a senior analyst with Aite Group, focusing on the evolution of the payment space, the customer payment experience, and merchant acquiring.

Recognized as a global thought leader in payments, Peterson has a proven track record of identifying and developing new opportunities and technologies in payments and financial services. He has relevant expertise in applying customer behavior to the payments ecosystem in both corporate and startup environments. Peterson’s consulting background includes engagements on credit and debit cards, mobile payments, airline payment platforms, consumer and merchant loyalty, payment technology evolution, stored value, and product innovation. He holds patents in customer authentication and real-time mobile-enabled loyalty.

Peterson served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for four years and holds a degree in Special Education from the University of Idaho.


FinovateFallJoin us on September 24 through 26 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York to hear these experts talk about the latest in fintech. Register today.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • eToro Adds IOTA Cryptocurrency to Platform.
  • First Data Partners with Ellie Mae to Improve Security of Lending Payments
  • Check out our latest FinovateFall Sneak Peek featuring ebankIT.

Around the web

  • UMB Fund Services adopts Temenos tech for ETF drive.
  • EMIDA joins wireless independent dealer association.
  • InSpirAVE earns spot in Top 100 at the Innovate Celebrate Conference’s Startup of the Year competition.
  • Data-in-use security specialist Enveil announces technology integration with Gemalto.
  • Onfido adds new VP of Global Marketing, General Counsel, and Director of People.
  • FICO extends partnership with Equifax Canada.

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.

Dublin’s Leveris Picks Up Investment from Link Asset Services

Dublin’s Leveris Picks Up Investment from Link Asset Services

Irish banking-as-a-platform innovator Leveris announced a strategic investment from Link Asset Services late last week. The amount of the investment was undisclosed, and adds to the $34.3 million (€30 million) in capital the company raised to date.

Leveris founder and CEO Conor Fennelly highlighted Link Group as the leading independent European debt servicer with “deep knowledge of the lending and loan administration industry.” Fennelly added that the two firms “share(d) a common vision” in helping FIs use innovative technology to “evolve(e) banking into a simpler, more personal experience for everyone.”

The new partnership gives Link Group access to a platform that will enable it to grow its banking and credit management business. Specifically, the company plans to use the platform to take advantage of what Robbie Hughes, CEO of Business & Credit Management at Link Asset Services, called “the broader banking universe” made accessible by new technologies. “The Leveris platform delivers enhanced user experiences without complexity, simply and efficiently,” Hughes said.

Leveris’ modular, platform combines full-service, digital retail banking functionality – including deposit-taking and card issuance – with a lending solution. With a fully-integrated back-end, middleware, and front-end, and built using open standards, APIs and protocols, the solution makes it easy for FIs to integrate with third party apps and services. Leveris’ platform serves the needs of both traditional and challenger banks, as well as mortgage, personal, SME, and auto finance lending firms.

Founded in 2014, Leveris demonstrated its Leveris Lending solution at FinovateEurope 2017. In June, the company reported that it was “deep into a pan-European digital retail bank implementation,” having just “delivered a completely digital mortgage solution for a large BPO in the Benlux region”. This spring, the company announced an integration with P2P investment platform, Bondster Marketplace.

Named to the FinTech 100, and honored by the Irish Fintech Awards last fall,  Leveris is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company maintains research capabilities in the Czech Republic and Belarus.

SocietyOne Appoints New CEO as it Nears $500 Million in Total Lending

SocietyOne Appoints New CEO as it Nears $500 Million in Total Lending

Australian peer-to-peer lending company SocietyOne is shaking up its ranks as it approaches a lending milestone this week. The company appointed Mark Jones (pictured) as its new CEO, weeks after founder and former CEO Jason Yetton stepped down.

Jones, who has been with SocietyOne since February 2018, most recently served as chief financial officer and commercial director of SocietyOne. Prior to that role, he worked at WestPac for just over four years, serving in capacities including CFO to Director of Divisional Partnerships. Jones also brings experience from his tenure at Barclays and Citibank.

SocietyOne is celebrating its sixth anniversary this month, just as the company approaches $500 million in total lending since its product was launched in 2012. Since that time, SocietyOne has matched 20,000 customers with $480 million in loans from investors on its platform. The company anticipates it will surpass $500 million in September.

“The last 12 months have represented another year of growth, transformation, and progress,” said Jones. “We have seen continued growth in lending with more than $150 million originated since our fifth birthday.” Along with the boost in lending, Jones attributes the growth to an improvement in margins and disciplined cost management.

Additionally, Jones highlighted SocietyOne’s recent milestones:

  • Closed a strategic investor capital raise in January 2018
  • Appointed Simon Farrell as Chief Technology Officer and Ross Horsburgh as Chief Credit Officer
  • Launched a new personal loan offering through mortgage brokers
  • Ranked by The Australian Financial Review as #37 of the Top 100 Most Innovative Companies for 2018

“The next 6 months will be another exciting period of growth and innovation,” said Jones. Over the next two quarters, SocietyOne will improve the customer experience, build its brand, develop new investor tools, and create new partnerships.

SocietyOne presented its P2P lending platform at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore. The company offers borrowers personalized repayment programs with lower interest rates than major banks. Users can borrow between $5,000 to $50,000 for unsecured, personal loans for two, three, or five year terms.