Four Fintech Companies in Forbes 100 Most Innovative Public Companies

Four Fintech Companies in Forbes 100 Most Innovative Public Companies

forbes innovators list

We love seeing alums called out in the numerous “most innovative” articles. Usually, those skew to young private startups. But the recent Forbes list of innovators, limited to large public companies (minimum market cap = $10 billion, with 7 years of public ownership), didn’t disappoint. Four financial technology companies made the top-100 list, and all four have appeared on the Finovate stage. Interestingly, financial services firms are excluded by Forbes on the grounds that they “have no measurable investment in R&D.” (I am sure many readers would argue that point).

Here are the financial fab-four in order of their finish (the innovation premium is the extra value investors place on their growth vs. their enterprise value, methodology):

Note: Experian will be showing its latest tech at Finovate this week as well (sneak peek)

Mastercard Says “Me Too” to Visa’s PayPal Partnership

Mastercard Says “Me Too” to Visa’s PayPal Partnership

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Just over a month after PayPal signed a partnership with Visa, the online money-transfer company has inked a deal with Mastercard.

The terms of today’s agreement with Mastercard are similar to those PayPal laid out with Visa:

  • Mastercard will be clearly presented as a payment option within the PayPal app
  • Users will be able to set Mastercard as their preferred payment method
  • Mastercard will help PayPal boost its presence at the point-of-sale (POS)
  • Mastercard’s Masterpass will be available as a payment option for merchants using Braintree
  • Venmo users can withdraw their Venmo balance using Mastercard Send

Also similar to the Visa deal, PayPal will receive volume incentives and will not be charged a digital wallet-operator fee for using Masterpass.

PayPal spun off from parent company eBay last year and has since been focused on growing its presence at the brick-and-mortar POS to help it compete with the growing number of mobile-wallet apps. The company’s recent partnerships with Visa and Mastercard are expected to spur growth in this area.

PayPal debuted Instant Account Creation at FinovateEurope 2012. Justin Woo, the company’s Braintree developer evangelist, presented at FinDEVr New York 2016. Visa has also presented at FinDEVr: M. Tad Tilahun, VP of product development, and M. Tad Tilahun and Alan Johnson, senior director/digital developed markets, presented at FinDEVr San Francisco 2014. Visa previously appeared at FinovateSpring 2010, where it demoed a tool to help consumers collect and organize products. At FinovateFall 2014, Mastercard took the stage to launch Mastercard Pay with Rewards, a solution that allows cardholders to redeem points at the point-of-sale. The company showed off its Developer Zone at FinDEVr San Francisco 2014.

Payworks Raises $4.5 Million Series A

Payworks Raises $4.5 Million Series A

payworks_homepage_September2016

Just a few days after launching its next-generation payment-gateway, Pulse, Payworks announced a $4.5 million Series A. The round was led by HW Capital and Rumford, and featured the participation of “leading U.S. and European payment executives” as well as existing investor, Speedinvest. The funding will help accelerate the Munich, Germany-based company’s continued expansion into Europe and North America.

“We are extremely happy on having closed our Series A with a great group of investors,” said Christian Deger, Payworks CEO and co-founder. “With their support, we will make Pulse available to even more merchants worldwide and establish our position in the market as a leading payment-gateway technology company.”

Nikolaus von Taysen, a partner at Rumford, had high praise for the German SaaS payment-gateway company, and called Payworks “one of the very few companies that has a shot at replacing an old and outdated infrastructure on a global scale.”

payworks_stage_FEU2014b

CEO Christian Deger demonstrated the Payworks’ platform at FinvoateEurope 2014.

Payworks gives payment processors an alternative to the costly, inefficient, inflexible, and often poorly secured legacy systems still widely in use to process credit card payments. With Pulse, the company’s lightweight, next-generation, SaaS payment-processing platform, Payworks empowers smaller processors to keep up with the larger processors in the payment business. CEO and co-founder Christian Deger called the solution a “very important milestone for our company,” noting the technology provides fast, API-based, EMV, contactless card, mobile wallet, and chip and payment processing for both fixed and mobile point-of-sale systems.

