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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 5, 2018
Categories: Bill.com, BlueVine, BRIDGEi2i, Cardlytics, Credit Karma, Finova Financial, Global Debt Registry, Insuritas, Kabbage, Moven, Quid

On Finovate.com

Credit Karma Teams with American Express to Offer Advance Tax Refund.

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

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

Around the web

Superbcrew.com interviews BRIDGEi2i Analytics Co-founder and CTO Pritam Kanti Paul.

Entrepreneur names Kabbage, Cardlytics, BlueVine among top 360 best entrepreneurial companies in America.

Bill.com launches Accountant Partner Program.

Global Debt Registry earns spot in IBM mentoring program for blockchain app developers.

Moven founder and CEO Brett King discusses the AI race between China and the U.S. on CNBC’s Closing Bell.

Wall Street Journal leverages Quid to spot fraudulent entries on FCC website during net neutrality debate.

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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Wealthfront Rakes in $75 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 4, 2018
Categories: Funding, Wealthfront

Here’s a little-known fact about wealth tech player Wealthfront— the company debuted as KaChing in 2009, then changed its name and relaunched in 2011 as Wealthfront. Another fact about Wealthfront– the California-based company raised $75 million this week.

The financing was led by Tiger Global Management with participation from existing investors Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Social Capital, and Spark Capital. Wealthfront’s total funding now sits at $205 million. While the company has not disclosed its valuation, CB Insights valued it at $700 million in 2014.

In a blog post, Wealthfront founder and CEO Andy Rachleff said that the company will use the financing to help “pursue an even more aggressive push into software-based financial planning and financial services.” He added, “It will also allow us to accelerate our investment in our brokerage infrastructure which should enable us to build and launch new services even more quickly than the accelerated rate at which we did in 2017.”

Among Wealthfront’s new, 2017 offerings was Path, an automated financial planning solution. Path offers an interactive experience that allows users to explore different scenarios that may help them reach their goals. For example, users can input different decisions about their plans for their home once they retire– opting to stay put, downsize, or move to a more expensive home. “We started with retirement planning,” said Rachleff, “because there really aren’t any great options to forecast your financial future outside of basic ‘retirement calculators’ that require a lot of guesswork.”

Similar to Betterment and Personal Capital, Wealthfront offers an automated investment approach. However, the company differentiates itself in a couple of key ways. First, Wealthfront does not offer a hybrid wealth management product– that is, the company does not sell a tiered offering with access to certified financial advisors. Personal Capital has always offered this “high-touch” approach, and Betterment augmented its certified financial advisor offerings last summer. Second, Wealthfront has bundled fintech services by launching a Portfolio Line of Credit product– something unique among the top automated investment services.

Wealthfront allows users to invest up to $10,000 for free and currently manages $9.5 billion in assets for users across the U.S. Last June, the company was named in CB Insights’ Fintech 250 list.

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Daon Forges Strategic Partnership with North African Technology Innovator GEMADEC

By David Penn Posted on January 4, 2018
Categories: Daon

A new strategic partnership agreement has been signed between biometric authentication and identity assurance innovator Daon and GEMADEC. The partnership will enable GEMADEC, a North African security and document dematerialization firm to extend its services to customers in North Africa and French-speaking African countries.

“GEMADEC is already working in the field of security and biometrics, supporting the Postal organizations as a trusted third-party in the implementation of a legally valid electronic certificate (PKI) production platform and also offers electronic signature solutions,” GEMADEC CEO Touhami Rabii explained.

Daon CEO Tom Grissen praised GEMADEC’s “long-standing experience and demonstrated success internationally,” and sees the potential for the partnership to make a “significant impact in the financial and public sectors.” Founded in 1977, GEMADEC currently operates in 22 countries and serves as a world reference in hybrid mail for postal organizations looking to modernize their operations. The company has also provided security, biometrics, and digital identity services for public institutions in North African nations such as Gabon, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and in Djibouti.

Headquartered in Reston, Virginia and founded in 2002, Daon demonstrated IdentityX, its universal mobile biometric authentication platform at FinovateFall 2016. Daon provides multi-channel, biometric authentication and identity management solutions that leverage technologies such as device-binding, geolocation, and liveness detection. The company’s offerings have been deployed in a number of verticals including digital banking and payments verification, border management and employee credentialing, and national ID and cloud authentication.

In October, Daon teamed up with fellow Finovate alum Kony, bringing a suite of authentication tools to Kony’s digital banking platform. The company added Eyeprint ID to its platform in June, courtesy of a partnership with another Finovate alum, EyeVerify. This spring, Daon announced an integration with Experian’s fraud and identity platform, CrossCore.

