Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CapitaWorld ME, Carta Worldwide, Google, Lendio, OPENTECH, Samsung, Sberbank, Unison, Yoyo

Around the web

  • Opentech ranked third in the Mastercard’s worldwide Directory of Digital Wallet providers. Come see Opentech’s live demo at FinovateEurope next week.
  • Yoyo named Best Mobile Payment Solution at MPE Awards. Come see Yoyo’s demo at FinovateEurope next week in London.
  • CapitaWorld launches smart loan disintermediation ecosystem for micro, small, and medium (MSM) enterprises.
  • Unison launches 5% down payment program in conjunction with an 80% LTV mortgage.
  • Sberbank adds Google Pay and Samsung Pay services for the customers using its business cards.
  • Railsbank partners with Carta Worldwide.
  • Lendio Franchise Announced in Clemson Region.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Pendo Systems Ships New Release of Pendo Machine Learning Platform

Pendo Systems Ships New Release of Pendo Machine Learning Platform
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Pendo Systems

Data insight company Pendo Systems launched the latest release of the Pendo Machine Learning Platform (PMLP) this week.

The new iteration, version 4, of PMLP balances improving productivity while keeping user requirements convenient. New features in this latest release are:

  • Improved machine learning toolset that accelerates time to implementation and solves complex processing challenges
  • Ability to create and train models against training data
  • New connectivity options with Content Management Interoperability Services support
  • New plugins that integrate with other systems to provide access to a range of machine learning algorithms

In the press release, Phillip Dodds, Pendo Systems CTO said that this release is a “significant step forward” for Pendo because it is designed with the business user in mind. “By enabling onsite training of models that are less IT-dependent means our clients can now use their own data to train Machine Learning algorithms in an agile and cost-effective way, irrespective of whether it is behind their own firewall or in a secure cloud environment,” Dodds added.

Pam Pecs Cytron, CEO at Pendo Systems, who described the release as a demonstration of the company’s “ruthless commitment” to product innovation, said that empowering the business user is an essential component of Pendo’s strategy.

Founded in 2007, and with headquarters in New Jersey, Pendo converts unstructured data into AI-ready datasets and improves on natural language processing libraries by applying real-world, customer training data. With this approach, the company helps improve accuracy to over 95%. At FinovateAsia 2012, the company debuted BasisPoint to offer multi-jurisdictional processing for capital markets firms. Earlier this month, the company announced its intention to target the insurance sector.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Signifyd Partners with Corra to Provide Guaranteed Fraud Protection to E-commerce Merchants

Signifyd Partners with Corra to Provide Guaranteed Fraud Protection to E-commerce Merchants
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Signifyd

Fraud prevention specialist Signifyd announced a strategic partnership with e-commerce website designer Corra that will bring guaranteed fraud prevention technology to Corra’s high-end enterprise retail customers.

“Corra embraces the same deep commitment to merchants that Signifyd does,” Lee Hadsock, head of partnerships for Signifyd, said. “We believe in doing what needs to be done to ensure that merchants are successful – and to provide fraud-protection services, technology and tools that mean they don’t have to be distracted by issues and operations that are outside the core of their businesses.”

The partnership, announced at the eTail West conference, will give Corra clients both full financial protection from fraud costs, as well as the technology merchants need to establish the legitimacy of customer orders within milliseconds. Corra is a digital agency that builds commerce experiences for fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands around the world. Signifyd’s partnership with the company is in some ways an extension of the relationship the company developed with Magento Commerce last fall.  The press release accompanying the announcement noted that both companies had been honored by Magento in 2016 – with Corra being named Magento Omnichannel Partner of the Year and Signifyd earning plaudits as Magento Best New Technology Partner of the Year.

Director of Global Strategic Alliances for Corra, Martina England praised Signifyd as an “enterprise-ready partner that can help us help our customers grow and succeed.” England referred specifically to the fraud fighter’s technology and domain expertise, as well as the firm’s sizable customer roster and history of success in supporting e-commerce. “We examined the full complement of guaranteed fraud protection players and found that Signifyd, far-and-away, met the needs of our clients,” England said.

