Tradeshift Pay to Free Up $9 Trillion in Cash Trapped in Accounts Receivable

Tradeshift Pay to Free Up $9 Trillion in Cash Trapped in Accounts Receivable
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Tradeshift

Supply chain payments company Tradeshift is unifying supply chain payments elements with the launch of Tradeshift Pay. The California-based company’s cloud platform will bring together supply chain payments, supply chain finance, and blockchain-based early payments in a single offering.

The aim of Tradeshift Pay is to relinquish the $9 trillion in liquid capital that businesses have held up in accounts receivable, often caused by a disconnect between businesses and their suppliers. Tradeshift Pay offers buyers a single wallet that supports a variety of payment options, including virtual card payments, dynamic discounting, supply chain finance through bank partners, and blockchain-based payments. More than a dozen major banks and card providers support Tradeshift Pay, including HSBC, Santander, and CreditEase.

“In an industry where 50% of U.S. payments are check-based and companies around the world struggle to access finance and payments, Tradeshift Pay is a real enabler for the digitally connected economy,” said Christian Lanng, Tradeshift CEO and co-founder. “For the first time, businesses can go to one single wallet to handle all their payments, end-to-end, across all channels. And for the first time, you can do both regular and blockchain-based early payments in one platform in the cloud.”

Leveraging the blockchain not only democratizes the solution for unbanked businesses, it also allows businesses to get paid faster– lowering the average payment receipt time from 45 days down to a couple of days.

Tradeshift launched its business commerce platform in 2010 and now connects more than 1.5 million companies across 190 countries. At FinovateEurope 2012, Tradeshift demoed Instant Payments, which allows small businesses to receive payments instantly on the Tradeshift platform in exchange for a small interest rate. Earlier this year, Tradeshift launched Tradeshift Frontier, an innovation lab aimed at applying emerging enabling technologies to the supply chain. Headquartered in San Francisco, Tradeshift has offices in Copenhagen, New York, London, Paris, Suzhou, Tokyo, Munich, Frankfurt, Sydney, Bucharest, Oslo, Stockholm, and Kuala Lumpur.

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International Invoicing Platform from Flywire Emerges from Beta

International Invoicing Platform from Flywire Emerges from Beta
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Flywire

Global payment and receivables solutions provider Flywire has added a new international invoicing service to its offerings. The solution, which has been delivering thousands of invoices worldwide every month as part of a six month beta with select customers, will be available free of charge and can be deployed as a stand-alone product or integrated with Flywire’s payments and receivables platform.

The new solution features support for more than 100+ currencies, automatic invoice reminders, recurring and monthly installment invoicing, robust analytics and reporting, and built-in business and country-specific compliance requirements and instructions. The technology seamlessly integrates with the company’s accounting software as well as with most enterprise applications.

Flywire CEO Mike Massaro pointed out that there is a big difference for most companies when it comes to domestic billing compared to international billing. Calling the former “simple and straightforward,” Massaro said, “When it comes to international billing, the process is far more complex, and if your invoicing does not make it easy for your international customers to pay you, it creates a domino effect of problems starting with extended DSO, high reconciliation costs, compliance issues, and poor customer satisfaction.”

Flywire’s new global service comes as the Boston, Massachusetts-based company makes additional headlines on the international front courtesy of a partnership with the SP Jain School of Global Management. Announced this week, Flywire and SP Jain will host a competition for student-led start-ups in Singapore and the APAC region. The first-of-its kind contest will launch later in May and Flywire is using the prize money it received from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) last year to fund the competition.

“With this initiative, we are able to harness the power of our MAS FinTech win to fuel the next generation of thought leaders and industry change-makers in Singapore and throughout APAC,” Flywire APAC Managing Director Andrew Ong said. “It was important to be able to pay it forward with a challenging and relevant programme that we hope will eventually produce the next innovative startups.”

