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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: W.UP

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 24, 2017
Categories: FinovateEurope 2017, FinovateEurope 2017 Sneak Peek, W.UP

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on the 7 and 8 of February 2017 in London. Pick up your tickets today and save your spot.

W.UP’s Sales.UP is an insight-driven sales and engagement tool for financial institutions that uses pre-built customer insights to create relevant, personal, and timely interactions with clients.

Features

Uses pre-packaged customer insights based on behavioral patterns of customers
Integrates with existing campaign managers
Improves the banking experience of the customer

Why it’s great
Sales.UP: the power of big data analytics with pre-packaged insights, with the speed and knowledge of ecommerce.

Presenters

Tamás Braun, Head of International Sales and Business Development
Braun worked in the retail banking technology industry in the past 15 years and more recently at technology vendors such as IND and Misys.
LinkedIn

Balázs Zotter, Head of Product Line
The last 10 years in the financial technology industry led Zotter to pave the way towards banking products that deliver a happy digital banking experience.
LinkedIn

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StockTwits Partners with TradeIt to Expand Beyond Robinhood’s Brokerage

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 24, 2017
Categories: Stocktwits

StockTwits announced today it has partnered with TradeIt to expand the number of brokerages through which its users can trade. With the new integration, traders and investors can now place trades via large brokerages directly within the StockTwits mobile app.

This is the San Diego-based company’s second brokerage partnership. StockTwits first introduced brokerage functionality into its iOS app through a partnership with Robinhood in November 2015. Since launch, 40,000 Robinhood accounts have been connected, making a total of 1,000 trades per day on the StockTwits iOS app.

In a press release, StockTwits CEO Ian Rosen said, “We’ve had so much success with our Robinhood integration that we are excited to get more brokerages used by our community connected.” While the press release did not mention the number of “major brokerages” the TradeIt partnership gives the StockTwits community access to, it made clear that the new addition, “expands StockTwits’ broker offering considerably.”

Above: TradeIt’s multi-broker integration

The newest version of the StockTwits app is available in the app store now.

Founded in 2008, StockTwits serves as one of the top trading communities and social investing platforms. The company facilitates 200 messages each minute across 7,500 individual stocks and tickers. StockTwits launched its blog network and StockTwits Connect at FinovateEurope 2011. At FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2014, the company’s then-CEO Howard Lindzon gave a presentation titled Investing in a Social, Local, and Mobile World. StockTwits appointed a new CEO, Ian Rosen, in July of 2016.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on January 24, 2017
Categories: aixigo, Arxan Technologies, ayondo, Backbase, Bambu, Dorsum, GainX, Hip Pocket, iProov, SaleMove, SimplyTapp, Stocktwits, TransferTo, VASCO, W.UP, Wealthfront, Xignite

On Finovate.com

StockTwits Partners with TradeIt to Expand Beyond Robinhood’s Brokerage.

Check out today’s sneak peeks from upcoming FinovateEurope demos:

On FinDEVr.com

SimplyTapp Launches New Payments and E-Commerce App, Gane.

Around the web

TransferTo partners with Wirecard to enable mobile money operators to offer mobile-to-mobile remittance services.

Ayondo announces deadline for 2017 social trading championship.

Hellenic Bank of Cyprus to deploy new digital banking platform from Backbase. Join Backbase at FinovateEurope in London next month.

StockTwits teams up with TradeIt to give community members ability to execute trades with major brokerages via new iOS app.

Xignite adds senior sales, business development talent; unveils new offices in New York financial district.

Bambu wins Best Early Startup award at Next Money in Hong Kong.

Wealthfront revamps Selling Plan to help users sell and diversify their company stock.

Arxan Technologies partners with Cisco as to protect connected medical devices.

South by Southwest (SXSW) selects Hip Pocket to showcase Hip Money at SXSW Accelerator Pitch Event in March

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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FinovateEurope Full Presenter Lineup Announced!