Leveraging big data, machine learning, and human intelligence, Signifyd’s technology protects more than 5,000 online merchants and more than $37 billion worth of products against fraud. Available as an e-commerce platform plug-in as well as via an API, Signifyd automates back office operations including auto-fulfill and auto-cancel on orders, and makes it easy for merchants to get paid for chargebacks within 48 hours. Additionally, Signifyd offers a 100% financial guarantee in the event that an order approved by Signifyd’s technology proves ultimately to be fraudulent.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Signifyd demonstrated its Guaranteed Payments solution at FinovateSpring 2013. Earlier this month, the company’s co-founder and CEO, Rajesh Ramanand, was named to One World Identity’s Top 100 Influencer’s list (along with 19 other Finovate alums). Signifyd partnered with Authorize.Net to bring its fraud protection technology to that firm’s U.S.-based e-commerce merchants last summer, less than one month after being added to CB Insights’ Fintech 250 list. The company has raised more than $89 million in total capital, including picking up $56 million in funding last year in a Series C round led by Bain Capital Ventures.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Capitalise, Dynamics, FICO, Infolio, Klarna, MasterCard, MaxMyInterest, Nopsec, Signifyd, TSYS, Worldline

On Finovate.com

  • Signifyd Partners with Corra to Provide Guaranteed Fraud Protection for E-Commerce Merchants.

Around the web

  • Estonian financial group LHV to leverage technology from FICO to fight money laundering.
  • Klarna announces double-digit sales growth thanks to more retailers using the company’s solutions.
  • CNBC quotes MaxMyInterest head of business development and partnerships Michael Halloran on cash strategies for investors during times of market volatility.
  • Dynamics unveils enhanced functionality for its connected Wallet Card. See its latest demo at FinovateEurope next week.
  • TSYS Extends Existing Agreement with Capital One UK.
  • Mastercard to use Facebook Messenger to help small businesses in Africa and Asia drive mobile and electronic payments acceptance.
  • Worldline teams with Total to launch TOTAL eWallet.
  • FutureTech Podcast hosts Capitalise CEO Shahar Rabin on using natural language to automate trading strategies.
  • NopSec Awarded Most Innovative Cybersecurity Company 2018.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinovateMiddleEast Best of Show Winners Announced!

FinovateMiddleEast Best of Show Winners Announced!
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: APPICS, Best of Show, Electronic IDentification, FinovateMiddleEast 2018, Ondot Systems

 

The votes have been counted and the winners of the first FinovateMiddleEast Best of Show competition have been selected.

Congratulations are due to all of the companies that presented their latest fintech innovations live on stage this week. From wealth management and lending to innovative approaches to making payments faster, more efficient, and more secure, what makes Finovate such a great opportunity for fintech professionals is the breadth and variety of technologies on display.

And while we love seeing which companies – new or old, local or global – are the ones that have developed solutions that capture the imagination of our knowledgeable fintech audience, we always maintain that the value of our Finovate demos lies in the diversity of approaches taken by different creative, insightful entrepreneurs and engineers solving real world problems for individuals, consumers, SMEs, corporations, and even governments all over the globe.

That said, there are always a handful of demos that stand out to our attendees – and these are the innovations we highlight with our Best of Show awards. So with no further ado, let’s take a look at the companies taking home Best of Show trophies for their demos this week at FinovateMiddleEast 2018 (in alphabetic order):

APPICS for its next-generation, rewards-based, social media app that enables people to connect with one another around the globe and leverages blockchain technology to turn social media “likes” into currency. Video.

Electronic IDentification for its VideoID solution which combines video streaming, advanced machine learning, and AI to remotely identify customers in seconds from any device and over any channel. Video.

 

 

Ondot Systems for its card control technology that empowers card holders to “remote control” their credit and debit cards from a smartphone app. Video.

Our first foray to the Middle East has been a huge success for us. We’ve both seen and learned a great deal about the kind of fintech innovations that are making it easier for those living in the MENA region to have safer, more transparent, and – hopefully – more prosperous financial lives.

