Personetics Leverages AI to Help Chip Away at Student Loan Crisis

Personetics Leverages AI to Help Chip Away at Student Loan Crisis
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Personetics

Cognitive analytics company Personetics announced this week it is using its AI technology in a new way. The Israel-based company launched Personetics Act this week to offer banks a way to help customers repay their student loans ahead of schedule.

The new service uses the Nudge Theory to incentivize the 44 million U.S. student loan borrowers who owe more than $1.4 trillion in student loan debt to pay down their loans early and avoid paying thousands in interest. The Nudge Theory was demonstrated by 2017 Nobel Prize winner Professor Richard Thaler, who noted that people make better decisions to improve their financial health when the choice is made easy for them.

Personetics Act puts the Nudge Theory to work by helping banks identify consumers that 1) have a student loan and 2) can afford to pay it off faster. The program offers these consumer a tailored, automated service that adjusts to changes in their spending behavior and continually analyzes their financial picture to find unused funds that can be applied toward the existing loan balance. This can be set to automatically make payments on the customer’s behalf or to appear as a suggested recommendation. The company notes that applying an additional $50 per week towards a $40,000 student loan that bears a 5% interest rate can allow a customer to pay off the loan 3.5 years faster and save over $4,000 in interest payments.

“Existing bank plans are limited in scope and therefore unlikely to make a visible dent in any customer’s outstanding loan balance,” said David Sosna, Personetics’ Co-founder and CEO. “By applying AI algorithms to analyze individual customer cash flows, we’re able to identify windows of opportunity for customers to make these extra payments with no effort on their end.”

At FinovateFall 2016, Personetics demonstrated its Personetics Anywhere chatbot solution. The company was founded in 2011 and has received $18 million in total funding. Personetics recently onboarded Royal Bank of Canada to pilot an AI-powered financial guidance solution, NOMI Insights, and an automated savings platform, NOMI Find & Save. Last month, the company’s VP of New Markets and Solutions, Sudharshan Krishnan, authored a guest post titled, “Enabled by AI, Self-Service Is the Future of Banking.”

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Swych Unveils Themed, Multi-Currency Digital Gifting Options

Swych Unveils Themed, Multi-Currency Digital Gifting Options
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Swych

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Swych has introduced a new set of themed, e-gifting options. The new switchable Occasion, Category, and Event-themed e-gift cards are automatically redeemable in either U.S. dollars or Indian Rupees (depending on location) at retailers matching the category theme. A U.S. shopper who receives a Fashion e-gift card could “swych” it in order to make purchases at a retailer or speciality clothing boutique in the States, while the same card received by a shopper in India could be redeemed at a popular Indian retailer such as Shopper’s Stop.

“We are re-envisioning gifting between consumers by thinking about it in a social and fun way,” Swych founder and CEO Deepak Jain said. “Swych’s value proposition is to make every gift a perfect one; and now we are taking it further by making the gifting transaction between consumers located in two different parts of the planet as seamless and easy as sharing a video or having a chat conversation.” He added, “our launch of a multi-currency, global category gifting portfolio is a step in this direction.”

Examples of the category-themed e-gift cards include Birthday, Anniversary, Graduation, Wedding, New Baby, and Thank You products. The company is also planning to add special events and holiday-themed universal e-gift cards for Diwali, Christmas, and other occasions.

Swych’s e-gift cards are unique insofar as there are no other multi-currency, multi-retailer gift products available on the market that do not also incur interchange or foreign exchange fees when used. In the same way that e-gift cards have made gifting easier within countries and regions, Swych’s new offering makes it easy for consumers to send gifts to friends and family abroad, as well as for businesses and institutions looking to provide rewards and incentives to employees working in more than one country. Swych’s e-gifting solutions have no transaction fees, can be used at the recipient’s preferred merchant, and integrate readily within remittance, mobile banking, messaging, conversational commerce, and loyalty programs.

Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Swych demonstrated its Mobile Gifting Platform at FinovateFall 2016, winning Best of Show. The company has more than 130 U.S. retailers in its network and is partnering with 100 retailers from India, the Philippines, and other countries. Last month, the company announced a “major strategic investment” from UAE Exchange Group through which the two will jointly develop digital gifting services for consumers in emerging markets. In February, Swych released the beta version of its P2P gifting bot. The Swych mobile app is available to U.S. consumers on both iOS and Android.

