FundAmerica Acquired by Prime Trust

FundAmerica Acquired by Prime Trust

From “key vendor” to acquirer, Prime Trust has just purchased crowdfunding regtech specialist FundAmerica. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In an email, FundAmerica CEO Scott Purcell emphasized the deep relationship between the two companies (Purcell is CEO of both firms and is Chief Trust Officer of Prime Trust). He wrote “Prime Trust (is) developing a massive amount of proprietary software on top of FundAmerica’s code-base, so the acquisition is symbiotic for everyone involved.”

FundAmerica builds SEC-compliant solutions for technology-based securities offerings. The company’s platform provides AML screening and bad actor checks, payment acceptance solutions for both fiat and cryptocurrencies, online investing, escrow management, and broker-dealer compliance and syndication tools. To date, FundAmerica has raised more than $750 million from 150,000 investors in more than 1,000 offerings.

Prime Trust is a blockchain-driven trust company that sees itself disrupting the traditional trust industry in the same way PayPal disrupted merchant processing. The firm serves as a custodian and trustee for personal and corporate trusts, as well as for crowdfunding platforms. It holds cash and non-cash assets including stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies.

Combining the two companies provides capital markets participants with a one-stop-shop in terms of both regulatory and custodial services. And Purcell pledged that there would be no disruption for clients and partners of FundAmerica or Prime Trust. “The APIs, the technology, and the services all continue without interruption,” Purcell wrote. “They will just get better and better.”

He added, “The important thing is that Prime Trust and FundAmerica are now unified and even better positioned to deliver best-in-class technology, compliance, trust, and custodial services to everyone involved in online capital markets; including ICOs and SCOs.”

Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, FundAmerica demonstrated its API for crowdfunding platform compliance at FinovateSpring 2015. Previous to its acquisition, the company had raised $2.3 million in funding.

Algomi Picks Up Investment from Euroclear

Algomi Picks Up Investment from Euroclear

Fixed income liquidity matching innovator Algomi is the recipient of new funding courtesy of an investment from Euroclear Information Services (EIS). Existing investors Euronext, AllianceBernstein, and S&P Global also participated. The exact amount of the funding was undisclosed; the company’s previous total capital stood at $14 million.

“Our investment in Algomi is driven by client demand to access untapped liquidity pools,” Euroclear CEO Peter Holder said. “This venture represents an opportunity to transform our data into an asset to increase transparency and provide a substantial boost for global fixed income markets.”

Algomi’s fundraising comes just a month after the company appointed a new CEO, Scott Eaton, who was formerly EMEA COO at MarketAxess. In a statement, Eaton praised Euroclear as a “partner who understands the value of information and the importance of improving liquidity in the fixed income market.”

The investment will enable EIS to improve liquidity in the global fixed income market by leveraging Algomi’s bond liquidity matching system to make information about specific bond holdings available anonymously. Counterparties can use Algomi’s data aggregation tool, ALFA, to access Euronext’s Synapse Multilateral Trading Facility to query and trade these securities.

Writing about the funding news, Algomi Head of Marketing and Communications Tim Binnington noted this would help increase both trading opportunities and transaction volume in the more illiquid fixed income products, including corporate and government bonds. Algomi acquired ALFA from AllianceBernstein last May in a deal that gave AllianceBernstein an undisclosed, minority stake in the company.

Founded in 2012, Algomi demonstrated Honeycomb, its buy-side GUI at FinovateFall 2014. This spring, the company was included in the Tech Tour Growth 50 – its third year in a row making the list of top European private technology companies with a valuation of less than $1 billion. In 2017, Algomi was named to CB Insights’ Fintech 250 roster.

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.

Asia-Pacific

  • Chinese fintech solutions provider Pintec files $70 million IPO.
  • Shwe Rural and Urban Development Bank in Myanmar partners with JMR Infotech to better scale its online services.
  • Hong Kong banks team up to launch blockchain-based trade finance platform.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • The Fintech Association of Nigeria celebrates its first anniversary.
  • Disrupt Africa looks at a pair of investments in Nigerian fintechs: CowryWise and Bitcoin Africa.
  • SophiaTX and South Africa’s ArkTree announce new strategic alliance to expand the global reach of blockchain technology

Central and Eastern Europe

  • Hungarian bank MKB, the fourth largest commercial bank in the country, deploys Oracle Flexcube to streamline operations.
  • Open banking platform innovator Token announces that its technology has been implemented by Sberbank in Slovenia.
  • Israel-based cashless payments solution and management platform Nayax opens office in Lithuania.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Jihad Azour, Director of IMF Middle East and Central Asia, delivers a speech at the Arab Economic Forum in Lebanon: Promoting the Inclusive Growth Agenda in the Arab Region.
  • Saudi Arabia grants its first set of fintech licenses to a pair of Saudi crowdfunding platforms, Manafa Capital and Scopeer.
  • Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) notes a strong start in 2018 with the number of active registered companies climbing by 8%.