Headquartered in Munich, Germany, and founded in 2012, Payworks demonstrated its platform at FinovateEurope 2014. Winner of the MPE Award for most innovative payment startup, the company is active in more than 15 countries, and its payment provider clients serve hundreds of thousands of merchants in a number of different industries.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • FinovateFall: Mapping the Future of Fintech Today
  • Payworks Raises $4.5 Million Series A
  • Mastercard Says “Me Too” to Visa’s PayPal Partnership

Around the web

  • Top Image Systems Signs Two Accounts Payable Automation Deals Valued at Over $480,000
  • EU-based mobile payments company SumUp achieves profitability.
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews Boku CEO Jon Prideaux.
  • ACI Worldwide brings UP Retail Payments to Erste Bank Hungary.
  • Braintree to offer Visa Checkout.
  • ayondo relaunches website with new design and features to improve trading experience.
  • TransferWise announces tripling of revenues in first public annual report.

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.

Yoyo Wallet is Prepared for Liftoff (But Not in a SpaceX Explosion Sort of Way)

Yoyo Wallet is Prepared for Liftoff (But Not in a SpaceX Explosion Sort of Way)

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The mobile wallet market in the U.S. is being inundated with apps from Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, CVS Pay, Wells Fargo Wallet, Xiaomi’s Mi Pay, and many others. Meanwhile, London-based Yoyo Wallet with its slow-and-steady approach is starting to take off with both merchants and consumers.

You might think of Yoyo Wallet as the Venmo of the mobile-wallet industry since the app has struck a nerve with millennials. The mobile wallet generates a unique QR code for each transaction and allows retailers to in-build rewards and loyalty to incent first-time customers and encourage repeat business.

The startup was recently featured in Fusionwire, which interviewed Yoyo’s cofounder and CRO Michael Rolph, who said:

Over the last six months we’ve gone through this evolution that I think is fairly unique in any company’s life cycle. We’ve probably done the most important work of our lives over this time in order to lay the foundations for scaling. We’ve signed some pretty monumental deals; deals we might well look back on in years to come and say: ‘That was the turning point.’ It’s the exciting part now … you know you’ve got something, the question is: How big can you make it? This scaling-up phase will be very challenging, but that also makes it huge fun to be part of.

Rolph went on to describe Yoyo’s growth since launching, explaining that within the next few months, the company will have a workforce of 40 people, which is double the number Yoyo employed just 12 months ago. “We’ll need for all of us to be at the top of our game,” he said, since he expects Yoyo’s user-base numbers to balloon beginning next year.

Yoyo processes 400,000 transactions per month for mobile wallet users at 65 U.K. universities, 150 large corporate offices—including Accenture, JP Morgan, Visa, and HP—and retail locations. By the end of this year, the company expects to expand to 100 universities and 250 corporate offices.

Yoyo debuted at FinovateEurope 2015. Since then, the company has made inroads into Asia after launching at National University in Singapore. In late 2015, the company quietly began rolling out with partners in the U.S. As for what’s next, Rolph mentioned that the company is close to launching with “several very well-known retailers with a strong presence across the U.K., and specifically London.”

The Procrastinator’s Guide to FinovateFall

The Procrastinator’s Guide to FinovateFall

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Now that everyone in the U.S. has rested up from the Labor Day holiday, it’s time to shift focus to fintech, specifically FinovateFall, which is coming up fast. Here’s a guide to quickly get you up-to-speed on everything you need to know for the event.

Tickets
There are still a handful of tickets remaining. You can register online or at the registration desk on the day of the event.

Where
We’re returning to the New York Hilton Midtown in NYC.

Address:
1335 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10019

When
Registration opens at 8 AM and the first demo begins at 8:45 AM. Coffee and continental breakfast will be provided, so come early and grab a seat.

Presenters
You can find a list of companies and their websites on the FinovateFall homepage. Or check out our Sneak Peek series on the blog for more details on what each company will debut.

Mobile app
The FinovateFall app is powered by Bizzabo. Download Bizzabo in the app store (Android & iOS), search Finovate and join the community to connect with other attendees, follow along with the agenda, and read more about the presenters.

Still have questions? Check out the FAQ section on our website or email fall@finovate.com.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Yoyo Wallet is Prepared for Liftoff (But Not in a SpaceX Explosion Sort of Way)

Around the web

  • American Banker features Moven’s partnership with TD Bank. Come see Moven at FinovateFall this week in NYC.
  • FST Media interviews Phil Copeland, co-founder and chief executive officer of Avoka. Come see Avoka’s FinovateFall demo.
  • MoneyStrands launches new app to help users create good spending habits. Check out Strands at FinovateFall.

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.