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Turning the Tables: AI Will Help Consumers Fight Bank Fees & Penalties

Turning the Tables: AI Will Help Consumers Fight Bank Fees & Penalties
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: A.I., Legal, Service

There’s an interesting article in today’s WSJ about DoNotPay, a free AI-powered chat-based service that was built to help London residents automatically fight parking tickets.  That service has now assisted 400,000 consumers fight off $11 million in fines (more background at TechCrunch).

It’s the brainchild of then 17-year old Joshua Browder (who is now 19, and of course, studying CS at Stanford). But Browder is not content beating the meter reader. He is now gearing up to equip everyone with free AI-powered law tools to take on bigger injustices and issues (see DoNotPay overview video above). His latest work, a tool to make it easy to process a no-fault divorce, something that typically can cost $10,000.

The article mentioned a few more areas ripe for this type of tool: airline restitution for delays and lost luggage and battling telemarketers and landlords.

But one area that’s sure to attract multiple consumer AI startups: bank fees, penalties, credit decisions, and more. What are you going to do when you start receiving hundreds, if not thousands, of cease & desist letters challenging NSF charges, late payment fees, and so on? Or worse, suing you in small claims court or threatening arbitration (see the current default “problem” at DoNotPay, how to sue Equifax for $25,000, inset).

You are not going to be able to afford the legal expense to fight for a $35 NSF fee. Eventually, you’ll have your own AI to fight their AI, but that’s a ways away (though if you saw Tim Huber’s AI talk at FF, it may be closer than we think).

An even bigger issue are all those sketchy charges on bank credit and debit card. It’s not a stretch to imaging the consumer’s AI routinely filing disputes and following up over and over again until you and/or the merchant capitulate.

Bottom line: Make sure your penalty fees are appropriate, well communicated, and understood by customers. And you might want to pay a bit more attention to new technologies available to answer customer queries, and even legal threats, in a semi-automated fashion.

Author: Jim Bruene (@netbanker) is Founder & Senior Advisor to Finovate as well as Principal of BUX Advisors, a financial services user-experience consultancy. 

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Actiance, Finn.ai, Hyper Anna, Jscrambler, Klarna, Kript, Mitek, PayNearMe, Persado, Personetics, Revolut, Swych, Yoyo, Zafin

On Finovate.com

  • Swych Introduces Themed, Multi-Currency, Digital Gifting Options.
  • Persado Unveils Persado One, Lands $30 Million Credit Facility from Silicon Valley Bank.
  • Personetics Leverages AI to Help Chip Away at Student Loan Crisis.
  • Two-Time Best of Show Winner Finn.ai Raises $3 Million in New Funding.

Around the web

  • Actiance launches Safe Landing Program to ensure continuous compliance for stranded CA data protection customers.
  • PayNearMe helps NYC residents and visitors pay parking tickets with cash.
  • Mitek partners with handwriting-based biometric authentication service Asignio to deliver IDaaS solution.
  • Revolut announces plans to expand to Singapore.
  • Zafin launches digital origination platform and partner ecosystem, Zafin Origin.
  • Klarna expands partnership with Arcadia, adding new payment solutions.
  • Yoyo Wallet reaches processing milestone of more than 1.75 million transactions per month.

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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Credit Sesame Raises More than $42 Million, Unveils Robo Advisor for Credit

Credit Sesame Raises More than $42 Million, Unveils Robo Advisor for Credit
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Credit Sesame, Funding

Credit service and financial wellness company Credit Sesame has raised more than $42 million in funding. Featuring new and existing investors such as Menlo Ventures, Inventus Capital, Globespan Capital, IA Capital, and SF Capital, the combined equity ($26.6 million) and venture debt ($15.5 million) financing will take Credit Sesame’s total capital to more than $77 million. The funding will help speed Credit Sesame’s growth, enable the company to hire more than 100 new employees over the next 12 months, and “advance its analytics, robo advisor and machine learning technologies.”

That’s right. Robo advisor. In addition to the company’s funding announcement, Credit Sesame founder and CEO Adrian Nazari introduced new robo advisory technology that enables consumers to automate the management of their credit and loans. Credit Sesame sees this as “addressing the liability side of the balance sheet” rather than the asset side typically watched over by most robo advisors.

Credit Sesame CEO and founder Adrian Nazari demonstrating the company’s credit-based PFM solution at FinovateSpring 2015.

“While many companies have spent the last few years catching up to our free credit score offering for consumers, Credit Sesame has been developing and proving robo advisor technology.” Nazari said. He added, “this technology translates consumer financial and credit information into simple and actionable steps that consumers can easily understand and utilize to improve their financial profile and leverage their credit.”

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, Credit Sesame demonstrated its credit-based PFM for a co-branded environment at FinovateSpring 2015. With more than 12 million members, Credit Sesame’s mobile and online solutions give consumers free access to their credit profile, including their credit score, credit report grades and monitoring, as well as interactive tools and tips for securing better borrowing options such as low or no-balance credit card offers and debt consolidation loans.

Credit Sesame has achieved 100% annual growth for the past three years, reaching profitability earlier this year. This spring, the company launched a new service to pre-qualify members for credit cards. In February, Nazari was named to the Entrepreneur’s List of Most Inspirational Leaders in 2017, one month after earning similar recognition from Inc.com.

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SelfScore Rebrands as Deserve, Closes on $12 Million in Funding

SelfScore Rebrands as Deserve, Closes on $12 Million in Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, SelfScore

Consumer analytics company SelfScore rebranded to Deserve today. The California-based company is still committed to providing underbanked Americans with access to credit, and to fuel that mission, Deserve has received $12 million in funding. Today’s round was led by Accel– with participation from Aspect Ventures, Pelion Ventures, Mission Holdings, Alumni Venture Group, and GDP Venture– and brings Deserve’s total funding to $27 million.

Deserve offers a credit card designed for Generation Z, whose members currently range in age from 6 to 21 years. This group accounts for 25% of the U.S. population and is projected to make up 40% of consumers by 2020. Because Generation Z consumers have thin-to-no credit files, they have difficulty accessing credit products at a fair rate. To combat this, Deserve uses an algorithm to predict credit potential by analyzing consumer attributes such as education, current financial health, and future employability. Sameer Gandhi of Accel described this application of machine learning as a “big opportunity to evolve past the antiquated FICO system in a technologically sophisticated way.”

The company’s Deserve Edu card is specifically focused on students, including international students. The card offers benefits such as an 18-month subscription to Amazon Prime Student, 1% cash-back on all purchases, and no fees on foreign transactions. And, for international students, there is no SSN required. To promote and encourage consumers to build their credit score, the company offers incentives for consumers to upgrade to the Deserve Pro Mastercard, which features 3% cashback on travel and entertainment, 2% cash back on restaurants, and 1% unlimited cash-back on all other purchases.

Under the SelfScore brand, the company assessed credit for more than 100,000 international students. Now, under Deserve, the company will target all 20 million college students and another 20 million young adults in the United States. “When I immigrated to America in 1995, one of the hardest parts of settling down in a new country was my lack of financial security and independence,” said Kalpesh Kapadia, founder and CEO of Deserve. “A credit card is one of many tools that was not accessible to me. This is why I wanted to implement technology that rethinks the process for offering access to fair and simple credit. Deserve represents that mission.”

Founded in 2012, Deserve demoed a consumer behavior analytics service at FinovateFall 2014 under the name SelfScore. The company’s accounts are issued by Utah-based Celtic Bank. Check out our profile of Deserve in our Finovate Debuts series in 2014.

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AutoGravity Partners with Global Lending Services

AutoGravity Partners with Global Lending Services
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AutoGravity

Citing the strong “alignment between car shopper and car dealer motivation,” Global Lending Services has forged a partnership with auto financing innovator and Best of Show winner, AutoGravity. The partnership will enable the auto finance company, based out of South Carolina, to make financing offers through AutoGravity’s platform.

Bill Nemecek, Global Lending Services SVP of Marketing and Sales, said the partnership with AutoGravity would help the firm reach prospective car buyers who increasingly “look to technology to provide easier and convenient car purchasing options.” He added that the solution would also help car dealers, who want to both streamline the auto buying process as well as get cars into the hands of customers faster. “Our partnership with AutoGravity positions us to reach these shoppers, help them with financing, and guide them to dealerships who can deliver on this value proposition through state-of-the-art technology,” Nemecek said.

AutoGravity CTO Martin Prescher during his FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016 presentation “A Digital Marketplace for the Auto Financing Space.”

AutoGravity leverages smartphone technology to make buying and financing a car faster, easier and more transparent. The company partners with leading banks and financial services companies to give auto shoppers control over their financing options and access to a nationwide network of trusted car dealerships. “Every month, over 100,000 new users download the AutoGravity app so they can buy and finance their next car with smartphone simplicity,” AutoGravity CEO and founder Andy Hinrichs said. “Our partnership with Global Lending Services helps ensure that car buyers across the nation have access to multiple finance offers in minutes, anytime and anywhere they want.”