By Greg Palmer Posted on January 23, 2017
Categories: Finovate Marketing

FinovateEurope 2017 is just two weeks away, and the excitement is building! We’re gearing up for another great conference showcasing the best in fintech innovation from and for the European market.

You may have already seen a list of our presenters, but we’re excited to announce our full roster (including all previously “stealth” companies) for the first time. Here is the complete list of companies who will be demoing in London on February 7 and 8:

For more information on what you can expect to see, take a look at our “sneak peek” blog post series. We’ll continue to add sneak peeks as the event approaches.

Join us in the heart of London to see the newest technology from each of these innovative companies for yourself. Space is limited, so register early to guarantee your spot!

FinovateEurope 2017 is sponsored by: Comarch, FT Partners, KPMG and Lleida.net.

FinovateEurope 2017 is partners with: Aite Group, Bankers Hub, Banking Technology, Celent, eBanking News, FemTech Global, Financial IT, Fintech Finance, The Fintech Times, Harrington Starr, Headcount, Holland Fintech, IBS Intelligence, IU eMagazine, Mapa Research, Ovum, Paybefore, The Paypers, Plus Journal, Smart Insights, SME Finance Forum, and Verdict Financial.

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$700 Million Raised by 26 Alums in Q4 2016

By David Penn Posted on January 23, 2017
Categories: Funding, Fundings

Finovate/FinDEVr alums raised more than $700 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. Total fourth quarter investment in Q4 2016 was more than double last year’s Q4 total, and represented a gain of more than 40% over the previous quarter’s total.

Previous 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

The biggest equity deal of the final quarter of 2016 was $180 million raised by Payoneer in October. Also worthy of note was the $115 million raised by PaySimple, and the $80 million raised by NuBank. For the fourth quarter of 2016, the top 10 overall investments totaled $593 million or more than 84% of the total alum funding for the quarter.

Top 10 Overall Investments (equity only)

Payoneer: $180 million
PaySimple: $115 million
NuBank: $80 million
BlueVine: $49 million
Finicity: $42 million
Nutmeg: $37 million
Quantopian: $25 million
Personal Capital: $25 million
Lendio: $20 million
SecureKey: $20 million

These Q4 numbers for Finovate/FinDEVr alums suggests that the pace of investment in fintech innovation remains robust. With a $700 million Q4, the total investment in our alums for 2016 is more than $2.3 billion. This compares to a $3 billion 2015, a $2.2 billion 2014, and a $825 million 2013.

Here is our detailed alum funding report for Q4 2016.

October 2016: More than $371 million raised by eight alums

Aire: $2 million – post
DeMystData: $7 million – post
FinanceIt: $17 million – post
Lendio: $20 million – post
Nanopay: $10 million – post
Payoneer: $180 million – post
PaySimple: $115 million – post
SecureKey: $20 million – post

November 2016: More than $97 million raised by eight alums

Finagraph: $5 million – post
figo: $7 million – post
Five Degrees: $10 million – post
Nutmeg: $37 million – post
P2Binvestor: $7. 7 million – post
Sezzle: $1.85 million – post
TrueLink Financial: $3.6 million – post
Quantopian: $25 million – post

December 2016: More than $235 million raised by eleven alums

BlueVine: $49 million – post
Finicity: $42 million – post
Hip Pocket: $150,000 – post
Kreditech: $10.4 million – post
NuBank: $80 million – post
Nutmeg: $14.6 million – post
Personal Capital: $25 million – post
Socure: $13 million – post
Tradeshift: undisclosed – post
Walletron: undisclosed – post
Zighra: $1 million – post

If you are a Finovate alum that raised money in the second quarter of 2016, and do not see your company listed, please drop us a note at [email protected]. We would love to share the good news! Funding received prior to becoming an alum not included.

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Quicken to Leverage PayNearMe’s Prism API

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 23, 2017
Categories: PayNearMe

Cash billpay service PayNearMe announced last week its Prism API is powering bill presentment for Quicken. By leveraging the Prism API, Quicken can provide its customers with real time bill and account visibility.