Founded in 2009 and making its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2011 as peerTransfer, the company rebranded in the fall of 2015 to Flywire. Along with expansion to its U.S. and European offices, the rebrand better positioned the company for “sustained growth, expansion of its products and services, and creation of lasting relationships with its payment users.”

More recently, Flywire announced a partnership with Billtrust to streamline cross-border accounts receivables. This spring, the company teamed up with Flutterwave to integrate the African payments API as the preferred cross-border payments option for students, patients, and businesses in Nigeria.

Flywire has raised more than $43 million in funding and includes Bain Capital Ventures, QED Investors, and Spark Capital among its investors.

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eToro Launches Cryptocurrency Exchange, Expands to U.S.

eToro Launches Cryptocurrency Exchange, Expands to U.S.
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: eToro

Social trading platform eToro is broadening its expertise this month, announcing its entrance into the cryptocurrency exchange market, the launch of a mobile wallet, as well as an expansion into the U.S. market.

The exchange and wallet will be available across the globe, marking the company’s first availability in the U.S. market, where eToro will offer 10 different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, Ethereum Classic, NEO, and EOS. There is currently no date set for the launch of the crypto exchange and mobile wallet, but eToro said the features will be “gradually introduced globally over the coming months.”

In a blog post announcing the launch, eToro CEO Yoni Assia said, “U.S. crypto holders have a strong appetite for diversified portfolios.” He added, “we’re committed to offering the best tools and assets to help them manage their investments all in one place.”

eToro has been serving the European region since it was founded in 2007, and this is the company’s first foray into the U.S. market. While the company hasn’t announced the official date for its U.S. launch, it has disclosed that the service will only be available in a select number of U.S. states, including California. The lag time is attributed to regulation– each state has varying cryptocurrency laws and it is unclear if some tokens are considered securities that must be registered with the SEC.

Leading eToro’s U.S. launch is Guy Hirsch, who previously served as director of innovation strategy at Samsung. “We know that there is a strong demand in the U.S. for crypto and we are excited to be able to offer U.S. investors the opportunity to learn about and invest across multiple cryptocurrencies,” said Hirsch.

eToro joins the cryptowallet space as a competitor to successful exchange platform Coinbase, which recently began offering cryptocurrency investment tools (a product eToro launched in 2014) and is now seeking to apply for a federal banking license. In an interview with Fortune, Assia said that the company’s social media features and its copy trading tools grant eToro a competitive advantage in the U.S. market, despite well-established incumbent players such as Coinbase.

Assia, along with the company’s VP of Product, Tal Ben-Simon, demonstrated CopyFunds for Partners at FinovateEurope 2017. Since then, the company has gone on to raise $100 million in Series E funding, which it announced in March, that more than doubled its funding to $162 million. And eToro hinted at more releases to come, saying, “As major as these announcements are, we have even more to offer and our clients can be sure we will have some more exciting announcements for them in the near future.”

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Compass Plus, eToro, Finastra, Flywire, Kabbage, Neener Analytics, Ondot Systems, Tradeshift

On Finovate.com

  • eToro Launches Cryptocurrency Exchange, Expands to U.S.
  • Tradeshift’s Tradeshift Pay to Free Up $9 Trillion in Cash Trapped in Accounts Receivable.
  • International Invoicing Platform from Flywire Emerges from Beta.

Around the web

  • Compass Plus adds interchange functionality to its open development payments platform, TranzAxis.
  • Finastra names Jim Fiesel Managing Director of Capital Markets and Lending Sales for the Americas.
  • eToro to incorporate in Gibraltar to take advantage of new DLT regulatory framework.
  • Neener Analytics completes proof of concept with one of Mexico’s largest credit card issuers.
  • Multiple-time Best of Show winner Ondot Systems announces more than  3,000 financial institutions are offering mobile card controls powered by its technology.

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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Avalara Files for IPO

Avalara Files for IPO
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Avalara

Tax compliance specialist Avalara hinted at big plans for its 14-year-old company this week. The Seattle-based firm filed to go public, according to an S-1 registration statement filed on May 11.

According to the document, Avalara plans to raise $150 million in common stock proceeds for the IPO. In the S-1 registration statement, the company said its plans for the funds are “to use the net proceeds from this offering for general corporate purposes” which it expects will include “headcount expansion, continued investment in our sales and marketing efforts, product development, general and administrative matters, and working capital.” Avalara also plans to use a portion of the proceeds to “repay the outstanding balance under our revolving credit facility.”

While the timing of the IPO has not been disclosed, Avalara intends to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker AVLR.

Since it was founded in 2004, Avalara has grown to serve 7,760 core customers and has raised $340 million from investors such as TCV, Battery Ventures, and Sageview Capital. The company has made four acquisitions, including VATlive, VAT Applications, HotSpot Tax, and EZTax.

Avalara presented at our developers conference at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 on “The Wacky World of Sales Tax,” showing its APIs available for developers. Earlier this month, the company won QAD’s Solution Partner of the Year award.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Akamai, Avalara, Hidden Levers, TransferWise, Xero

On Finovate.com

Around the web

  • Akamai Technologies teams with Salesforce to launch the Akamai Connector for Salesforce Commerce Cloud, enabling enterprises to provide personalized experiences for shoppers.
  • Summit Equities selects HiddenLevers for inclusion in next-gen technology platform for advisors.

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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Tavant Teams with Freddie Mac

Tavant Teams with Freddie Mac
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Tavant

A new partnership between digital mortgagetech solutions company Tavant and Freddie Mac is aiming to simplify loan data submission.

This week, the two are collaborating on the launch of a one-click submission for Freddie Mac’s automated underwriting system, Loan Product Advisor. The new tool leverages machine learning to enable lenders to submit loan data to both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a single click and quickly receive a list of borrower options.

“We are enabling mortgage lenders to thrive in the digital era. Our partnership with Freddie Mac will increase productivity, improve accuracy in the loan decisioning and underwriting process and reduce the overall origination cycle time. It provides intelligent support throughout the loan lifecycle and reduces the overall cost of loan origination,” said Hassan Rashid, CRO of Tavant.

To kick off the partnership, California-based Tavant will pilot the new tool with four unnamed lenders. The company demoed VELOX, an AI-powered digital lending product that offers an omnichannel, end-to-end experience for mortgages, at FinovateSpring 2017. Founded in 2000, Tavant employs more than 2,500 people who serve customers across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

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Envestnet | Yodlee, Quovo, and Morningstar Unite On Secure Open Data Access Framework

Envestnet | Yodlee, Quovo, and Morningstar Unite On Secure Open Data Access Framework
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Envestnet, Quovo

For those who believe the benefits of GDPR and open banking-like policies can be achieved in the U.S. without the intervention of government regulation, the announcement that Envestnet | Yodlee, Quovo, and Morningstar have formed a joint initiative to support secure, open data access for consumers is welcome news, indeed.

“Through our involvement in existing industry groups focused on data access standards, we have noticed that consumers are not always as top-of-mind as they should be,” said Anil Arora, CEO of Envestnet | Yodlee. “The principles released today reiterate our belief that it is the consumer’s right to both access their data and permit it to be references through trusted third-party tools and applications, and that this consumer-permissioned access should not be limited or restricted.”

The Secure Open Data Access (SODA) framework is designed to promote transparency and accountability within the financial services ecosystem, and features four primary tenets:

  • Consumers must be able to access their financial account data for the purposes of using any legitimate application
  • Consumers must provide affirmative consent on the basis of clear and conspicuous disclosure regarding the use of their data
  • All entities who handle consumer account information must adhere to best practices for security standards and implement traceability and transparency
  • The entity responsible for a consumer’s financial loss must make the consumer whole. All stakeholders in the ecosystem have shared responsibility – this will start with traceability in the United States and move towards shared responsibility just like Europe.

Calling data sharing “a critical drive of innovation within financial services,” Quovo CEO Lowell Putnam added, “as custodians of financial data, we all have a duty to ensure that consumers are empowered to access their data safely, securely, and with full transparency into how it is being used. Our joint framework provides direction for the industry on how to fulfill this responsibility.”

The initiative’s full statement of joint principles for consumers, financial institutions, aggregators, and policymakers was published at the Envestnet | Yodlee blog.

A leading provider of intelligent systems for wealth management and financial wellness, Envestnet acquired Best of Show-winning financial data aggregation and analytics platform Yodlee in 2015 for $660 million. Together, Envestnet | Yodlee unveiled a single API solution to support PSD2 and open banking compliance earlier this year and forged partnerships with open banking innovators like fellow Finovate alum Token. Envestnet |Yodlee demonstrated its Financial Health Check solution at FinovateFall 2017, winning Best of Show honors.

Quovo participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr New York 2017, in partnership with SoFi. The data platform presented “How Quovo and SoFi Perfected Bank Authentication” at the event, explaining how its Authentication API for SoFi provided secure authentication of financial accounts while removing friction from the customer journey. Founded in 2010, Quovo is headquartered in New York City.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Envestnet, Fenergo, Flywire, Infosys, nCino, ProfitStars, Quovo

On Finovate.com

  • Envestnet | Yodlee, Quovo, and Morningstar Unite on Secure Open Data Access Framework.

Around the web

  • nCino extends its Bank Operating System with its new Retail Sales and Service Solution.
  • Fenergo to bring client lifestyle management services to business and technology consultancy, Delta Capita.
  • ProfitStars division of Jack Henry & Associates goes live with its ImageCenter Express image capture solution.
  • Flywire adds international invoicing to its global payment and receivables platform.
  • Infosys Finacle partners with seven major Indian banks to form blockchain-based trade network, India Trade Connect.

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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Voice Is the Next UI

By finovate Posted on
Categories: A.I., Voice-to-Text

FinovateSpring was a hotbed of future-looking technology. We spoke to Theo Lau, Innovator Technologist and Connector, Unconventional Ventures about why she thinks voice is the next UI.

Although voice may not a solution for all situations, there is no denying that the momentum and interest for voice technology is growing. In the Q3 2017 earnings report, Amazon disclosed that it has sold “tens of millions of Echo units” since the first release in 2015. According to “The Rise of Voice” report by Invoca, the voice opportunity is predicted to be worth more than $18 billion by 2023. Consumers have been using voice assistants from seeking information to playing music and shopping. Accessibility, convenience, and simplicity are some of the main reasons behind the user adoption. For those who cannot read or who may have trouble navigating the menu options on an app or website, ability to speak to a device offers a more intuitive option to obtain real-time information. Voice technology is also life-impacting for those suffering from isolation/loneliness. In all, it has the potential to become a more inclusive technology that can appeal to a board audience and serve a wide purpose.

Recognizing the potential and appeal, financial institutions such as Capital One, USAA, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, and Ally Financial have begun experimenting with various use cases. Applications thus far are still fairly rudimentary and focused on basic interactions such as checking balance, paying bill, and tracking spending.

Though voice banking is still at its infancy, the industry is quite bullish on its future. Capgemini predicts that 3 years from now, 40 percent of consumers will use voice assistants rather than website or app, and 31 percent will use a voice device instead of visiting a store or branch. Separately, Medici forecasts that approximately 1.83 billion customers will be using voice assistants by 2021. Financial institutions should leverage insights harnessed from these interactions to adapt the conversation to reflect their brand identity and user’s profile. As suggested by Mark Taylor from Capgemini: “A brand today is an image, a set of colors, something you see on TV, on a website or in a store. With a voice channel, you see nothing, so a brand needs to have an audible image.”

While we might not be at the “promise land” yet where the virtual assistants become truly conversational, we have made great strides. As with any technology, empathy is key. AI and voice technology has the potential to make businesses more human, allowing banks to truly focus on their customers and become their true partners.

The time to start is now.

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JPMorgan Chase Signs Deal with Cardlytics

JPMorgan Chase Signs Deal with Cardlytics
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Cardlytics

After going public earlier this year, Cardlytics has come out with its Q1 financial results, and a major new client. The data-driven marketing company has sealed a deal with JPMorgan Chase.

“We are pleased to announce the signing of an agreement for a national launch with JPMorgan Chase,” said Lynne Laube, COO and co-founder of Cardlytics. “The addition of Chase to the Cardlytics Purchase Intelligence platform will further strengthen our ability to provide powerful, actionable insights for our marketer clients and then act on these insights at scale.”

Cardlytics’ Purchase Intelligence platform is a loyalty program that banks implement with their existing debit or credit cards. Customers receive personalized offers and cash-back savings based on their transactions. This increases average consumer spend, boosts merchant loyalty, and drives more engagement within the bank’s online and mobile banking.

Chase joins a host of other banks and financial services companies already leveraging Purchase Intelligence, including PNC, Regions, SunTrust, Bank of America, Fiserv, FIS, and Digital Insight. David Evans, CFO of Cardlytics, said, “With the announcement that Chase will be coming onto our platform, we are very excited about the longer-term prospects for the business.”

Cardlytics’ primary offering is Cardlytics Direct, a native bank advertising channel that enables marketers to reach consumers through online and mobile banking channels. The service has more than 2,000 bank clients in the U.S. and appeals to bank customers by offering cash back on select purchases. In fact, Cardlytics has paid more than $230 million in consumer rewards to date.

At FinovateFall 2013, Cardlytics demoed its geolocation application, a solution that sends bank customers ads and offers based on their location. Making its public debut on the NASDAQ in February, the company has put forth strong growth for shareholders. In the first quarter of this year, Cardlytics’ total revenue was $32.7 million, an 22% YoY increase, and its direct revenue was $32.1 million, a 31% YoY increase.

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Revolut Introduces New Payment Sharing Feature, Near Me

Revolut Introduces New Payment Sharing Feature, Near Me
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Revolut

Broke: Sending money to friends and family.

Woke: Sending money to nearby strangers.

Thanks to Revolut’s latest solution, Near Me, Revolut users will be able to send and request money from more than just the people they know well. The company’s latest feature leverages geolocation technology to enable users to split bills and send money to any other active Revolut user in the area.

“Until now, you would need to have the person you want to split the bill with added as a contact in your phone,” Revolut’s Chief Blogging Officer Rob Braileanu explained in a blog post today. “And while this is great for your close friends and family, what if you don’t know the person that well?”

To use the new feature, users with the latest version of the Revolut app select the People Near Me option from the Payments tab. Enable Near Me and choose your location sharing preferences. When the list of Revolut users appears, make your selection, choose “send” or “receive” and confirm the amount. Note that the person or persons on the other end of the transfer will need to have their Near Me screen open and select their location sharing preferences, as well.

Supporting 25 currencies and three cryptocurrencies, Near Me is the latest solution from a company that has been prominent in the fintech headlines of late. Last month, the company introduced a new savings solution, Vaults, that enables users to turn their spare change into savings in cash or crypto. In March, Revolut launched disposable virtual cards for online payments and, in January, the company added travel insurance to its offerings, leveraging geolocation to automatically turn coverage on and off when users leave and return to their home countries.

But the big splash for Revolut was the $250 million in funding the company picked up less than a month ago. The DST Global-led round sent Revolut’s valuation soaring to $1.7 billion, making the firm the first digital bank in the U.K. to earn unicorn status (valuation above $1 billion).

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in London, U.K., Revolut demonstrated its Personal Money Cloud at FinovateEurope 2015. Nikolay Stronosky is CEO.

 

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