Headquartered in Irvine, California and founded in 2015, AutoGravity demonstrated its platform at FinovateFall 2016, winning Best of Show. The company has enjoyed a busy and productive 2017, beginning the year with a “multi-million Euro” investment from Daimler Financial Services, and picking up further investment capital from VW Credit in July. AutoGravity teamed up with Fletcher Jones Auto Group in June and  forged a partnership with Hyundai Capital America in September, the same month the company announced surpassing $1 billion in financing requested via its platform. A member of CBInsights Fintech 250, AutoGravity presented A Digital Marketplace for the Auto Financing Space at our developer’s conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, AutoGravity, Avoka, Baker Hill, Compass Plus, Credit Sesame, Deserve, Envestnet, Fidor Bank, Fiserv, ID.me, iSignthis, nCino, On Deck Capital, Payment Ninja, SelfScore, Symbiont, Temenos, ThreatMetrix, VISA, Yodlee

On Finovate.com

  • AutoGravity Partners with Global Lending Services.
  • SelfScore Rebrands as Deserve, Closes on $12 Million in Funding.
  • Credit Sesame Raises More than $42 Million, Unveils Robo Advisor for Credit.

Around the web

  • Avoka extends strategic partnership with Mitek for digital identity verification solutions.
  • Commercial loan origination, CRM are among the new features in Baker Hill NextGen solution.
  • OnDeck partners with Ingo Money and Visa to provide loans to SMEs via debit card.
  • Westpac NZ to transition to real-time banking platform from ACI Worldwide.
  • Regions Bank to add P2P payment and account-to-account transfer solutions from Fiserv.
  • iSignthis announces new agreement with Omnislots.com operator, Dialinvest.
  • Payment Ninja to launch in the U.S. in November.
  • ThreatMetrix and ID.me partner to deliver ID verification for government and commercial digital services
  • Russian bank Lipetskcombank implements new mobile banking app built on Tranzware Mobile Banking from Compass Plus.
  • Accenture and nCino expand alliance to accelerate digital transformation within top U.S. banks
  • Symbiont joins Wall Street Blockchain Alliance as corporate member.
  • Envestnet | Yodlee to integrate risk insight solutions with Fannie Mae’s Ddsktop underwriter validation Service.

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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The Future of Fintech in Dubai

The Future of Fintech in Dubai
By Heather Stowell Posted on
Categories: Finovate Marketing, FinovateMiddleEast 2018

In the fight for the fintech title — London, Berlin, Barcelona, New York, Silicon Valley, Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore, Cape Town, Abu Dhabi — Dubai is a heavy weight. With fintech investment set to grow 270% in the Middle East in 2017, the future of fintech might be in Dubai.

Join us on February 26 and 27 to find out.

Supported by Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), FinovateMiddleEast will keep demos at its core while introducing content driven panels, regulatory perspectives and world-class keynotes tailored to address the evolution of financial services and the impact on both the providers and the end-users.

See the speakers. See the demoing companies. See the regional startups. And save $200 when buying your ticket by October 26.

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Kabbage Expands to France and Italy

Kabbage Expands to France and Italy
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Kabbage

Alternative lending company Kabbage has deepened its ties with ING this week. The Atlanta-based fintech is leveraging its two-year strong partnership with the Dutch bank to bring its services to Spain.

Through the partnership, millions of small businesses across France and Italy will have access to the Kabbage Platform via ING, which offers a paperless and automated lending service. Qualifying businesses can access ongoing lines of credit up to $118,000 (€100,000) with ING. By analyzing small business data, the Kabbage Platform is able to quickly underwrite small business loans and continually adjust each line of credit based on real-time business performance data.

“This expansion distinguishes ING as one of the most progressive financial institutions for small business lending across Europe,” said Kabbage Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder Rob Frohwein. “Using the power of automation through the Kabbage Platform, our bank partners can reach a dramatically higher number of small businesses than with traditional underwriting, and expand into new geographies without considerable investments or additional operational costs.”

The Kabbage Platform is used by “multiple” top 50 banks across Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, the U.K., and Spain. Earlier this Fall, CB Insights listed the company in its round-up of Top-Targets for European banks. That same week, Kabbage earned its place on the Inc. 5000 list. The company most recently demoed its Kabbage Card small business line of credit at FinovateSpring 2015. Check out our video interview with Kabbage’s COO and co-founder Kathryn Petralia at FinovateFall 2017 last month.