Solving the False Positive Problem in Credit/Debit Authorizations

Solving the False Positive Problem in Credit/Debit Authorizations

seattle_laFor the third year in a row, I traveled from Seattle to the L.A.-area to drop off my son at college. And for the third year in a row, Bank of America declined my card at Target, buying groceries and incidentals for him. And this time it was an EMV chip-card. Thank goodness I had my trusty Capital One card along, because it seems to do a far better job minimizing false positives (for fraud), at least for my account.

Capital One did have its concerns along the way, though. They sent the following email asking for confirmation that these gas-station authorizations were mine. And even though I didn’t respond right away, perhaps 12 to 18 hours later, they never shut off my card.

capital_one_charge_confirmation

Bank of America also sent a similar email, but it arrived AFTER the card was declined. I understand the bank’s need to terminate suspicious transactions, but is it really that suspicious? For three years running, I’ve shown up in Los Angeles the last week of August (along with visits in between) and gone on a bit of a spending spree to stock my son’s dorm and now apartment (you’re welcome, boys!). Furthermore, I had already used the card to book an L.A. hotel, make some low-level but consistent charges along the way, coffee at Seatac, lunch in West L.A., and so on. But when I try to buy $150 in groceries at Ralph’s or Target, the card is declined, and worse, completely shut off from further purchasing.

Bottom line: My point here isn’t to complain about one issuer’s fraud-handling (although it felt good to get that off my chest), but to implore once again for more integration with smartphones to reduce false negatives. Specifically:

  1. Talk to me on the most immediate channel. Both banks sent emails, but I’m on the road, not checking emails. Pop a notification on the screen and send me a text message. Also, in instances of two account holders, make sure fraud alerts go to both (BofA emailed only my wife).
  2. Know me better. I get that Target in Tustin is outside my normal spending bubble. But I have a history of making charges in that area for 2+ years, so cut me a little slack.
  3. Better yet, know where I am. How many hundreds of millions could BofA save by tracking cardholder whereabouts in the background? I let Starbucks, Google, Yelp, and so on track my location. The benefits of them knowing where I am outweigh the privacy risks. The same goes for my bank.

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iContactHeaderFFNote: Looking forward to seeing everyone at Finovate this coming week. Let me know if there is anything you want to discuss (jim@finovate.com).

FutureAdvisor Brings RoboAdvisory to U.S. Bank Wealth Management

FutureAdvisor Brings RoboAdvisory to U.S. Bank Wealth Management

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Since its acquisition by BlackRock a year ago, online investment adviser FutureAdvisor has inked partnerships with BBVA Compass and RBC Wealth Management. Recently, we learned that the San Francisco-based robo-adviser founded by CEO Bo Lu has added another major client to its roster: U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

“Digital advice … will play a larger role as the combination of digital and human advice, packaged appropriately together, continues to improve outcomes for both financial advisers and their clients,” Lu said.

FutureAdvisor is an online investment adviser that automatically reviews and manages investment holdings to optimize asset allocation, limit hidden fees, and improve tax efficiency. The platform provides regular portfolio rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, and immediate and automatic investment of newly added cash. FutureAdvisor also gives clients access to professional licensed advisers and service specialists to ensure that investors get quick answers to their questions about investing and the FutureAdvisor platform. Clients can use the technology to plan for a variety of financial goals, and is free for those using the platform for retirement and college savings. For investment management, FutureAdvisor charges an annual fee of 0.5% of assets directly managed, with advice on managing 401(k) accounts available for free.

Mark Jordahl, president of wealth management at U.S. Bank, said FutureAdvisor’s technology would complement the work of its investment advisers and give investors greater confidence. “We are thrilled to be launching a new strategic partnership with FutureAdvisor to create an automated investing option that we believe will be highly valued by those who are in the process of growing as investors,” Jordahl said. U.S. Bank will use FutureAdvisor to build a variety of investment portfolios consisting of “cost-effective funds specifically designed to help clients work toward their goals.”

Founded in 2010 and based in San Francisco, California, FutureAdvisor demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2013. This summer, the company was featured in a report on automated digital wealth management from Finovate sponsor Financial Technology Partners (FTPartners), and profiled by Business Insider. FutureAdvisor picked up LPL Financial as a client in April, bringing its robo-adviser platform to the company’s 14,000 financial advisers. Prior to the company’s acquisition by BlackRock, FutureAdvisor had raised more than $21 million in funding.

Blackhawk Network Acquires Grass Roots for $118 Million

Blackhawk Network Acquires Grass Roots for $118 Million

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Prepaid payments network Blackhawk Network scored big yesterday. The California-based company has agreed to acquire Grass Roots, an employee- and customer-engagement solutions company, for $118 million.