The Prism API also offers Quicken clients same-day bill payment capability for utilities, telecom providers, cable billers, and more. The integration has helped Quicken bring “thousands more” billers to its platform.

Prism’s bill presentment

Daniel A. Chen, Quicken’s head of business development said Quicken selected Prism because it is “extremely developer friendly” and “the documentation is among the best I’ve seen.” Chen continued,

“Prism API enables us to better support our customers by providing them with real-time insight into future cash-flow needs and upcoming bill amounts. It also enables us to monitor changes in a biller’s service that may affect our customers before they are noticed. The automated monitoring means we are able to troubleshoot more quickly than the manual process we were using before.

PayNearMe began offering access to the Prism API after it acquired Prism Money in May of 2016. Visa was the first client to leverage the Prism API. The company helps enterprise customers offer bill presentment capabilities to their consumer-reloadable prepaid card clients.

Founded in 2009, PayNearMe enables consumers to pay bills using cash at 17,000+ 7-Eleven, Ace Cash Express, and Family Dollar retail stores across the U.S. by scanning a barcode on their smartphone. Most recently, the company partnered with Comcast to power cash payments for XFINITY clients. PayNearMe presented at FinovateSpring 2013 and at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2014. The company has raised more than $71 million in funding. Danny Shader is CEO.

Quicken debuted Quicken Online at FinovateFall 2008 in New York. The company, once owned by Intuit, was acquired by H.I.G. Capital in April of 2016 for an undisclosed amount. Eric Dunn is Quicken CEO.

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CurrencyCloud Taps Former Misys Executive Ed Addario as New CTO

By David Penn Posted on January 23, 2017
Categories: Currency Cloud

Ed Addario, the new Chief Technology Officer for CurrencyCloud, brings an impressive track record as a fintech executive to the company. Addario comes to CurrencyCloud after serving as Global Head of Architecture and Integration at Misys. And previous to his tenure at Misys, Addario was SVP Technology at Monitise. At CurrencyCloud, Addario will manage a 45-member team dedicated to developing the company’s APIs that help third parties automate and enhance their payment processes.

In a statement, Addario praised CurrencyCloud’s technology for being “built by developers for developers” and referred to the company part of the “next generation” that will “realize the true potential of the digital economy.” CurrencyCloud CEO Mike Laven called Addario a “perfect fit” for the task of helping create solutions that will enable companies to take advantage of “new and emerging business models” without being limited by legacy technology. “Ed will play a key role in developing the tools that we provide,” Laven said, “to allow our customers to build the best solution for their business needs.”

Addario has a B.Sc. in Computer Science, with coursework in Applied Statistics and Machine Intelligence, and a M.Sc. in Manufacturing and Quality Engineering. He is also a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in London, U.K., CurrencyCloud demonstrated its payment engine last year at FinovateEurope 2016. The company also presented at our developer’s conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley in 2015, discussing how Currency Cloud rebuilt its market-leading API. Named to Fintech Forward’s “20 Companies to Watch” last fall, CurrencyCloud forged a partnership with Arkea Banking Services in August, and appointed a new CFO, Fiona Tee, last spring. CurrencyCloud has raised $35 million in funding – including an $18 million Series C in June 2015. Sapphire Ventures, Notion Capital, and Atlas Venture are among the company’s investors.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 23, 2017
Categories: Avoka, Boku, Currency Cloud, HelloWallet, Insuritas, M1 Finance, Misys, PayNearMe, Quicken, WorkFusion

On Finovate.com

CurrencyCloud Taps Former Misys Executive Ed Addario as New CTO.

Quicken to Leverage PayNearMe’s Prism API.

Around the web

Gillian Davies joins Boku as new CFO.

Paducah Bank to launch Insuritas insurance agency platform to drive fee income.

The Banker interviews Avoka European GM, Richard Austen.

Investopedia profiles Chicago-based robo advisor, M1 Finance.

