Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Actiance, Advisor Software, Arroweye Solutions, Bazaarvoice, Currency Cloud, Daon, EyeVerify, InComm, Lending Club, nCino

On Finovate.com

  • Daon Adds EyePrint ID to IdentityX Platform Courtesy of New Partnership with EyeVerify.
  • Advisor Software Launches Myers-Briggs-Like Investment Risk Assessment Tool.

Around the web

  • American Banker covers Lending Club’s first securitization
  • InComm honored with two Best in Category awards at the 2017 Pay Awards.
  • Bankless Times features Arroweye’s targeted marketing campaigns.
  • Actiance announces Compliance Integration for Cisco Spark.
  • Currencycloud and Hyundai Card partner to launch Korea’s first mobile remittance service provided by a credit company.
  • Bazaarvoice adds 170 new jobs.
  • nCino expands Credit Analysis Capabilities to Give Financial Institutions’ Underwriting a Boost.

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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Fintonic to Use $28 Million Round to Move Beyond Loans and Insurance

Fintonic to Use $28 Million Round to Move Beyond Loans and Insurance
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Fintonic, Funding

Personal finance app Fintonic landed $28 million (€25 million) in Series B funding today. The venture round comes from ING Group, PSN, and others.

When combined with a Series A round the company received in 2012 and a round of an undisclosed amount in 2014, today’s funding brings the company’s total raised to $29.5 million. Fintonic will use the new cash to grow its presence in Spain and Latin America, as well as to further build out the product.

The company has 400,000 users and is available to users in Spain and Chile. The mobile app aims to offer users more visibility into their financial health. Fintonic leverages big data and uses its proprietary credit score (FinScore) and machine learning algorithms to match users with targeted loans and insurance products from more than 50 companies.

Fintonic CEO Sergio Chalbaud demos Fintonic’s alert system at FinovateSpring 2016

Founded in 2012, the Madrid-based company counts Ideon Financial Solutions, Inception Capital, Onza Capital, and Atresmedia as previous investors. At FinovateSpring 2016, the company debuted its alerts and inbox system to help users act in a timely manner on their financial needs and recommendations.

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Yoyo Wallet Raises $15 Million in Series B

Yoyo Wallet Raises $15 Million in Series B
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Yoyo

 

 

In a round led by Horeca, London-based Yoyo Wallet has raised more than $15 million (£12 million) in new funding. Alain Falys, company co-founder and CEO, said the new investment “will allow us to provide the benefits of customer identification and mobile engagement to a wider array of retailers, large and small, in the U.K. and across Europe.” Horeca is the venture capital arm of German retail conglomerate, Metro Group.

Also participating in the round, which takes Yoyo Wallet’s total capital to more than $30 million, were Woodford Investment Management and Touchstone Innovations. Hansjorg Sage, Metro Group digital unit GM, highlighted Yoyo’s partnership with Caffe Nero, the #3 coffee retail chain in the U.K., as evidence of the company’s “strong track record of deploying digital technology at the customer interface.” Sage said the the trend toward greater digitization in the food and beverage segment of the hospitality industry gave companies like Yoyo Wallet the chance to make a “meaningful positive impact on a wide spectrum of retail businesses.” As part of the investment, still subject to FCA approval, Metro Group partner James Hook will join the Yoyo Wallet board of directors.

Pictured: Yoyo co-founder and COO Michael Rolph demonstrating the Yoyo mobile app at FinovateEurope 2015.

With more than 400,000 registered users and an acceptance network of more than 1,700 outlets, Yoyo Wallet combines payments and loyalty into a seamless mobile experience. The company leverages QR code technology to enable PoS payments, providing SKU-level digital receipts for each transaction while also recording and applying any rewards or loyalty points the purchaser is due into the Yoyo app. Available on iOS and Android platforms, Yoyo wallet features the ability for users to send rewards (“yo-yo’ing”) to others via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media. Merchants can then tie other rewards to their customers who “yo-yo” the most. “Yoyo is now delivering proven benefits to a rapidly growing number of merchants and their customers in universities, corporate campuses, and the High Street,” Falys said.

Yoyo allows retailers build their own branded app, establish a branded presence within the Yoyo app, or use Yoyo’s acceptance rails and SDK to power their own solution. This gives retailers great flexibility in designing the specific mobile experience that is relevant to their customers. In their funding announcement, for instance, the company used the example of a restaurant chain providing customer experience-enhancing options such as being able to order and pay from the table with a Yoyo-powered app. Yoyo Wallet also provides an analytics and campaign generation platform for retailers to enable them to operationalize their insights into customer behavior and better personalize rewards and marketing campaigns.

Founded in 2013, Yoyo demonstrated its mobile app at FinovateEurope 2015. This spring, the company hired former PayPal GM Simon Moran as its first VP of Commercial. In February, Yoyo marked its 10 millionth transaction,  having “helped retailers across the U.K. and Ireland award over 1.2 billion loyalty points and 1.8 million coffee stamps.” Yoyo began the year with the introduction of its AI-powered, marketing automation platform, Yoyo Engage at Davos in January.

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Flywire Teams with PayPal for Cross-Border Payments Method

Flywire Teams with PayPal for Cross-Border Payments Method
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Flywire

It may be money that makes the world go ’round but that only works if money goes ’round the world. Cross-border payment and receivables solution, Flywire (formerly peerTransfer) is seeking to facilitate that movement. Now, the Boston, Massachusetts-based company announced it has teamed up with PayPal to offer clients a new avenue for sending and receiving international payments.

The PayPal payment method is available to Flywire clients in the European Union, the U.K., the U.S., and Canada. Flywire anticipates the new development will help clients “streamline the management and tracking of international receivables.” Ryan Frere, Vice President of Global Payments for Flywire, said the new payment option “furthers our objective of taking the friction out of international payments and making them every bit as familiar, easy and convenient as domestic payments.”

Flywire was founded in 2009 when it was originally known as peerTransfer. In 2015, the company added offices in Spain and expanded its focus beyond international student tuition payments to include cross-border payment offerings for heath care and businesses– a move the company announced in March of this year. Flywire presented its original tuition payment platform at FinovateSpring 2011. The company has raised a total of $43.2 million. Mike Massaro is CEO.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Backbase, Coinbase, Fintonic, Fiserv, Flywire, IdentityMind Global, iSignthis, Jumio, mBank, Meniga, PayPal, Tradeshift, Yoyo

On Finovate.com

  • Yoyo Wallet Raises $15 Million in Series B.
  • Flywire Teams with PayPal for Cross-Border Payments Method.
  • Fintonic to Use $28 Million Round to Move Beyond Loans and Insurance.

Around the web

  • IdentityMind Global to offer Confirm.io’s document authentication technology to its financial services customers.
  • transcosmos to integrate with Tradeshift Japan to help businesses digitalize their indirect operations and accelerate transactional speed
  • Coinbase is reimbursing losses caused by the Ethereum flash crash.
  • Backbase scores fintech deal in Norway with SSF Bank.
  • Fiserv partners with GoldBean to provide a digital adviser offering extra assistance.
  • Meniga & Islandsbanki partner to deploy new card-linked offer platform reaching more than 30% of households in Iceland.
  • Jumio partners with Monzo for strong identity verification.
  • mBank moves into fintech vendor space with new digital banking system.
  • JCB International partners with iSignthis to enable SEPA transactions.

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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Student Loan Genius Joins Inaugural U.S. Class of BBVA Program for Social Entrepreneurs

Student Loan Genius Joins Inaugural U.S. Class of BBVA Program for Social Entrepreneurs
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Student Loan Genius

Student Loan Genius will join 19 other startups in the inaugural U.S. class of BBVA’s training program for social entrepreneurs, BBVA Momentum. The program, in existence since 2011, has helped more than 100 companies with “high social impact” in Spain, Mexico, and Peru. This year, BBVA Momentum has opened the doors to its seven-month training program to U.S. companies “who want to change the world through their work.”

“We saw a lot of passion and innovative approaches to some of our most stubborn issues,” BBVA Compass Director of Corporate Responsibility and one of the program judges, Reymundo Ocañas said.  “We scrutinized the organizations to determine which ones had the most sustainable business models and the highest social impact.” Through the program, BBVA Compass seeks to help startups “scale up so they can change even more lives,” Ocañas explained.

Pictured: Co-founders Tony Aguilar (CEO) and Emiliano Villareal (Chuck Norris of Product) demonstrating Student Loan Genius at FinovateSpring 2016.

Student Loan Genius leverages employer’s existing participation in their employees’ 401(k) plans to provide a unique student loan repayment benefit. Because paying off student loans tends to delay a young worker’s ability to begin saving for the future, Student Loan Genius enables employees to focus on repaying their student loan debt while employers make pre-tax contributions to their employee’s retirement account based on the amount of debt repayment. “We tell the story all the time: young people need to start investing as early as possible, but we can’t afford to do it because of our student loan debt,” Student Loan Genius CEO and co-founder Tony Aguilar explained during his company’s demo at FinovateSpring last year. “With (our platform) we can now make this a reality,” he said.

As part of the BBVA Momentum program, entrepreneurs will get seven-months of training, both online and in-person. In-person training will take place at UT-Austin’s McCombs School of Business. The Corporate Learning Alliance, a joint project between the Financial Times and Spain’s IE Business School, will manage the online portion of the training. The program will also feature networking opportunities with previous BBVA Momentum companies and investors. A select number of entrepreneurs – based on the sustainability and social impact of their solutions – will be eligible for what BBVA called “further investment opportunities.”