This is the company’s eighth acquisition and is expected to help Blackhawk broaden the incentives-and-engagement business it launched in 2014 called Blackhawk Engagement Solutions (BES). BES took shape after Blackhawk acquired incentives-and-rewards companies Parago, InteliSpend, Cardlab, and Incentec. Since then, Blackhawk has bolstered BES by acquiring Achievers, Giftcards.com, and Extrameasures.

Bill Tauscher, executive chairman for Blackhawk, said the acquisition “complements the existing client portfolio” of Blackhawk. Tausher says the company “will also offer new products and capabilities to Grass Roots’ clients.”

While the company has commercial operations in 25+ countries, this acquisition will expand Blackhawk’s geographical reach. U.K.-based Grass Roots has offices in Europe, the Americas, and Asia and will operate as a subsidiary of Blackhawk. The finalization of the transaction is subject to approval by Germany’s Federal Cartel Office.

Founded in 2001, Blackhawk went public in 2013 (NASDAQ: HAWK) and is one of 49 companies listed on the KBW Nasdaq Financial Technology Index. In July 2016, the company launched an ecommerce website for gift cards in Canada, and at FinovateFall 2012, Blackhawk debuted GoWallet, a direct-to-consumer platform that lets users manage all of their gift cards from a central dashboard. In February 2016, the company appointed Talbott Roche as CEO.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Blackhawk Network Acquires Grass Roots for $118 Million
  • FutureAdvisor Brings RoboAdvisory to U.S. Bank Wealth Management

Around the web

  • Avoka reports record levels of orders for fiscal 2016. Join Avoka in New York for FinovateFall 2016 next week.
  • Financeit earns spot on the TechVibes’ Fintech Five.
  • Chain CEO Adam Ludwin warns against “blockchain hype” on Fortune.com.
  • Narrative Science teams up with Franklin Templeton Investments to bring Quill technology to their fund commentary process.
  • SmartyPig switches to Sallie Mae Bank to enable partial withdrawals, direct deposit, and to offer a higher interest rate.

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.

Fintech Fundings: 30 Companies Raised $330 Million First Week of August

money_scrabbleThe fintech sector attracted $332 million in new capital the first week of August. The number of deals totaled 30, slightly above the YTD average of 28 deals per week. Nearly two-thirds of the money went to solar energy lender, Mosaic.

Seven deals involved insurance startups, the most ever in a single week. Four of those came out of the most recent batch of companies launched from accelerator 500 Startups, where each received $125,000 in seed capital.

The total number of deals YTD stands at 869, about 400 more than last year’s 457. Total dollars raised YTD is $19.6 billion, double the $9.8 billion raised during the same period a year ago.

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Fintech deals by size from 30 July to 5 August 2016:

Mosaic
Lender for solar energy installations
Latest round: $220 million Private Equity
Total raised: $245 million
HQ: Oakland, California
Tags: Consumer, credit, loans, underwriting, solar energy, home equity
Source: Crunchbase

Kyriba
Cloud cash and treasury management solutions
Latest round: $22.7 million
Total raised: $95.1 million
HQ: San Diego, California
Tags: Enterprise, institutions, accounting, commercial banking
Source: FT Partners

Huize
Insurance portal
Latest round: $15 million Series B
Total raised: $15 million
HQ: Shenzen, China
Tags: Consumer, insurance, price comparison, discovery, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

Paidy
Online payment service
Latest round: $15 million Series B
Total raised: $15 million
HQ: Japan
Tags: SMB, B2B2C, payments, online, security, merchants, acquiring
Source: Crunchbase

Clark
Mobile insurance broker
Latest round: $14.75 million Series A
Total raised: $14.75 million
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Incubator: FinLeap
Tags: Consumer, insurance, mobile, price comparison, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

AxialMarket
Middle market capital matchmaker
Latest round: $14 million Series C
Total raised: $44.7 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: SMB, credit, loans, underwriting, commercial loans, M&A, investment banking
Source: FT Partners

Funding Societies
Lending marketplace for small businesses
Latest round: $7.5 million Series A
Total raised: $7.5 million
HQ: Singapore
Tags: SMB, credit, loans, underwriting, person-to-person, P2P, investing
Source: FT Partners

Kubo Financiero
P2P microfinance lender
Latest round: $7.5 million Series A
Total raised: $11 million
HQ: Mexico City, Mexico
Tags: Consumer, credit, loans, underwriting, person-to-person, P2P, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Coinify
Bitcoin point-of-sale solutions
Latest round: $4 million Series A
Total raised: $4 million
HQ: Copenhagen, Denmark
Tags: SMB, merchants, acquiring, POS, bitcoin, blockchain, crypto-currency
Source: Crunchbase

Privitar
Big-data analytics for financial institutions
Latest round: $4 million
Total raised: $5 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Institutions, analytics, BI, compliance, security
Source: FT Partners

VaultInvesting
Retirement plans for small businesses
Latest round: $1.55 million Seed
Total raised: $1.55 million
HQ: Seattle, Washington
Tags: SMB, investing, retirement planning, 401(k), employee benefits, HR
Source: Crunchbase

MovoCash
P2P payments
Latest round: $1.46 million
Total raised: $2.16 million
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Tags: Consumer, person-to-person, payments, funds transfer, remittances
Source: Crunchbase

Wealthify
Robo-adviser
Latest round: $1.3 million Equity Crowdfunding
Total raised: $1.3 million
HQ: Cardiff, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, advisers, wealth management, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Finja
Mobile wallet
Latest round: $1 million Seed
Total raised: $1 million
HQ: Lahore, Pakistan
Tags: Consumer, payments, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

RightCapital
Financial planning software for advisers
Latest round: $1 million Seed
Total raised: $1 million
HQ: New York City, New York
Tags: Advisers, wealth management, trading, investing
Source: Crunchbase

QuickGifts
Giftcard portal
Latest round: $500,000 Debt
Total raised: $3.97 million
HQ: Austin, Texas
Tags: Consumer, prepaid cards, gift cards, loyalty, payments
Source: Crunchbase

BrightPolicy
Home insurance portal
Latest round: $125,000 Seed
Total raised: $125,000
HQ: Evanston, Illinois
Accelerator: 500 Startups
Tags: Consumer, insurance, price comparison, discovery, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

Homebot
Maximizing home equity
Latest round: $125,000 Seed
Total raised: $125,000
HQ: Denver, Colorado
Accelerator: 500 Startups
Tags: Consumer, mortgage, home equity lending, retirement planning, investing
Source: Crunchbase

INZMO
Mobile insurance provider
Latest round: $125,000 Seed
Total raised: $380,000
HQ: Tallinn, Estonia
Accelerator: 500 Startups
Tags: Consumer, insurance, price comparison, discovery, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

StreamLoan
Workflow solution for residential home purchase
Latest round: $125,000 Seed
Total raised: $125,000
HQ: San Francisco, California
Accelerator: 500 Startups
Tags: Institutions, lenders, mortgage, lending, customer service, mobile, account opening
Source: Crunchbase

SureBids
Remittance provider
Latest round: $125,000 Seed
Total raised: $125,000
HQ: Lago, Nigeria
Accelerator: 500 Startups
Tags: Consumer, payments, remittances, gift cards
Source: Crunchbase

TaCerto
Online insurance broker
Latest round: $125,000 Seed
Total raised: $4.1 million
HQ: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Accelerator: 500 Startups
Tags: Consumer, insurance, discovery, price comparison, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

Track
Self-employment tax payments
Latest round: $125,000 Seed
Total raised: $125,000
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Accelerator: 500 Startups
Tags: SMB, payments, tax prep, accounting
Source: Crunchbase

Trym
Insurance broker
Latest round: $125,000 Seed
Total raised: $125,000
Accelerator: 500 Startups
Tags: Consumer, insurance
Source: Crunchbase

AssetRover
Real estate investing tool
Latest round: $20,000 Seed
Total raised: $20,000
HQ: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Tags: Consumer, investing, real estate
Source: Crunchbase

FixtHub
Fixed income markets enterprise software
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: New York City
Tags: Institutions, trading, bonds, investing
Source: Crunchbase

AxiCorp
Forex services
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: North Sydney, Australia
Tags: Consumer, SMB, FX, trading, investing
Source: FT Partners

DisLedger
Distributed ledgers for financial community
Latest round: Undisclosed Seed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Reston, Virginia
Tags: Institutions, blockchain, payments, bitcoin
Source: Crunchbase

Meeber
Mobile point-of-sale system
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Singapore
Tags: SMB, payments, merchants, credit/debit cards, acquiring, POS
Source: Crunchbase

Qupital
Marketplace for corporate receivables
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Hong Kong
Tags: SMB, credit, underwriting, factoring, trade finance, receivables financing
Source: Crunchbase