Central and South Asia

  • Study from JP Morgan looks at the untapped opportunities in the Indian fintech space.
  • FSS introduces FSS eFinclusiv, a financial inclusion solution geared toward serving the underbanked in India.
  • Russia’s National Settlement Depository to connect Kyrgyzstan’s Bank of Asia to SWIFT.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • El Cronista interviews Rafael Hernandez, senior partner of fintech at Village Capital, on business opportunities in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Spanish.
  • Brazilian online broker Toro Investmentos begins operation this week.
  • Bank of Asia goes live as the first digital bank in the British Virgin Islands.

Top image designed by Freepik

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Algomi Picks Up Investment from Euroclear.

Around the web

  • YUKKA Lab selected to participate in the Swiss Kickstart Accelerator.
  • Finicity announces integration with SimpleNexus’ enterprise digital mortgage platform and mobile app.
  • Diebold Nixdorf teams up with Progress Systems to bring self-service cash withdraw and deposit services to credit unions in Ireland.
  • Lending Club appoints Ronnie Momen as Chief Lending Officer.
  • Kabbage appoints Scott Rosenberg as CFO.
  • BeSmartee integrates with Equifax to automate service options.
  • Crowdfund Insider: OurCrowd celebrates 5 years with $750 million raised, 160 companies & 21 exits.

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.

Equifax Acquires DataX to Promote Financial Inclusion

Equifax Acquires DataX to Promote Financial Inclusion

Consumer insights and credit scoring company Equifax made its 18th acquisition this week. The Georgia-based firm purchased credit reporting agency and alternative data provider DataX.

The move is expected to promote financial inclusion for underbanked consumers by helping lenders expand access to credit. DataX’s alternative data stores complement Equifax’s core credit database, as well as specific services such as The Work Number, Equifax’s centralized repository of payroll data. Equifax will also benefit from DataX’s analytics and identity solutions, as well as credit reporting, ID verification, bank account verification, and custom risk services.

“Giving consumers fair access to credit has always been a key economic driver for upward mobility, and this acquisition will help more consumers gain access to credit and capital,” said Trey Loughran, president of United States Information Solutions at Equifax. “The combination of DataX’s data with Equifax’s unique and robust data assets will add more depth to consumer’s profiles and will help lenders expand borrowing options.”

As a part of the transition, the DataX brand and its 18 employees have been integrated into Equifax’s Banking and Lending Division. Other recent acquisitions in Equifax’s portfolio include ID Watchdog and Veda Advantage.

At FinovateFall 2011, Equifax showcased the benefits of the Equifax Complete features of its mobile app. Last week, the company teamed up with Thinking Capital to launch BillMarket, a solution that helps small businesses in Canada extend payment terms and increase their purchasing power. Earlier this year, Equifax appointed a new CTO, launched NeuroDecision technology for neural network modeling, and unveiled Lock & Alert, a service that helps consumers quickly lock and unlock their Equifax credit report.

Founded in 1899, Equifax is publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker EFX. The company’s market cap sits at $15.2 billion.

Sberbank in Slovenia Partners with Open Banking Platform Provider Token

Sberbank in Slovenia Partners with Open Banking Platform Provider Token

By partnering with Token.io, the open banking platform provider based in San Francisco, California, Sberbank in Slovenia is signaling more than just its compliance with PSD2. Instead Slovenia’s seventh largest bank seeks to move beyond PSD2 compliance and toward a full embrace of open banking.

“Our choice to work with Token reflects our commitment to shaping a new era of banking and payments,” Aleš Zajc, Deputy CEO in charge of retail banking for Sberbank in Slovenia, said. Zajc added that the technology would enable the bank to provide customers with a better, safer experience. “With Token’s frictionless authentication programmed into each transaction,” Zajc said, “we will be able to increase payment speed and convenience without ever compromising on security.”