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Ghana Government to Leverage Entrust Datacard to Issue National ID Cards

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 4, 2018
Categories: Entrust Datacard

Identity and transaction technology solutions company Entrust Datacard has agreed to team up with the government of Ghana this week. Through a partnership with Identity Management Systems, a subsidiary of Margins Group, Entrust will help the Ghana government issue national identity cards to its citizens in real time.

The new GhanaCard meets all international requirements, including chip-embedded technology and biometric capabilities. Starting this month, the government will begin issuing the ID to 16 million citizens.

The distribution of the cards relies on Entrust Datacard’s instant issuance technology. The real-time issuance of the cards saves Ghanian citizens from having to pick up their ID in person. Furthermore, it saves the government from the administrative hassle of dealing with cards that were never picked up.

“Identity Management Systems designed a custom solution that fits Ghana’s economic and social needs, utilizing Entrust Datacard printers,” said Xavier Coemelck, regional VP for Entrust Datacard EMEA. “Entrust Datacard technologies will enable the government of Ghana to improve service to its citizens and help ensure secure access to rights and services. This project demonstrates our ability to customize our solutions to fit all customer requirements.”

Entrust Datacard was founded in 1969 and presented at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016. Jason Soroko, Security Technologies Manager, and Matt Rose, Technical Sales Consultant, spoke to the audience of developers on Safeguarding Your Banking Applications. Headquartered in Shakopee, Minnesota, Entrust Datacard has 2,000 colleagues working around the globe to serve customers in 150 countries.

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Akamai Appoints Former Verizon CIO as Chief Information Officer

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 4, 2018
Categories: Akamai

Web and mobile security company Akamai is bolstering its workforce today with the appointment of a new Chief Information Officer. Starting today, Fari Ebrahimi (pictured) will take on the role, combined with the duties and title of Senior Vice President. Ebrahimi succeeds Kumud Kalia, who will remain with Akamai in an advisory role over the next two months.

Ebrahimi will be responsible for global strategy, development, app operations, and IT infrastructure for Akamai’s customers, employees, and partners. In a press release, Ebrahimi said his goal is to “drive and scale end-to-end digital transformation across all business processes to maximize and secure our customer, partner, and employee experiences, while optimizing operations leveraging Akamai’s world-class solutions.”

Ebrahimi most recently served as SVP and Global CIO of Avaya, a California-based mobile network operator. Prior to that appointment, he spent 13 years working in multiple capacities at Verizon, including as President of Verizon Information Technologies, and as SVP and CIO of Verizon Services Operations, where he was in charge of leading a workforce of almost 4,000.

Discussing Ebrahimi’s strong background, Akamai CEO Dr. Tom Leighton said Ebrahimi “has demonstrated both significant results and cost savings in leading complex enterprise transformations, especially in the areas of cloud, mobile and security. We look forward to combining his talents with our existing strong IT team.”

Akamai was founded in 1998 and most recently presented at FinovateEurope 2015 in London where it debuted Client Reputation Service. The solution helps FIs forecast security issues and protect against DDoS attacks, web attackers, screen scrapers, and scanning tools. In November of last year, the Massachusetts-based company acquired Nominum, a DNS security solutions company. And in October, Akamai teamed up with Bell to offer a suite of web security and performance solutions for Canadian businesses.

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Vera Hires First Chief Financial Officer and Adds Technical Talent

By David Penn Posted on January 4, 2018
Categories: Vera

Enterprise data security specialist Vera is starting the new year with a pair of big new hires – including the company’s first chief financial officer.

“Vera has a phenomenal opportunity ahead of it to transform the data security market and redefine how enterprises protect their most valuable data,” Sam Wolff, Vera’s new Chief Financial Officer said in a statement. “It’s a very exciting time to be joining a company with such potential.”

Wolff (pictured above) comes to Vera after serving as Chief Financial officer for Birst, a cloud-based business intelligence software solution provider acquired by Infor earlier this year. Previous to this, he was CFO for digital ad targeting data management platform, BlueKai. Wolff also spent several years working with Yahoo! in corporate financial planning and analysis, investor relations, and other areas. Wolff has a Bachelors degree from Harvard University and earned his MBA in Finance from Indiana University Bloomington.

Vera CEO and co-founder Ajay Arora praised Wolff’s “deep experience leading durable SaaS businesses,” and said the hire was part of the company’s effort to “level up our ability to scale both our organization and our technology.”

The other part of this effort was the hiring of new senior VP of Engineering, Wesley Yeremenko (pictured below). Formerly the head of Advertising Technology at Adobe Primetime, Yeremenko was also Chief Technical Officer for Auditude (since acquired by Adobe), and VP of Engineering for OpenDNS (since acquired by Cisco), and AdBrite. He has a Master of Science from Kiev State Polytechnic University. Arora highlighted Yeremenko’s nearly 20 years of experience working with high-scale, high-visibility SaaS systems and his “proven ability to build internet-scale platforms.”

Founded in 2014 and based in Palo Alto, California, Vera demonstrated its Vera Security solution at FinovateSpring 2016. The company’s focus on protecting data in transit in real time across users, devices, apps, and platforms has earned Vera partnerships with firms ranging from General Electric to fellow Finovate alum, Twilio. In November, Vera launched its enterprise-grade encryption for e-mail solution, Vera for Mail. Last May, the company announced a $15 million strategic investment from Hasso Plattner that took Vera’s total capital to more than $50 million.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 4, 2018
Categories: Akamai, Daon, Fiserv, Flywire, IDology, Vera, Wealthfront

On Finovate.com

Vera Hires First Chief Financial Officer and Adds Technical Talent.

Akamai Appoints Former Verizon CIO as Chief Information Officer.

Wealthfront Rakes in $75 Million.

Daon Forges Strategic Partnership with North African Technology Innovator GEMADEC.

Ghana Government to Leverage Entrust Datacard to Issue National ID Cards.

Around the web

Fintech News names Flywire 1 of 8 promising fintechs in Singapore to watch.

IDology listed among 50 fastest growing tech companies in 2017.

Fiserv VP of Product Strategy for Card Services, Jon Rosner talks about the pace of digital wallet adoption.

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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Finovate Alums Garner $2.7 Billion in 2017, $730 Million in Q4 Alone

By David Penn Posted on January 3, 2018
Categories: Funding, Fundings

Updated! Funding for fintechs is back on the rise. We tallied up equity funding in 2017 and our totals show that Finovate alumni pulled in $2.7 billion over the course of the year. This marks the fourth consecutive year alums passed the $2 billion mark and pushes the 4-year total to more than $10 billion.

2016: $2.3 billion
2015: $3 billion
2014: $2.2 billion

In the fourth quarter of 2017, Finovate alums raised more than $730 million, beating last year’s Q4 total by more than $30 million. Q4 2017 also marked a resumption of the strong Q4s of last year and 2014.

Previously Quarterly Comparisons

Q4 2016: More than $700 million raised by 26 alums
Q4 2015: More than $302 million raised by 28 alums
Q4 2014: More than $1.4 billion raised by 26 alums
Q4 2013: More than $294 million raised by 17 alums

Q4 2017’s largest equity investment was the $280 million raised by TransferWise in November. Coming in second place was the $130 million in capital raised by BlueVine in October. The top 10 overall investments for the fourth quarter of 2017 totaled $654.7 million or more than 90% of the total alum funding for the quarter.

Top 10 Equity Investments (equity only)

TransferWise: $280 million
BlueVine: $130 million
Feedzai: $50 million
Passport: $43 million
Credit Sesame: $42 million
BankBazaar: $30 million
TrueAccord: $22 million
Featurespace: $21.9 million
BondIT: $18.3 million
Simility: $17.5 million

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q4 2017.

October 2017: More than $337 million raised by 12 alums

BankBazaar: $30 million – post
BLUERUSH: $1.3 million – post
BlueVine: $130 million – post
BondIT: $18.3 million – post
Credit Sesame: $42 million – post
Featurespace: $21.9 million – post
Feedzai: $50 million – post
Finn.ai: $3 million – post
Omnyway: $12.75 million – post
SelfScore: $12 million – post
Tink: $16.5 million – post
Wealthify: undisclosed – post

November 2017: More than $308 million raised by three alums

PayStand: $6 million – post
TransferWise: $280 million – post
TrueAccord: $22 million – post

December 2017: More than $89 million raised by eight alums

Avoka: $12 million – post
Financeit: undisclosed – post
NuCypher: $4.3 million – post
Passport: $43 million – post
Payoneer: undisclosed – post
Prevoty: $13 million – post
SBDA: undisclosed – post
Simility: $17.5 million – post

If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the fourth quarter of 2017, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at research@finovate.com. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

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In the Navy: nCino Brings its Bank Operating System to World’s Largest Credit Union

By David Penn Posted on January 3, 2018
Categories: nCino

With more than $87 billion in assets, more than seven million members, and 300 branches, Navy Federal Credit Union is known as the largest credit union in the world. So it is a pretty big deal for the team at nCino to announce that NFCU has selected the North Carolina-based fintech’s Bank Operating System to help support its continued growth.

“With nCino, our employees can service members with key insights gained on the digital banking platform,” SVP for Consumer and Business Lending for NFCU Dave Ledwell explained. “We want to provide an experience that is quick, effortless and enjoyable, and we see nCino as being the tool to provide these things and more.” Ledwell called NFCU’s military-based membership – including veterans and their families – “some of the best borrowers of any financial institution.”

Left to right: Jonathan Rowe (CMO), Trisha Price (EVP, Product Development and Engineering), and Nathan Snell (Head of Innovation and Design) demonstrating nCino’s Bank Operating System at FinovateEurope 2017.

nCino’s platform will enable bank professionals to facilitate the full process of business lending from application to funding faster and more accurately. The technology also gives banks an edge in customer engagement by providing what nCino SVP of Community and Regional Financial Institutions Paul Clarkson called “a clearer view of members’ needs.”

“Rapidly growing and service-oriented institutions like Navy Federal require an innovative solution that enhances the loan process in order to provide the highest levels of convenience and service to its members,” Clarkson said.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina. nCino demonstrated its Bank Operating System at FinovateEurope 2017. Last month, the company announced that Ithaca, New York’s CFCU Community Credit Union ($1 billion in assets) would deploy its Bank Operating System to better serve its 70,000 members.

The firm has raised more than $81 million in funding – most recently a $17 million private equity round in August – and includes Insight Venture Partners among its investors. Named to Deloitte’s 2017 Technology Fast 500 in November, and having earned the top spot in Aite Group’s report on global commercial loan origination in October, nCino has also partnered with Iberiabank of Lafayette, Louisiana, and teamed up with community bank ConnectOne Bank in recent months. Pierre Naudé is CEO.

Watch our interview with nCino Head of Innovation and Design Nathan Snell as he discusses personalization and the customer experience with Finovate research analyst Julie Muhn.

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Kantox Closes Debt Financing

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 3, 2018
Categories: Funding, Kantox

Currency and risk management solutions company Kantox closed a venture debt financing deal late last month. Silicon Valley Bank supplied the funds to the U.K.-based company. The amount of the funding was undisclosed.

Craig Fox, Vice President at Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. Branch said, “At Silicon Valley Bank, we love businesses that solve real problems, create value and lead their market. Kantox is doing just that, changing the game for how companies manage their FX risk. We are excited to be a part of this amazing growth story.”

In the press release, Kantox noted that partnerships between banks and fintechs are on the rise. “Banks are approaching fintechs because their technology is attractive to them,” the company said. For more on this idea, check out Forbes’ piece The Banks Wanted to Sink this Forex Fintech: Now They’re Vying for It’s Technology.

Philippe Gelis, Kantox CEO and co-founder, said that the agreement with Silicon Valley Bank is “the first step in the process of business and product partnership projects with financial institutions which have approached us interested in our technology.” As a continuation of this trend, Kantox is currently negotiating partnerships with banks in the U.K. and across Europe, anticipating many deals will close in 2018.

Gelis demoed Kantox Peer FX at FinovateEurope 2013 in London. The company’s 2,000 clients have leveraged Kantox’s foreign exchange management solutions to trade more than $5 billion in 20 countries. In November of last year, the company boosted its currency portfolio from 35 to 92, adding markets in Latin America and Asia. Founded in 2011, Kantox has raised $27 million.

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Envestnet Finalizes Acquisition of FolioDynamix for $195 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 3, 2018
Categories: Envestnet, Mergers & Acquisitions

Wealth management intelligence solutions company Envestnet has finalized its acquisition of Actua Corp’s FolioDynamix, a wealth tech solutions company, this week.

The deal, which was first announced in September of last year, was closed for $195 million. The acquisition is expected to add complementary trading tools and brokerage business support to Envestnet’s existing suite of offerings.

Jud Bergman, Envestnet Chairman and CEO said, “This is the next important step in developing a financial wellness network that enables advisors and enterprises to improve their productivity and deliver better outcomes for their clients.”

The deal brings FolioDynamix clients access to Envestnet’s trading tools and commission and brokerage support, as well as integrated wealth management solutions. Joseph Mrak, Chairman and CEO of FolioDynamix said, “We are excited to see where this collaboration takes us and the wealth management industry as a whole.”

Founded in 1999 Envestnet |Yodlee recently won Best of Show for its demo of Financial Health Check at FinovateFall 2017. The new offering leverages consumer data to measure and score their financial health and offers personalized recommendations and tools to help them improve their well-being. In November, the Chicago-based company teamed up with Token to support PSD2 compliant payments in line with open banking regulations.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 3, 2018
Categories: AI Foundry, Envestnet, Fiserv, Kantox, nCino, Personetics

On Finovate.com

Envestnet Finalizes Acquisition of FolioDynamix for $195 Million.

In the Navy: nCino Brings its Bank Operating System to the World’s Largest Credit Union.

Kantox Closes Debt Financing.

Finovate Alums Garner $2.7 Billion in 2017; $721 Million in Q4 Alone.

Around the web

CIO Review names AI Foundry one of the 20 Most Promising Enterprise Information Management Solution Providers 2017.

nCino to power cloud-based digital platform to Navy Federal Credit Union.

Motor City Community Credit Union partners with Fiserv.

Elixirr interviews Personetics founder and CEO David Sosna.

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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