We want to thank our sponsors and partners – especially the UAE Ministry of Finance, which was indispensable in helping make FinovateMiddleEast happen. We had a wonderful time bringing our fintech conference to Dubai for the first time and are looking forward to coming back soon. Remember to follow us on Twitter @Finovate, as well as here on the Finovate blog to keep up with the latest in fintech news from the Middle East and elsewhere around the world.

To see all of the demo videos from FinovateMiddleEast, visit our video archives.

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

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Dream Payments Speeds Up Insurance Payouts with Mastercard Partnership

Dream Payments Speeds Up Insurance Payouts with Mastercard Partnership
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Dream Payments, MasterCard

Cloud-based payments platform Dream Payments is teaming up with Mastercard this week. The two payments players will leverage Mastercard Send to help insurance policyholders receive payments faster into any account.

Mastercard Send, a global push payments platform, facilitates local and cross-border money delivery in near real-time. Integrating with the Dream Payments Hub will create a scalable way to digitize and automate the disbursement of insurance claims. By removing the need to sort and mail physical checks, the integration ultimately increases the speed and efficiency of digital payouts into the customer’s preferred debit card account.

Piloting this is Northbridge Financial, which will be the first insurance provider in Canada to use the Mastercard Send platform through the Dream Payments Hub. “Our claims experience is the moment of truth when it comes to the promise we make to our customers,” said George Halkiotis, EVP of Claims for Northbridge Financial. “We know that waiting for and depositing checks are key pain points and we’re excited be able to deliver a better, faster claims experience that helps make things right for our customers as quickly as possible.”

“Mastercard and Dream Payments are helping to digitize payments for insurance providers of all sizes,” added Brent Ho-Young, chief executive officer, Dream Payments. “Insurance customers deserve to receive their claims payments quickly, electronically, and into the financial accounts of their choice, whether it be a bank account, debit card, prepaid card, or mobile wallet.”

With operations in Stamford, Connecticut, Dream Payments helps small businesses accept all payment types. In addition to ties with Quickbooks and First Data, the company also counts TD Merchant Solutions and Chase Paymentech in its partnership ecosystem. At FinovateSpring 2015, Dream Payments debuted its mobile POS device. Dream Payments was founded in 2014 and has raised $14.9 million. Brent Ho-Young is CEO.

Founded in 1966, Mastercard demoed its Cash Pick-Up ATM solution at FinovateFall 2017. Cash Pick-Up allows the sender to disburse cash to banked and unbanked consumers without a card at an ATM. Last fall, the company announced it has tested and validated its blockchain and will be opening access to it via a set of three APIs published on the Mastercard Developers website. At FinovateEurope next week, Mastercard, alongside Vipera, will demo SME-Pay, a solution that enables small business owners to make and receive payments anywhere and view and control staff spending on their Mastercard cards.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Baker Hill, Dream Payments, InComm, MasterCard, NCR Corporation, Sberbank

On Finovate.com

  • Dream Payments Speeds Up Insurance Payouts with Mastercard Partnership.

Around the web

  • NCR Launches Omni-Commerce Payment Solution for European Retailers and Restaurants.
  • InComm Partners with Kapsch TrafficCom on RiverLink.
  • Sberbank hires robot Anna to answer calls about location of ATMs and Sberbank offices.
  • Baker Hill releases the latest developments for Baker Hill NextGen.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Bazaarvoice Acquires AddStructure

Bazaarvoice Acquires AddStructure
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bazaarvoice, Mergers & Acquisitions

Bazaarvoice, a startup that helps retailers find and reach consumers, has agreed to acquire Addstructure, a company that offers search and discovery apps for e-commerce merchants. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Addstructure’s platform, which leverages machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to analyze customer sentiment and product reviews, helps consumers search for and discover products faster. The addition of this capability to Bazaarvoice’s offerings will strengthen consumer-generated content and bolster shopper profiles across its network. Among Addstructure’s clients are Target and Best Buy, which use the company’s technology to analyze online reviews and customer questions that influence purchase decisions.

AddStructure’s employees will join Bazaarvoice’s team. The new team members will work out of offices in New York City and Chicago, where AddStructure was founded.