Token enables banks to issue and redeem payment and account data authorizations as programmable smart tokens. Smart tokens are unique to the transactions they represent, and because account information is never transmitted beyond the bank, the technology helps minimize security risks. Not only does this make Token’s technology an ideal deployment for banks looking to meet PSD2 requirements, smart tokens can also serve as the basis for faster, more secure online transactions for customers.

“Token offers the industry’s simplest and most secure transaction-based open banking API, which will provide Sberbank Slovenia quicker data aggregation and direct payments driven by Smart Token technology,” Token CEO and founder Steve Kirsch explained. “Crucially, our cloud-based platform will give Sberbank both flexibility and scalability when creating and handling transactions.”

Token’s news comes one month after the company announced that it would facilitate direct payments for cross border payments platform and fellow Finovate alum, Caxton. Also last month, the company completed the first Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) to complete an end-to-end payment via a public bank API. In May, Token was granted FCA authorization for open banking payment and information services, and partnered with Paymentworld Europe to enable direct payments for the Malta-based electronic money institution.

Founded in 2015, Token demonstrated its technology at FinovateEurope 2017. With $18.5 million in funding, the company includes EQT Ventures, OP Financial Group, Octopus Ventures, and Plug and Play among its investors. Check out our conversation on open banking and PSD2 with Token’s VP of Marketing, Marten Nelson, from earlier this year.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Sberbank in Slovenia Partners with Open Banking Platform Provider Token.
  • Equifax Acquires DataX to Promote Financial Inclusion.

Around the web

  • Wirecard and Mastercard collaborate to make contactless payments using wearable technology more accessible.
  • Roostify expands leadership ranks with new Chief Customer Officer, new VP of Sales, and new General Counsel.
  • VyStar Credit Union ($7.6 billion in assets) to upgrade core banking solution with technology from FIS.
  • Hyperwallet to provide mass payment distribution for content processing platform, Wordapp.com.
  • Premier America Credit Union ($2.5 billion in assets) to deploy core processing technology from Jack Henry & Associates.
  • Santander integrates nCino’s Bank Operating System.
  • Carte Wealth Management to launch advisor engagement platform powered by DigitalReach from BlueRush.
  • TechCrunch reports: Coinbase Reportedly Gets Approval from US regulators to Start Listing Tokenized Securities.
  • Ephesoft releases new Swagger/OpenAPI-web services for Ephesoft Transact.

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.

Ninety-Nine Problems But Innovation Isn’t One

Ninety-Nine Problems But Innovation Isn’t One

We’ve asked our FinovateFall demo companies to use a Mad Libs fill-in-the blank format to describe themselves in order to get to the heart of the matter: What have they built? What problems are they solving and for whom? And, finally, how do they do it?

The demoing companies that will take the stage this September at FinovateFall 2018 reflect some of the most impressive innovations in financial technology today. And we can’t wait to tell you more about them. Remember that tickets to FinovateFall are available online. Save $600 when you book before this Friday, July 20.