Also participating in the program are:

  • A Caring Safe Place Inc.
  • Cafe Momentum
  • Capital Plus Financial
  • Chicks with Class
  • Community Loan Center of Texas
  • E4 Youth
  • Education Opens Doors
  • Ensosoft
  • Give More HUGS
  • Go Rings
  • GroupRaise.com
  • IDEA Public Schools
  • JUST
  • LOHAS Capital
  • LynxGRC
  • Magpies & Peacocks
  • Society of St. Vincent de Paul
  • The Giving Field
  • Upswing

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Student Loan Genius demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2016. Last fall, the company announced that HVAC manufacturer Mestek would offer its employees the Student Loan Genius benefit through a partnership with Prudential. Student Loan Genius powers loan benefit programs for workers at Pinterest, Spredfast, and fellow Finovate alum, Twilio, among others. The company has raised $3 million in funding, courtesy of a seed round in early 2016 led by Gibraltar Ventures and featuring participation from Capital Factory, Fenway Summer Ventures, Kapor Capital, VilCap Investments, and Village Capital. Read our profile of the company from last summer.

 

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Blockchain Lands $40 Million Series B

Blockchain Lands $40 Million Series B
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Blockchain, Funding

Web-based bitcoin wallet Blockchain seems to have benefitted from all of the bitcoin buzz in the past month. The Luxembourg-based company pulled in a Series B round of $40 million today, bringing its total raised to $70 million.

The funding, which the company describes as “rocket fuel” in its blog, comes from new investors Lakestar, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Nokota Management, and Digital Currency Group. Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mosaic Ventures, Prudence Holdings, Virgin, and Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Group) also participated.

Since it was founded in 2011, Blockchain has amassed millions of active users from across the globe, formed partnerships in 34 countries, and has built an API platform used by large fintech companies. The company anticipates the new funds will help it deliver its mission to “create an open, accessible, and fair financial future for billions across the globe, one piece of software at a time”

Blockchain presented at FinDEVr 2014, when the company was hosting 2 million wallets on its platform. Today, the company boasts 14 million wallets. Blockchain differentiates itself from competitor wallet Coinbase because, unlike Coinbase, it does not host cryptocurrency exchanges on its site. Instead, Blockchain has set up partnerships with exchanges so that it cannot see users’ transactions or balance amount.

Earlier this year, Blockchain partnered with Imperial College London to launch the Digital Asset Research Lab, an environment that supports research and activities related to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Late last year, the company announced plans to add a buying option to its wallet.

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With AI and Automation, Personetics Act Turns Banking Apps into Financial Wellness Apps

With AI and Automation, Personetics Act Turns Banking Apps into Financial Wellness Apps
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Personetics

Courtesy of new AI-powered technology, cognitive analytics specialist Personetics has made it that much easier for bank customers to save money and pay off debt. The new solution, Personetics Act, leverages automated algorithms to help customers define and set actionable financial goals. The technology then analyzes the customer’s finances to see ways that funds and payments can best be arranged to meet those goals whether the customer is simply looking to save more, retire debt faster, or set aside money for a specific goal at a specific time.

“We believe that automated programs personalized to individual customer needs and objectives will soon become an essential part of every bank’s product portfolio,” Personetics co-founder and CEO David Sosna said. He added that Personetics is already providing automated money management technology to “some of the world’s leading banks.” Available as a white-label solution, Personetics Act can help banks attract and retain customers whose primary accounts are with other institutions, as well as increase wallet share for current account holders. Customers get an intelligent money management solution that learns user’s preferences and optimizes its recommendations with use.

More than the latest in Personetics’ suite of cognitive banking solutions, Personetics Act embraces the trend toward “turning mobile apps from banking apps to personal finance apps” as Sosna told American Banker, which called the technologies “a digital CFO in your pocket.” Also writing for American Banker, Penny Crossman noted that FIs like Wells Fargo have been working with Personetics to create financial wellness solutions guided by predictive analytics. One such implementation was Wells Fargo’s Daily Change app launched last year that is powered by Personetics. The app enables customers to link checking and savings accounts and schedule transfers between the two.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, Personetics demonstrated its Personetics Anywhere chatbot solution at FinovateFall 2016. The company began the year with an investment from Santander’s venture capital arm, Innoventures, and a deal to power a new chatbot launched by Societe Generale. Personetics has raised $18 million in total funding.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Blockchain, Fiserv, Mitek, Personetics, Student Loan Genius, Trustly, ZipZap

On Finovate.com

  • Blockchain Lands $40 Million Series B.
  • With AI and Automation, Personetics Act Turns Banking Apps into Financial Wellness Apps.
  • Student Loan Genius Joins Inaugural U.S. Class of BBVA Program for Social Entrepreneurs.

Around the web

  • Greater Wyoming FCU ($23 million in assets) transitions to integrated banking solutions from Fiserv.
  • Mitek adds Jeff Davison as new Chief Financial Officer.
  • Trustly readies first The State of Online Banking report for release next week.
  • ZipZap chosen to participate in U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Regulatory Sandbox.

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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SumUp Goes Beyond mPOS with New Online Payments Suite

SumUp Goes Beyond mPOS with New Online Payments Suite
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: SumUp

Payments company SumUp is announcing new payment functionalities today. The U.K.-based company has extended its flagship mPOS service beyond payment cards and the point-of-sale (POS).

The new payment suite offers three new solutions:

  • The SMS feature enables merchants to accept payments made via SMS. The merchant enters the amount due in the SumUp app, which sends the customer an SMS text with a link to a basic online form to enter their payment credentials. There is no card reader required.
  • The Virtual Terminal enables ecommerce merchants to accept card-not-present transactions online.
  • The APIs and SDKs enable merchants to accept online payments via a SumUp integration in their ecommerce shop, and even leverage card-on-file information for recurring billing.

Marc-Alexander Christ, co-founder of SumUp, said that the new avenues open up market opportunities for merchants. “The ultimate challenge for businesses is to find a convenient solution for cross-channel payment acceptance. Traditional offerings focus either on online or offline payments – limited to one or few markets. Through our Omnichannel Payment Suite, we offer simple and secure access to all payment types under one roof,” Christ said.

SumUp works in 16 markets, including in Brazil, the U.S., and all of Europe. Earlier this month, the company appointed Ryan O’Connor as U.S. Managing Director. Last fall, the company launched its Air Register, an all-in-one payment terminal configuration that accepts chip & PIN, magstripe, and contactless payments, and comes with a thermal receipt printer. SumUp demonstrated its mPOS system at FinovateEurope 2013 in London.

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Hot Takes! Fierce Debate! Finovate Presents the Battle of the Fintech Analysts

Hot Takes! Fierce Debate! Finovate Presents the Battle of the Fintech Analysts
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2017

Seven of the sharpest minds in fintech. Seven minutes to persuade our audience of their vision of what fintech will bring in 2018.

As part of our new, expanded FinovateFall conference this year, we are hosting a Battle of the Fintech Analysts. This hour-long roundtable debate and discussion will feature seven fintech professionals hashing out what’s worth watching, what’s worth forgetting, and what’s still yet to figure out when it comes to fintech innovation beyond 2017. Meet our panel.

Ron Shevlin, Head of Research, Cornerstone Advisors

Industry analyst specializing in financial services marketing strategy.

 

 

Daniel Latimore, Senior Vice President, Banking Group, Celent

Leads a world-class team of analysts focused on the banking industry. Celent is a research and consulting firm that provides technology and business strategy advice to the global financial services industry. Celent provides unbiased insight into industry trends, competitors in the market, and market sizes.

Jim Marous, Publisher/Fintech Strategist, The Financial Brand/The Digital Banking Report

Named as one of the most influential people in banking and a Top 5 Fintech Influencer to Follow, Jim Marous is an internationally recognized financial industry strategist, co-publisher of The Financial Brand and the owner and publisher of the Digital Banking Report. Marous advises on innovation, portfolio growth, customer experience, marketing strategies, channel shift, payments and digital transformation within the financial services industry.

Stessa Cohen, Research Director, Gartner

Internationally recognized expert on the digital transformation of the global consumer banking industry. Extensive network, skill with research methods, and tacit knowledge. Counsels financial services companies, technology firms, and investors on product, solution, and investment strategies.

Jerry Silva, Global Banking Research Director, IDC Financial Insights

Experienced technology executive in the financial services industry. Trusted advisor and strategist to banks and technology providers in the areas of technology strategy and deployment, product management, marketing, and business development. 

 

Kevin Morrison, Senior Research Analyst, Aite Group

Payments/Banking Professional with a focus on Innovation

 

Our seventh analyst will be announced later this summer.

What will be the top fintech trend of 2018? Join us Wednesday, September 13 as we kick off Day Three of our newly-expanded FinovateFall conference with the Battle of the Fintech Analysts. And remember you can save $400 off the ticket price if you reserve your spot by Friday, July 7.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Feedzai, iSignthis, Ixaris, modoPAYMENTS, SumUp

On Finovate.com

  • SumUp Goes Beyond mPOS with New Online Payments Suite.
  • Hot Takes! Fierce Debate! Finovate Presents the Battle of the Fintech Analysts.

Around the web

  • Ixaris appoints WorldPay co-founder and former Skrill/Paysafe Group CEO David Sear as Chairman
  • Leumi Card to use Feedzai’s Artificial Intelligence platform to fight fraud.
  • PYMNTS takes a look at Modo’s COIN technology.
  • iSignthis deploys its Payidentity service to Borgun.

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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