In a press release, Gene Austin, CEO of Bazaarvoice said, “As consumer behavior continues to evolve, brands and retailers must keep pace with new shopping trends and technologies to deliver engaging and consumer-friendly shopping experiences.” He added that AddStructure’s NLP and machine learning capabilities are an “incredible addition” to the company’s portfolio.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Bazaarvoice has offices in Chicago, London, Munich, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, and Sydney. The company debuted Bazaarvoice Conversations at FinovateSpring 2012. The Conversations solution allows brands to capture, moderate, analyze, and display customer word-of-mouth in digital and mobile experiences. In November of last year, Bazaarvoice agreed to be acquired by Marlin Equity Partners, which will acquire each share of outstanding common stock of Bazaarvoice in exchange for $5.50 for a total value of approximately $521 million.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Welcome to Day Two of FinovateMiddleEast 2018

Welcome to Day Two of FinovateMiddleEast 2018
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateMiddleEast 2018

Pictured: Raja Al Mazrouei, Executive Vice President, Fintech Hive, Dubai International Financial Centre

Day One of FinovateMiddleEast is in the books – which means there is one more day of our fintech conference left to go. And while Day Two will also feature fintech insiders and thought leaders discussing issues like financial inclusion, artificial intelligence, the blockchain, and fintech regulation, the second day of FinovateMiddleEast will swap live demos with emerging and incumbent fintech players for an Accelerator Showcase.

Our special spotlight on regional accelerators and incubators will feature short, 3-minute pitches from some of MENA’s youngest and most ambitious fintech startups, and will reveal the important role incubators and accelerators play in encouraging and supporting fintech innovation. If you are interested in what the future of fintech in the Middle East and North Africa looks like, our accelerator showcase is virtually a front row seat.

Here’s a look at today’s agenda. For more details, visit our FinovateMiddleEast Day Two agenda page. And remember the Best of Show awards presentation will be held this afternoon.

8:00 – 9:00: Registration, Breakfast and Networking

9:00 – 9:05: Chairperson’s Opening Remarks

9:05 – 9:45: The Future of Financial Services – AI and the Use of Blockchain Globally

9:45 – 10:05: Update on Fintech Regulation

10:05 – 10:25: Fintech Unicorn Interview

10:25 – 11:20: Myth Versus Reality: Banks’ Perspectives

11:20 – 11:50: Morning Coffee and Networking

11:50 – 12:40: Panel Discussion: Financial Inclusion in the Middle East

12:40 – 13:00: Unicorn Interview

13:00 – 14:00: Lunch and Networking

14:00 – 14:20: Fintech Interview

14:20 – 15:10: Accelerator Showcase

15:10 – 15:20: Day One Revisit – What did the banks gain? What did the fintech gain? What do investors think?

15:20 – 15:30: Chairperson’s Closing Remarks and Summary

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bazaarvoice, Fiserv, Insuritas, Ledger, Ripple

On Finovate.com

Around the web

  • Bank2 hires Insuritas to launch bank-owned digital insurance agency platform.
  • Kawartha Credit Union selects Fiserv to enhance the banking experience.
  • Ripple added to deVere Group’s crypto trading app.
  • TechCrunch: Ledger is working on new native apps for its cryptocurrency hardware wallet.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Welcome to Day One of FinovateMiddleEast 2018

Welcome to Day One of FinovateMiddleEast 2018
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateMiddleEast 2018

FinovateMiddleEast has arrived in Dubai. Day One of our two-day fintech conference begins today, Monday, February 26. And after an afternoon and evening of practice runs and sound checks, our demoing companies are ready to introduce their latest fintech innovations to the world.

In addition to a slate of 14 fintech demos, Day One will also feature an interesting variety of keynote addresses and panel discussions from some of the region’s most engaged and knowledgable fintech business people, thought leaders, and investors. We’ve published an outline of today’s schedule below – including our dual track afternoon sessions on banking and payments on one side, and blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and AI on the other. So whether you like your fintech old school or new school, FinovateMiddleEast’s Afternoon Streams on Day One have you covered!