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BLUERUSH Raises $1.3 Million in New Funding

BLUERUSH Raises $1.3 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BLUERUSH, Funding

BLUERUSH closed a non-brokered private placement this week, raising $1.3 million in capital. Participating in the funding were Round 13 Capital Founders Fund, which was responsible for $750,000 of the financing, and newly appointed director Steve Taylor, who subscribed for $250,000.

“This financing will allow us to ramp up our sales and R&D efforts as we continue on our path toward a recurring revenue model,” BLUERUSH President and CEO Larry Lubin said. “The investors in the private placement are highly strategic and bring decades of experience in high growth technology companies. They will be a valuable asset to us going forward.”

BLUERUSH President and CEO Larry Lubin demonstrating INDIVIDEO at FinovateFall 2017.

In a blog post at the BLUERUSH website, the company noted that the funding will also boost its digital platform strategy, providing momentum for the company’s sales enablement platform DIGITALREACH and its personalized video/rich media content platform, INDIVIDEO. Rielle Ullberg, Digital Marketing and Sales Coordinator for BLUERUSH wrote, “the demand for personalized digital experiences continues to increase; specifically within the realm of financial services.” Ullberg noted that the company’s client list includes “some of the biggest and most progressive banks, brokers, and insurance companies in North America.”

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, BLUERUSH demonstrated its “advice engine” INDIVIDEO at FinovateFall 2017. The company, which also has offices in Montreal, Quebec and in Herndon, Virginia, leverages AI and big data visualization to create more engaging customer experiences for clients in financial services, healthcare, and media. From strategy development and lead generation to video marketing and interactive tools and training, BLUERUSH helps brands develop customized strategies to grow their businesses.

In financial services, BLUERUSH’s technology simplifies information and enables professionals to communicate it in a more compelling way. This makes it easier for consumers to make better decisions and helps advisors build trust with their clients. “It’s not just business,” Lubin said from the Finovate stage in September, emphasizing the importance of “advice” in the self-serve oriented, fintech experience. “It’s personal. And financial matters are really personal.”

BLUERUSH trades on the TSVX under the ticker symbol “BTV,” and has a market capitalization of $5 million (6 million CAD).

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Tink Receives $16.5 Million in Funding, Announces Expansion, New Clients

Tink Receives $16.5 Million in Funding, Announces Expansion, New Clients
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Tink

Swedish-born PFM app Tink has landed $16.5 million today for its personal financial management app and packaged APIs. The funds come from SEB, Nordea, Nordnet, ABN Amro, Creades and Sunstone and brings the company’s total funding to $30.5 million.

“This latest funding will allow us to put great focus on the European market, scale our offer, and help banks to keep pace with the expectations of their customers,” said Daniel Kjellén, co-founder and CEO of Tink. “We see this need continuing to grow as customers exert their rights to access their financial information and take control of their money.”

In addition to expanding its pocketbook, the company has also broadened its horizons. Not only has Tink signed licensing agreements with Nordea, Nordnet, and Klarna, it also announced plans to further its European expansion. Today’s partnerships add to the company’s existing agreements with Sweden-based SEB and Dutch-based ABN Amro who teamed up with Tink last year. Through the partnerships, Nordea, Nordnet, and Klarna can integrate Tink’s aggregation, payment initiation technology, and PFM platform into their existing customer channels. Klarna, a bank focused on the online payment experience, demoed its flagship payment technology at FinovateSpring 2012.

Kjellén announced that the company will be live in 10 European countries at the beginning of 2018. He said that Tink’s technology “transforms the industry” by assisting banks to build a customer experience that helps clients understand their finances, make smarter choices, and “ultimately brings them financial happiness.” Kjellén continued, “We see today’s announcement as evidence of a new generation of bank and fintech partnerships. By working together, we are paving the way for a new era of banking in Europe – unlocking the market to create greater choice and a better deal for consumers.”

Tink is an active supporter of the European Union’s proposed PSD2 legislation and has campaigned for greater consumer access to their financial data. The company’s APIs enable banks to plug-and-play account aggregation, payment initiation, PFM, and product recommendation technology in a single platform.

Tink has 50 employees and was founded in 2012. The Tink app has more than 400,000 users in Sweden. This summer the company earned a place on CB Insights’ Fintech 250 list., Kjellén, along with the company’s Commercial Director Tashi Sylten, took home a Best of Show win for their demo of Tink at FinovateEurope 2017 in London. Three years earlier, at FinovateEurope 2014, the company won Best of Show for its debut of the Tink platform.

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