FinovateFall 2018 Demo Lineup

  • Access Softek uses AI and machine learning to enable financial institutions to combat the growing and evolving risk of fraud.
  • Adobe‘s integrated solution leverages AI and facial recognition to remove friction from accessing money while improving security for retail banking channel executives.
  • AI Foundry‘s end-to-end mortgage origination solution uses AI and machine learning to extract relevant data and classify documents to improve data sharing and comparing for banks and mortgage origination companies.
  • aixigo‘s digital wealth management technology provides high-performance front-office functionality for retail banks, financial advisors, wealth and asset managers via a modular, predefined API-first high performance platform.
  • Ak Bars Digital Technologies‘ video validation system allows retail businesses to accept payments by leveraging highly accurate recognition models.
  • Alpharank uses debit and credit card data to map offline social networks enabling financial institutions to identify synthetic fraud.
  • Arcanum Technology‘s authentication solution uses a patented dynamic virtual interface leveraging proprietary DARC Cipher to combat password/data breach/hacks and password fatigue for financial institutions and services.
  • Averon‘s login solution solves the lengthy, difficult (and oftentimes frustrating) login process for the financial community (all areas).
  • Ballooning Nest Eggs‘ gifting platform allows parents to share their kids’ slew of celebrations and subtly prompt and easily enable their network to gift directly into the kids’ (pregnancy to age 13) investment accounts.
  • Banzai‘s financial literacy solution uses a choose-your-own-adventure simulation allowing people to make decisions and experience consequences in a fun, safe environment.
  • Billshark‘s API powers a white-label bill reduction solution for consumers and small businesses.
  • Biometric Signature ID uses biometric passwords drawn with a finger or mouse to help financial institutions prevent imposters from stealing passwords and committing fraud.
  • BlueRush‘s DigitalReach software creates and distributes interactive and personalized digital experiences to improve engagement and conversion rates for advisors (wealth, insurance, and mortgage).
  • Bond.ai‘s ’empathy engine’ — a human-centered AI platform — closes the gap and disconnect between banks & consumers.
  • Bucket Technologies‘ digitalization of coins at the point of sale aims to eliminate the wasteful cycle of physical coins
    for retailers & cash-paying consumers.
  • Bumped gives easy access to the stock market for over half the population who doesn’t traditionally invest by allowing them to own the brands they love.
  • CashDirector‘s Virtual CFO application uses an automated accounting platform integrated with online banking to improve SME lending & cash management.
  • Cashoff enhances customer engagement with its loyalty program offering cash back by big-name brands.
  • Cloud Lending Solutions‘ configurable digital engagement platform allows financial institutions to provide online experiences to their borrowers without writing any code.
  • Crypterium‘s mobile app solves the challenges of using cryptocurrencies for payments for the millions of people across the globe who recognize the advantages of cryptocurrencies over fiat money.
  • Digital Onboarding‘s SaaS platform uses guided digital journeys, SMS reminders, and machine learning algorithms to remedy poor customer/member activation rates for banks and credit unions.
  • DualAuth secures payments through the use of mutual authentication via mobile and beacons.
  • ebankIT uses out-of-the-box digital channels for bank and credit union digital transformation.
  • ecosystem.Ai‘s Computational Social Science Platform uses a Client Pulse Responder to solve financial behavior analytics for transaction clients.
  • Enova Decisions has solved the “cold start” problem in algorithmic decision making for businesses entering new markets with digital decisioning technology, machine learning, big data, business rules management and optimization.
  • Enterprise Engineering has developed the next generation of data aggregation to solve the security, ownership, transparency and data management challenges of of open banking.
  • Envestnet Yodlee‘s Business Intelligence Solution allows financial institutions, wealth management firms and fintech companies to understand and sell new products and services to customers at the right time using breadth and depth of financial data coupled with AI-driven consumer apps and robust and easy to understand data analytics.
  • ETFLogic‘s “Quant-in-a-Box” Software Solution solves questions around the liquidity and risk of ETFs using Quant Tools and Analytics that traditionally have been difficult to understand or calculate.
  • exagens Personal Banker: autonomous digital banking assistant with proven results increasing conversion rates & retention while lowering costs.
  • Experian has developed an enterprise-grade SaaS platform to enable precise customer decisions across the life cycle using a unique blend of best in class data, analytics and decisions strategies. This includes helping financial institutions make lending decisions with less risk.
  • FI.SPAN‘s cloud-based services management platform uses APIs to connect customers and fintechs to financial institutions in the US and Canada with over $5bn in assets and significant commercial and business banking.
  • Fortr3ss‘ Oracle service to Corda and Ethereum blockchains uses intelligent voice biometrics and artificial intelligence to solve the identity of node players in smart contracts for financial and healthcare institutions adopting blockchain.
  • Fraternitas looks beyond credit scores to promote financial inclusion in underserved communities and among individuals with little credit history.
  • Golden‘s financial assistant app helps the 75 million baby-boomer adults managing the finances of 50 million senior parents.
  • Horizn‘s Knowledge Platform solves digital adoption and digital transformation for financial service employees and their customers using proprietary micro-learning and engagement methodology.
  • ID R&D‘s biometric authentication solutions use scientific breakthroughs, proprietary research and frictionless UX.
  • ieDigital‘s financial health tool gives credit unions an opportunity to deepen their connection with customers by offering them a solution to manage their day-to-day cash flow.
  • iGTB‘s “Contextual Banking Experience” targets customer dissatisfaction with the current, traditional corporate banking experience using APIs, AI, machine learning, “best-next action” recommendations and “best next offer” point-of-need bank product offerings.
  • ING Bank‘s Invoice Financing solves the challenge of irregular liquidity gaps for entrepreneurs and SMEs using a quick and self-explanatory online platform.
  • Interactions‘ omnichannel Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA) uses a blend of AI and human understanding to solve frustrating customer experiences with banks.
  • ITSCREDIT‘s Instant Credit Express solution creates new payment methods with better conditions for both customers and non-customers of financial institutions.
  • James Finance is a one-stop shop for credit risk management allowing lenders to easily create, validate, deploy, and monitor regulation-ready, high-performing predictive models.
  • Launchfire’s game-based platforms motivate and change customer & employee behavior to drive adoption of digital banking products.
  • Lendindex provides innovative lending and credit scoring solutions for small businesses and investors.
  • LoanScorecard‘s non-agency automated underwriting technology solves portfolio and non-QM lending challenges for financial institutions.
  • Meniga targets lack of customer engagement and loyalty and uses internal and 3rd party data to drastically improve the digital banking user experience for bank and financial institution customers worldwide.
  • Modelshop‘s automation platform enables great agility for financial service firms creating intelligent business applications.
  • MuniRisk solves information fragmentation for municipal market participants.
  • Namaste Credit‘s automated credit assessment memo tool improves SME application review time and accuracy using image enhancement, OCR and advanced analytics.
  • NestReady‘s machine learning predictive analytics model gives visibility into the homebuying customer lifecycle for mortgage lenders so that they can analyze their portfolio and take action in a timely manner.
  • Nordigen Solutions‘ data analytics solution equips banks and alternative lenders with a better understanding of their customers.
  • Ocrolus‘ underwriting AI uses human empowered automation to help alternative lenders solve issues of human variation and inefficiency.
  • Onfido‘s AI-enabled technology uses facial biometrics and document checks to help global financial services businesses with digital identity verification.
  • Paper.id‘s automated invoice financing system helps SMEs get access to credit when they have a limited number of tangible assets that can be used as collateral.
  • Partner HUB‘s white-label platform resolves the integration of e-invoicing and payments for banks as backbone of a globally interoperable e-invoicing network.
  • PasswordPing‘s compromised credential screening solution uses secure APIs tied to a salted and strongly hashed backend database of billions of compromised credentials from the dark web to stop authorized authentication by cybercriminals.
  • Prisma Campaigns‘ omnichannel marketing campaigns orchestrator uses machine learning to deliver real time segmented and personalized offers and solve cross-selling challenges on digital and non digital channels for financial institutions of all types and sizes.
  • Relay‘s CX Builder leverages the automated creation and delivery of proactive, prescribed digital solutions to solve crucial moments in the customer lifecycle for digital and CX focused leaders in banking and financial services.
  • RightCapital‘s financial planning API linked to its financial planning software allows financial advisory firms to provide planning advice for prospects and clients throughout their relationship.
  • Round Pegs‘ platform channels the agility of startups for businesses undertaking digital transformation.
  • Salemove improves customer engagement and experience using instant live video chat and guided browsing with no downloads and no installations required.
  • Saylent Technologies‘ customer engagement platform translates data into actionable insights using experience, data science and machine learning.
  • SecuredTouch balances security and user experience by using behavior biometrics for authentication and fraud detection.
  • Sezzle‘s payment platform solves the lack of credit available to young consumers using gamification and progressive credit profiling to give them purchasing power when they need it.
  • Simpler Trading‘s charting software gives both early and expert traders insights into investments.
  • Sitehands combines the right skills, tools, instructions, and material to deliver IT field services for its customers, partners, and technicians.
  • Spreedly‘s single API connects into a complete, flexible payments infrastructure that supports new business models and new markets.
  • Stealth Security‘s network defenses use invisible (to criminals) detection and deceptive mitigation to guard against web, mobile & API bot attacks.
  • Systelos‘ discovery and collaboration platform eases the friction in exchanging value between financial advisors and their clients.
  • Tala Security targets advanced security attacks against web apps as well as PC and mobile web users.
  • TESOBE‘s developer friendly and modern APIs move banks into the digital age.
  • Tinkoff Bank‘s “Stories” feature delivers best targeted offers and increases transactional activity and financial awareness for customers.
  • Tolerisk‘s SaaS tool solves the problem of weak, one-dimensional risk tolerance assessments for investment advisors.
  • unblu helps the world’s leading banks to increase revenue and reduce costs by delivering an in-person experience online that helps them provide a better user experience to their prospects and customers.
  • US Bank‘s Cadre uses push provisioning, AI and chatbot technologies to solve the challenges of business travel and expenses for employees without corporate cards.
  • Vments‘ enterprise digital banking platform & ecosystem brings banks and financial services into the modern, secure era using non-crypto blockchain-based virtual fiat money and scalable/flexible smart transactions.
  • Vymo‘s intelligent personal assistant uses automation and AI to increase sales productivity for enterprise teams.

Mastercard Teams Up with Worldpay to Launch ‘Pay by Bank’ in the U.K.

Mastercard Teams Up with Worldpay to Launch ‘Pay by Bank’ in the U.K.

With Pay by Bank, Mastercard and Worldpay are making it easy for shoppers in the U.K. to pay directly from their bank account when purchasing goods and services online. The technology, originally developed by Zapp (which was a division of VocaLink, a company Mastercard acquired in 2016) is expected to be available to customers of HSBC in the second half of 2018. Additional customers will be added later in the year, with new merchants to be added starting early in 2019.

“This is the latest way we’re able to deliver on consumer’s expectations, whether they’re shopping online or paying for utilities,” Mark Barnett, president of Mastercard U.K., Ireland, Nordics, and Baltics. “(Pay by Bank) is set to play a big role in U.K. digital commerce as more banks and merchants offer this as a payment option to millions of their customers.”

The initiative and partnership is also likely to play a big role in Mastercard’s ability to participate in the U.K. debit market, where Visa is common. The agreement will also enable Mastercard to leverage Worldpay’s strong market share in the U.K.

“Through this partnership, Worldpay and Mastercard will help expand payment acceptance options for U.K. consumers and retailers by leveraging account-to-account payments technology with Mastercard’s Pay by Bank app,” Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer for Worldpay Kevin McCarten said. “This – combined with our joint efforts in making digital payments even more convenient and secure globally – creates a powerful partnership that benefits all payments stakeholders.”

Some of the technical features of the new solution include support for EMVCo’s Secure Remote Commerce (SRC), a framework that provides a consistent payment experience for consumers, as well as Mastercard’s Digital Enablement Service which uses a token for enhanced payment security as opposed to a card’s primary 16-digit account number. Worldpay will also take advantage of Mastercard’s MoneySend to enable merchants to get settlement payments to Mastercard debit cards faster.

Mastercard partnered with Vipera for a demonstration of SME Pay at FinovateEurope 2018. SME Pay is a mobile payment solution geared specifically toward small business owners. The technology gives business operators the ability to control how and when company payment cards are used, and includes capture features to make record-keeping and expense reporting easier.

The company made its most recent solo appearance at a Finovate conference the previous year at FinovateFall 2017, where it demonstrated its Cash Pick-Up solution. The technology enables a wide variety of disbursers – from P2P providers and corporate entities to NGOs and government agencies – to deliver cash to consumers through enabled ATMs without requiring a card. In addition to helping serve the underbanked, the solution can be used for emergency funds when cards are lost or stolen, P2P payments, or even for disaster relief. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “MA,” Mastercard has a market capitalization of $213 billion. The company was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.

Worldpay participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016. The company’s presentation, It’s Not Just About Getting Paid, It’s About the Payment Journey, discussed the importance of implementing a “consumer friendly buying journey” when it comes to growing sales. Worldpay provides technology-led payment products and services to more than 400,000 customers using more than 300 different payment types. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in London, U.K., Worldpay merged with Vanitv at the beginning of the year in a deal valued at $10 billion.

ACH Alert Reports Record Growth, Stops More Than $388 Million in Fraudulent Transactions

ACH Alert Reports Record Growth, Stops More Than $388 Million in Fraudulent Transactions

Electronic payments fraud prevention specialist ACH Alert has doubled its staff in response to record growth, the Tennessee-based fintech announced this week. The company partnered with more financial institutions in the past 12 months than in the last four years combined, it reported. Over the same time, ACH Alert has prevented more than $388 million in fraudulent transactions.

“Our extensive product suite, including our enterprise level check positive pay service with full back-end reconcilement and payee positive pay, have helped financial institutions prevent millions of dollars in fraudulent transactions, resulting in ACH Alert’s explosive growth and increased demand for our services,” company CEO Deborah Peace said. “As we continue to grow, we plan to use this momentum to protect a greater number of financial institutions and their account holders from payments fraud, as well as the frustration and financial loss associated with it.”