Tickets are still available. So if you’re in Dubai and interested in meeting some of the people who are helping build the future of fintech in MENA, FinovateMiddleEast on Monday and Tuesday is the place to be.

Here’s the schedule of events for today.

8:00  – 8:30: Registration, Breakfast and Networking

8:30 – 8:35: Chairperson’s Remarks

8:35  – 9:35: Demo Session 1 featuring

9:35 – 9:40: Panel discussion: Starter for one minute – What does a fintech want? What does a bank want? What does the investor think?

9:40 – 10:20: Keynote: What can digital bankers learn from the top innovators?

10:20 – 10:30: United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Finance address and presentation on the fintech vision.

10:30 – 10:50: Embracing fintech innovation – past, present, and future

10:50 – 11:10: Bank CEO Panel: Driving innovation forward and the fintech global vision

11:10 – 11:40:  Morning Coffee Break and Networking

11:40 – 11:55: Introduction from the FinTech Hive at DIFC

11:55 -12:25:   Chatham House Rule Panel Discussion on Fintech regulation

12:25 – 13:15: Demo Session 2 featuring:

13:15 – 14:15: Lunch and Networking Speaker-hosted topic roundtables

Afternoon Streams: Banking and Payments / Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, and AI

14:15 – 15:00: Panel Discussions: How far can we go with big wallets? / Results of an Interbank Blockchain Pilot

15:00 – 15:20: Panel Discussions: What do we mean by innovation? / Blockchain Approaches – Beyond UAE

15:20 – 15:40: Address: Discussing the fintech strategies of Indian banks / What’s Happening Now and What’s Next for AI?

15:40 – 16:10: Afternoon Coffee Break and Networking

16:10 – 16:40: Big bank fireside chat

16:40 – 17:10: Demo Session 3 featuring

17:10 – 18:10: Networking Reception, Topic Led Roundtables, Best of Show Awards Ceremony

All demo videos will be available for free in a few weeks in our video archives.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

GreenKey Teams Up with IPC to Develop AI-Based Speech Recognition Solution

GreenKey Teams Up with IPC to Develop AI-Based Speech Recognition Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Green Key Technologies

GreenKey Technologies, an AI-powered voice collaboration platform for financial markets, has formed a partnership with IPC to develop a solution that will convert real-time voice into useable data for financial market participants. The partnership combines IPC’s expertise in trading communications – and its cloud financial ecosystem of more than 6,000 financial market players – with the machine learning technologies of GreenKey.

Specifically, the new solution will automatically transcribe spoken conversations, extracting quotes and trades from verbal conversations by leveraging GreenKey’s patented natural language processing libraries. The new solution also will extract key terms, phrases, speaker identities as well as sentiment in order to provide accurate summaries of conversations.

Nader Shwayhat, CEO of GreenKey since March of last year, said that the agreement combined the efforts of two of the industry’s most innovative companies working in the voice software/integrated speech recognition space. “IPC and GreenKey are leading the industry into a new era of voice-driven workflows and analytics,” Shwayhat said. “We are thrilled to be working with the outstanding IPC organization and look forward to transforming the way capital markets participants manage their voice workflows.” Speaking for IPC, SVP for Product and Customer Success Don Henderson added that the announcement was “powerful news for the market.”

GreenKey and IPC have been collaborating on the new, voice-to-data solution for a year. The goal is a technology that will make it easy for IPC customers to “harvest” their audio streams and structured textual data to improve workflows for the front-, middle-, and back-office. Use cases range from integrating voice streams into compliance, surveillance, and business analytics systems to voice-populating trade tickets, capturing in-stream orders and quotes, and integrating call transcripts with CRM systems.

GreenKey Technologies participated in our developer’s conference, FinDEVr New York 2016, where members from the company’s engineering team demonstrated GreenKey’s voice workspace with biometric login, video call, instant messaging, and more. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, GreenKey Technologies released its voice API via OpenFin’s plug-in architecture earlier this month. The company finished 2017 by joining Symphony Software Foundation and, earlier in the year, won a patent for its speech-to-text technology and announced a partnership with voice recording technology specialist Red Box Recorders.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook