Demoers from Near & Far at FinovateMiddleEast this February

Demoers from Near & Far at FinovateMiddleEast this February
By Heather Stowell Posted on
Categories: Finovate Marketing, FinovateMiddleEast 2018

2017 was a big year for fintech investment in the Middle East.

Amazon acquired Middle Eastern e-commerce firm, Souq.com, local powerhouses joined the race (i.e., Kingdom Holding Company driving Careem’s Series E funding), startup accelerators launched across the region, and overall investment soared.

So, at the start of 2018, the message is clear: Look to the Middle East for fintech investment opportunities, acquisitions, partnerships, inspiration and competition. And there’s no better place to start than Finovate in February.

For this launch event, Finovate has partnered with the UAE Ministry of Finance and joined UAE Innovation Month and Dubai Innovation Week. Signature 7-minute demos will remain at the core of FinovateMiddleEast 2018 with startup and established companies showcasing their latest fintech innovations live on stage.

Dorsum — A chatbot platform that improves the difficulties of customer acquisition for financial institutions.

ebankIT — An omnichannel banking platform that enhances digital transformation for banks and financial institutions.

efigence — The Insights Now! platform uses smart web analytics’ tools to arm banks and financial institutions with real-time data driven conclusions.

Munnypot — An automated online solution providing accessible and affordable investment advice for millions of people in the U.K. and overseas.

Ondot Systems — Provides mobile card services supplying financial institutions, card processors and cardholders with mobile applications for credit and debit card control.

RISQ — A financial software platform improving the effectiveness of corporate loan acquisition and customer management for commercial banks.

Wealth Migrate — A global, direct investment platform remedying the lack of direct investment products for middle class, overseas investors.

Zagtrader — An end-to-end pre-integrated framework that connects banks, brokers, asset managers, and investment banks to the ultra-complex global trading ecosystem with ease.

Additional companies will be announced over the next several weeks.

Register by January 11 to save $300. Book online, call +1 (888) 670-8200, or email info.events@knect365.com.

 

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Alkami Scores $70 Million in Series D Funding

Alkami Scores $70 Million in Series D Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alkami Technology, Funding

In a round led by General Atlantic, and featuring participation from current investors S3 Ventures and Argonaut Private Equity, digital banking solutions provider Alkami has raised $70 million in new funding. The Series D round, which represents a strategic investment in the company, takes Alkami’s total capital to more than $116 million.

“In an era of digital transformation, our clients, who consist of credit unions and banks in the U.S., count on Alkami to inspire and power their digital strategies through enhancing value, growth, service, efficiency and relationships,” Alkami CEO Mike Hansen said. He added that the strategic investment from General Atlantic will “accelerate the delivery of our world-class technology and innovative solutions to our clients, ensuring Alkami remains synonymous with digital transformation in finance.”

Alkami enables financial institutions to take advantage of the latest trends in online and mobile banking technology through its cloud-based digital banking platform. With more than 4.5 million users across its community bank and credit union client base, Alkami provides a unified solution that works across devices and channels to deliver retail and business banking services, billpay, PFM, marketing, and more.

As part of the strategic investment, Raph Osnoss and Gene Lockhart will join Alkami’s board of directors. Lockhart is a Special Advisor of General Atlantic and former President and CEO of MasterCard Worldwide. He is also Chairman and Managing Partner of MissionOG, a technology investor that also participated in Alkami’s Series D. Osnoss is Vice President of General Atlantic, and praised Alkami’s “vision, technology, client success, and business model” as well as the way the fintech helped FIs better engage with their customers.

“Digital banking needs are evolving along with consumer and business behaviors,” Osnoss said. “And we believe Alkami is at the center of this industry-wide shift.”

Plano, Texas-based Alkami made its first Finovate appearance in 2009 as iThryv. In November, the company was highlighted as the 13th fastest growing company in Dallas by Southern Methodist University’s Cox Dallas 100 and ranked 66th fastest growing company in North America by Deloitte’s 2017 Technology Fast 500. Alkami announced a deployment of its digital banking platform with Veridian Credit Union ($3.4 billion in assets) late last fall, and in August, the company inked a deal with Mountain America Credit Union ($6.7 billion in assets) to integrate its digital banking technology with Mountain America’s existing core system.

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CREALOGIX Acquires Innofis

CREALOGIX Acquires Innofis
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: CREALOGIX, Innofis

Digital banking company CREALOGIX has acquired Barcelona-based Innofis, a privately held, internationally-focused digital banking firm, this week. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Under the agreement, Innofis’ workforce of 120 engineers and specialists will join CREALOGIX; the existing management structure will remain the same. The acquisition is not only expected to give CREALOGIX access to Innofis’ established customer base, the Switzerland-based company will also gain a presence in additional territories, most notably the Middle Eastern region.

CREALOGIX will benefit from Innofis’ digital banking product suite, which it expects will complement its current solution portfolio due to “optimal synergies” between the product portfolios. Because of the use of open architecture, many of the companies’ modules can be integrated interchangeably. New features Innofis brings to CREALOGIX include:

  • Predictive analytics based on big data and customer behavior segmentation
  • Advanced online campaign management
  • SaaS based-digital loyalty program
  • A suite of Islamic banking modules
  • Extensive functionality for business banking

Founded in 2012, Innofis has experienced double-digit growth and currently generates over $10.2 million (CHF 10 million) in revenue. Innofis CEO David Moreno, who will transition to a member of CREALOGIX’s Executive Group Management, said that “As a result of the new, joint offering from Innofis and CREALOGIX, we will remain a reliable partner for our clients and will support them in their digitization initiatives, with a broader set of innovative, ready-to-use solutions.”

Innofis presented at FinovateEurope 2016, where Moreno and the company’s CMO David Falk showcased the Innofis Omnichannel Predictive Banking solution. The solution leverages machine learning of bank data and contextual behavioral analysis to deliver more accurate and effective marketing messages.

CREALOGIX’s Marc Stähli, Head of Sales and CMO; and Eszter Vass, Sr. Product Strategy & Presales Consultant, demo Predictive Banking in Virtual Reality at FinovateEurope 2017 in London.

CREALOGIX most recently demoed at FinovateEurope 2017, where the company won Best of Show for Predictive Banking in Virtual Reality. In November of last year, the company expanded into Asia Pacific with new offices in Singapore. And in September, CREALOGIX acquired AI and machine learning technology from Koemei. The company said it plans to leverage Koemei’s technology that uses automated speech recognition (ASR) to convert audio, podcast, and video content into text data, which facilitates cross-media search capabilities.

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Urban FT and Fortress Plus to Co-Market Digital Banking, Fraud Prevention to Community Banks

Urban FT and Fortress Plus to Co-Market Digital Banking, Fraud Prevention to Community Banks
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Urban FT

If you are a community bank or credit union, the new partnership between Urban FT and Connecticut-based Fortress Plus means it just got a lot easier to add digital banking services and state-of-the-art fraud protection at the same time.

Fortress Plus’s Rampart Intelligence Platform uses big data and behavior-based adaptive analytics to monitor and identify fraud in different channels and among different payment types. Urban FT provides a mobile banking solution that enables community banks to leverage proprietary technology to display information from traditional websites into their mobile websites and banking apps. The decision to work together, in the words of Urban FT CEO Richard Steggall, represents a shared “dedication to strengthening America’s community financial institutions.”

“Our agreement pulls together two key elements of what today’s smaller FIs need to combat the challenge of big banks and nonbanks – an easily implementable, cost-effective mobile banking solution offering exceptional UX and best-in-breed fraud prevention solutions that protect FIs from fraudsters who prey on them,” Steggall said.

“By co-marketing, we bring our respective best-in-breed solutions to more financial institutions that need and deserve the advantages we offer,” Fortress Plus President Jeff Whelton added, “(that is) big bank-grade quality that’s accessible and affordable for financial institutions of any size.”

Founded in 2013, New York-based Urban FT demonstrated its Urban FT Workshop at FinovateFall 2016. The workshop is a real-time, multi-tier mobile app management platform that gives FIs and FSOs the ability to design, brand, and launch mobile banking apps without coding. Available as a managed service, SaaS, online or via API, Urban FT’s technology is used by 10% of those U.S.-based FIs with assets of more than $25 million. The company acquired mobile banking technology company iParse in July of last year. In April, Urban FT partnered with technology service provider T-Cetra to make it easier for customers to top-up prepaid wireless service.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alkami Technology, CREALOGIX, Featurespace, Innofis, NCR Corporation, Privakey, Urban FT

On Finovate.com

  • Urban FT and Fortress Plus to Co-Market Digital Banking, Fraud Prevention to Community Banks
  • Alkami Scores $70 Million in Series D Funding

Around the web

  • Privakey joins the FIDO Alliance.
  • Featurespace opens U.S. headquarters in Atlanta.
  • NCR wins four GOOD DESIGN awards.

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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Kyckr Lands Global Payment Provider Client

Kyckr Lands Global Payment Provider Client
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Kyckr

Regtech player Kyckr landed a new client today– a leading global payments provider.

Through the agreement, Kyckr will provide its Know Your Customer (KYC) onboarding services to the client, the name of which has not been disclosed “due to the critical services provided by Kyckr to [the] client for KYC on-boarding services.” Through the indefinite agreement, the client will pay an annual fee of $150k for Kyckr’s corporate customer validation and verification services, which help improve KYC compliance-related obligations.

David Cassidy, Kyckr managing director said, “Our services demonstrate the relevance of our capabilities in multiple sectors, helping improve customer on-boarding, bringing about operational efficiencies and improved KYC compliance.”

Kyckr offers traditional APIs that provide direct access to over 150 business registries which, when combined with blockchain technologies, give immutable proof of a company’s information at the time of any transaction. The API helps establish a complete KYC decision by enabling companies to perform company searches, access company profiles and filings, cross-reference searches on directors, shareholders and others.

Above: Kyckr’s Ben Cronin, Joint CEO and Director and Cian Foley, Sr. Software Engineer, presenting at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016

Founded in 2007, Kyckr’s Ben Cronin, Joint CEO and Director, and Cian Foley, Sr. Software Engineer, gave a presentation titled Corporate Identity on the Blockchain to an audience of developers at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016. Last November, Prudential Singapore selected Kyckr as one of three fintechs for its PRU Fintegrate partnership program. Earlier that month, the company was named a Hackcelerator Finalist at the Singapore FinTech Festival.

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Dynamics Leverages Sprint’s Wireless Network for New IoT Connected Card

Dynamics Leverages Sprint’s Wireless Network for New IoT Connected Card
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Dynamics

Next-generation payment card company Dynamics announced this week it has teamed up with Sprint, a subsidiary of SoftBank, to launch the Wallet Card, a battery-powered, connected payment card.

The Wallet Card, Dynamics’ first IoT-powered card, will leverage Sprint’s network for wireless data transfers. The card, which is around the same size and shape as a normal credit card, contains almost 200 internal components. Users can access debit, credit, pre-paid, multi-currency, one-time use, and loyalty cards from a single card.

Sprint, which is powering the IoT technology behind the card, is helping Dynamics differentiate this card from the company’s previous offerings. Specifically, the new Wallet Card contains:

  • Cell phone chip and cell phone antenna for data transfer
  • Battery and recharging chip– the card charges itself through normal operation.
  • Re-writable magnetic stripe, EMV chip, and contactless chip that allows users to download new card information to the card.
  • 65,000 pixel display and UI that enables cardholders to select different cards and informational screens.

With these new capabilities, card issuers can immediately rescind compromised card numbers and re-issue a new card number in real time.

The Wallet Card, which was debuted at the CES tradeshow in Las Vegas, received four CES Innovation awards, including the Best of Innovation Award for Security Technologies. It was an honoree for Computers, Embedded Technologies and Technologies for a Better World. “This is just the beginning,” said Jeff Mullen, CEO of Dynamics,”Wallet Card is poised to redefine the way consumers and businesses think of credit cards and enable a close, more secure connection.”

Jan Geldmacher, president of Sprint Business said that the Wallet Card is an example of “how important converged networks and advanced integrated technology will be for the lives of everyday people across the globe.”

Also today, Dynamics announced it has teamed with India-based IndusInd Bank who will bring Dynamics’ multi-account, powered card– a product the company debuted in 2010– to the Indian market.

Founded in 2007, Dynamics most recently presented at FinovateFall 2017. The company, which has raised over $110 million in funding from investors including Mastercard, CIBC, Adams Capital Management, and Bain Capital Ventures, is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with office locations in Singapore, Sao Paulo, and New York.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Baker Hill, Dynamics, eToro, Kapitall, Klarna, Kyckr, Motif Investing, Narrative Science, Taulia

On Finovate.com

  • Dynamics Leverages Sprint’s Wireless Network for New IoT Connected Card.
  • Kyckr Lands Global Payment Provider Client.

Around the web

  • Taulia announces milestone, accelerating $1 billion in invoices in a single day.
  • Klarna extends partnership with ACI Worldwide, now reaching 10 major markets including the U.S. and U.K.
  • Marquette Bank ($1.6 billion in assets) builds on existing relationship with Baker Hill by adding risk management, loan origination and other solutions.
  • Datanami highlights Narrative Science’s natural language processing tech.
  • Disruptor Daily names eToro, Motif, Kapitall among 9 companies to watch in 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.

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Fintech News from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

Fintech News from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateMiddleEast 2018


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As Finovate prepares for its first conference in the Middle East, here’s a round up of recent fintech news and need-to-knows from the MENA region. Learn more about how to join us in Dubai in February for FinovateMiddleEast.

  • Jordan’s first bank, Jordan Ahli Bank launches beta version of chatbot service.
  • Alrajih Islamic Bank for Investment and Financing selects Path Solutions’ Islamic core banking system, iMAL.
  • Mortgagetech Meets Crypto Assets: New Sharia-compliant crypto currency for purchasing property slated for June launch in Dubai.

MENA Fintech Fact: 86% of MENA area adults do not have access to a bank account. But the number of startups in the MENA region doubled from 46 to 105 from 2012 to 2015.

  • Crowdfunding platform for farmers, BOOSTani wins first prize at Startup Weekend Bekaa in Lebanon.
  • Egyptian payments firm Fawry announces plans to expand nationwide in 2018.
  • ACI Worldwide partners with HyperPay to bring real-time fraud prevention solutions to ecommerce merchants in the MENA region.

Thought Leadership Fintech – 6 disrupters facing the Middle East – Mossadiq Ali Ghanghro, Middle East Director in Transaction Services for PwC, writes about top themes in fintech in the MENA region.

  • Bahrain Middle East Bank to deploy OneSumX from Wolters Kluwer for core banking and reporting.
  • NCR to introduce bitcoin-enabled ATMS in the UAE. Join Finovate in Dubai in March for FinovateMiddleEast.
  • Moneyfellows wins MetLife Foundation Inclusion Plus competition in Egypt and Lebanon.

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Finova Financial’s New Fundraising Process Leverages Cryptocurrency to Serve Non-Accredited Investors

Finova Financial’s New Fundraising Process Leverages Cryptocurrency to Serve Non-Accredited Investors
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Finova Financial

Alternative lender Finova Financial introduced a new product this week that will offer non-accredited investors access to regulated public securities offerings.

The new offering is called the JOBS Crypto Offering (JCO) and will allow investors to use cryptocurrency to invest in equity ownership of previously privately-held companies. The JCO is a type of initial coin offering (ICO) in which tokens that represent ownership shares of capital stock are tracked on a blockchain and are sold according to either a registration statement filed under the Securities Act or a transaction that’s exempt from registration under the Securities Act.

“I liked the idea of the ICOs when they were first introduced as they looked like an exciting way for startups to raise funds from small investors, but I had concerns about regulatory compliance practices, especially for tokens that are clearly securities,” said Finova CEO and brainchild of the JCO, Gregory Keough. He said that he created the JCO “to open the doors of opportunity for the small investor.”

Here’s how JCOs work– companies in search of financing issue securities to the general public in exchange for cryptocurrency or other funds. Ownership of these securities is represented by tokens, or blockchain entries. As for what’s next, Keough described his vision for JCOs saying, “I envision the Tokens sold in JCOs being listed on an Alternative Trading System, creating a liquid security and providing companies with an alternative to a traditional initial public offering.”

Currently, there is no word on an expected launch date for the JCO.

Finova Financial was founded in 2015. At FinovateSpring 2016, Keough debuted Finova’s Car Equity Line of Credit (C-LOC), a product that enables consumers to take loans from the equity in their car. Later that year, the company raised $52.5 million in combined equity and debt.

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Insuritas Launches i-Insure Platform with 42 P&C Carriers

Insuritas Launches i-Insure Platform with 42 P&C Carriers
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Insuritas

When you are a company like Insuritas it can be a challenge to make a big news splash. A frequent deal-maker, the insurtech headlines are filled with news of financial institutions that Insuritas has partnered with, enabling them to market and sell insurance products to their customers as easily as their own banking products.

And that makes today’s news that much more special. Insurtias has announced today that it has successfully launched its i-Insure platform with 42 of the leading auto and home insurance carriers in the U.S.

“We have built powerful, trusted partnerships with the nation’s leading auto & home insurance carriers, and have emerged as one of the fastest growing insurance distributors in the country with our third consecutive year of 40%+ growth in profitable premium,” Insuritas CEO Jeff Chesky said.

i-Insure enables property & casualty carriers to access more than 180 fields of data to deliver bindable rates within the firm’s virtual agency platform that reaches more than nine million retail households. The technology gives carriers the ability to drive and promote specific innovations and products to customers and is integrated with Insuritas’ partner bank and credit union loan origination and online banking platforms.

“As our bank and credit union partners deploy our virtual insurance agency platforms deeper inside their ecosystems, and leverage their trusted customer and member relationships, we can now further refine personalized insurance shopping and buying to the over 9 million customers in our addressable market,” Chesky explained.

A popular choice for banks and credit unions looking to add insurance services to their offerings, Insuritas has teamed up with FIs from across the country including Indiana’s Owen County State Bank ($201 million in assets), Michigan’s Marshall Community Credit Union, and Ohio’s Independent Bank ($2.6 billion in assets) in the second half of 2017 alone. The company’s platform leverages data analytics, robotic process automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence to help insurance carrier’s “further refine their products, pricing, and conversation rates,” said Insuritas CTO Tracy O’Brien. “A year in the making in collaboration with our carrier partners,” O’Brien said, “i-Insure is a unique, agnostic multichannel middleware that allows our carrier partners to deploy their innovations in real-time.”

Founded in 1998, Insuritas demonstrated its SmartCART technology at FinovateSpring 2014. The SmartCART platform enables online banking customers to shop for financial products inside a bank or credit union’s online ecosystem, giving consumers an Amazon.com-like shopping, single-click checkout, and after-sale online account management experience. The company, which is headquartered in East Windsor, Connecticut, has raised more than $10 million in funding.

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Credit Karma Teams with American Express to Offer Advance Tax Refund

Credit Karma Teams with American Express to Offer Advance Tax Refund
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Credit Karma

With the new GOP tax law in place, Americans have begun thinking about April 15– the tax filing deadline. Taking advantage of this new awareness, consumer credit monitoring and financial health startup Credit Karma has made a move to attract users to its new tax filing service with the launch of Earlybird Advance.

Earlybird Advance is a no-fee, no-interest loan from MetaBank that allows users who file through Credit Karma to claim from $500 to $1,000 of their tax refund as soon as 24 hours after the IRS accepts their tax return. This is a step up from the three-to-four week time period it generally takes for taxpayers to receive their funds.

“Because filing taxes with Credit Karma Tax is completely free, not only can Americans keep their entire refund, Earlybird Advance can also help them get some money sooner,” said Jagjit Chawla, Credit Karma Tax General Manager. “It’s our way of helping people who can’t wait weeks for their refund.”

Users will receive their advanced funds on an American Express Serve Prepaid Card. The card has no monthly fees and allows users to withdraw their funds for free at more than 24,000 ATMs nationwide. As soon as mid-January, users can apply online in less than two minutes to qualify for the loan.

California-based Credit Karma launched its tax service in December of 2016. The product allows users to prepare and file their taxes for free with a simple process that offers insights to make their taxes easier and more accurate.

Since launching in 2007, Credit Karma has raised $368 million. After its last fundraising in 2015, the company was valued at $3.5 billion. At FinovateSpring 2009, Credit Karma CEO and founder Ken Lin demonstrated the company’s platform, which offers free credit reports from Equifax and Transunion, and seeks to serve as a hub for users to monitor their financial health.

Last summer, the company launched Credit Karma Mortgage, a tool that helps homeowners discover savings opportunities available through refinancing. And in the fall of 2017, Credit Karma unveiled Online Vehicle Center, an automotive information center that serves as a one-stop shop to help consumers manage and organize their vehicle-related finances and information.

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