ACH Alert CEO Deborah Peace demonstrating Fraud Prevention HQ at FinovateSpring 2017.

ACH Alert demonstrated its Fraud Prevention HQ at FinovateSpring 2017. The company, which monitored more than $817 billion in transactions over the past year, partners with financial institutions to provide automated fraud detection and prevention services. ACH Alert’s technology protects a variety of payment types against fraud including incoming and outgoing ACH, wire transfers, and checks. The company’s solutions enable banks and credit unions to send actionable alerts to account holders when suspicious activity is detected, giving account holders the opportunity to stop the transaction before it occurs. This combination of automated fraud prevention and “shifting control to the account holder” is a key differentiator in ACH Alert’s ability to help FIs and their customers combat fraud.

Headquartered in Ooltewah, Tennessee and founded in 2007, ACH Alert won the 2016 BankNews Innovative Solutions Award for its Fraud Prevention HQ solution. Earlier this year, the company introduced new anti-fraud solutions for real-time payments and ACH credits. Trustmark National Bank, Venture Bank, and Hancock Whitney Bank are among ACH Alert’s customers. Read our profile of the company from last fall featuring a Q&A with CEO Peace.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • ACH Alert Reports Record Growth, Stops More than $388 Million in Fraudulent Transactions.
  • Mastercard Teams Up with Worldpay to Launch Pay by Bank in the U.K.

Around the web

  • NetGuardians becomes a certified Avaloq software partner for real-time fraud prevention.
  • Temenos inks multi-year investor servicing contract with Northern Trust.
  • Worldline picks up PISP and AISP licenses from National Bank of Belgium.
  • Enveil earns Standard Technology Partner status in Amazon Web Services partner network.
  • Lleida.net credits new GDPR legislation in the EU for surge in sales for first half of 2018.
  • Equifax acquires specialty credit reporting agency DataX.
  • CFE Federal Credit Union implements Larky’s Engagement Platform.
  • Ledger launches Ledger Live, the all-in-one companion app to your Ledger device.
  • Xero integrates with BBVA’s API Market for small businesses.
  • Lendio expands the Lendio franchise in Rochester, New York.

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.

MapD Launches Latest Version of its Analytics Platform

MapD Launches Latest Version of its Analytics Platform

MapD, a next generation database and visualization layer capable of providing immersive, instantaneous analytics on large and complex datasets, has released the latest version of its technology.

“(We) never thought about the MapD platform as ‘just’ a super fast SQL engine that can leverage GPUs or ‘just’ an immersive, interactive visualization solution,” wrote Venkat Krishnamurthy, VP of Product Management, at the MapD blog. “MapD has always been both, and we care about creating technology for a unified MapD experience around interactivity at scale.”

MapD CEO Todd Mostak demonstrating MapD Core and MapD Immerse at FinovateSpring 2017.

MapD 4.0 adds geospatial data types, an improved rendering engine, and enhancements with the technology’s query engine. These updates make it even easier for analysts to manage and interact with exceptionally large datasets that feature both spatial and temporal data. The ability to examine geospatial data on a map or time series chart, noted Krishnamurthy, provides analysts with “context and visual signals that we can understand clearly and intuitively.”

The new version brings several new features to both MapD Core, the foundation of the MapD Extreme Analytics Platform, and MapD Render, which instantly creates the interactive charts and geospatial visualizations from server-side GPUs. “With MapD 4.0, we’re taking the first big step toward making geospatial analytics available to any user,” Krishnamurthy noted, “from an experienced GIS analyst or data scientist who can write complex SQL queries over location enriched data to a business user of MapD Immerse who wants to go a step beyond mainstream BI tools to derive insight quickly and visually from the same data.”

MapD CEO Todd Mostak demonstrated the MapD platform – including Core and Immerse – at FinovateSpring 2017. With partners including NVIDIA, Google Cloud, IBM, and the Microsoft Accelerator Program, MapD has raised more than $37 million in funding from investors including New Enterprise Associates and Vanedge Capital. Earlier this year, MapD launched a cloud-based version of its offering MapD Cloud. The company was named to the insideBIGDATA IMPACT 50 list in April.