Forrester features WorkFusion in list of important AI technologies in 2017.

HelloWallet unveils version 5.0 with improved app navigation and streamlined dashboard.

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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Dwolla Raises Capital, Relaunches Access API

By David Penn Posted on January 20, 2017
Categories: Dwolla, Funding, Fundings

Writing at the Dwolla blog, company founder and CEO Ben Milne expressed how important the goal of “building the ideal API to move money” was to him and his company. Calling this “part of our DNA,” Milne wrote that the new opportunities Dwolla’s technology has created have “come with growth and the need to finance it.”

And finance it Dwolla has. The company picked up $6.85 million in new funding in a round led by Union Square Ventures and Foundry Group. Milne wrote that the investment will be used to expand Dwolla’s sales and account management operations in Des Moines, Iowa. The round featured participation from Detroit Venture Partners, Firebrand Ventures, High Alpha, Ludlow Ventures, and Next Level Ventures, and brings Dwolla’s total capital to just over $39 million. Firebrand Ventures founder John Fein was quoted in the Kansas City Star crediting Dwolla for rekindling his interest in supporting fledgling technology companies.

Pictured: Dwolla Director of Communications and Policy Affairs Jordan Lampe demonstrating FiSync at FinovateSpring 2015.

Milne also announced his company’s API Suite, Access API, will now contain all of Dwolla’s white label solutions. “Nothing changes for current customers,” he noted, “but additional features will be rolled into the Access API to make building software that connects to the banking infrastructure easier.” These features, according to TechCrunch, include same-day transfer and a new dashboard for managing transactions. Fortune.com notes that Access API “has attracted more than 100 customers in its first year.”

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, Dwolla demonstrated its FiSync technology at FinovateSpring 2015. The company partnered with open source subscription billing and payments platform, Kill Bill, last October and, in August, introduced a new dashboard and administrative interface for its white-label partners. Dwolla added more FIs to its instant account-verification flow back in May.

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Card-Linked Offers Consolidates: Edo Interactive Acquired by Augeo

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 20, 2017
Categories: edo Interactive, Mergers & Acquisitions

From 2011 to 2013, card-linked offers (CLO) was all the rage– you could say it was the AI of that era. The trend peaked in 2012, when it seemed every other fintech company added some type of card-linked offers. As is typical with explosive trends such as these, we’re now seeing industry consolidation.

This week that consolidation comes in the form of successful CLO player Edo Interactive being acquired by Auego. Minnesota-based Auego will add Edo’s CLO technology to its loyalty and engagement offerings, which will provide Edo access to a larger client base. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Since launching in 2007 Edo has partnered with hundreds of national and local merchants, helping each tailor a personalized digital marketing campaign to drive sales. At FinovateSpring 2012, the Nashville-based company (pictured right) launched its GeoCommerce feature that enabled retailers to push offers to users’ phones based on their geolocation.

Ed Braswell, Edo CEO said, “…the combination of our platforms helps solve the challenges many others face with content and delivers the strategy, data insight and analytics required for programs to be sustainable and successful. Heading into 2017, we intend to deliver the next generation of card-linked loyalty with the most premier partners in the space.”

This is Auego’s seventh acquisition since launching in 1998. The company will preserve the Edo brand along with its operations and headquarters location.

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Startup Watch: Qonto Launching European Direct Business Bank out of Paris

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 20, 2017
Categories: Credit/Debit Cards, Small Business

When it comes to startups, it seems that consumer services get all the attention, while the enterprise plays get the revenue. Or so Qonto hopes as they target business customers for their new direct bank opening in second quarter. The Paris-based startup (with an .eu web address) is targeting business with their more intensive expense-tracking needs and promises “easy business banking,” a compelling slogan.

The startup is not technically a bank, chartered under the French payments company regulations, but it offers debit cards, current accounts, and international transfers. The only big thing missing are commercial loans, and no doubt those are on the product roadmap, once they get some traction on the expense management side.

Qonto is currently concentrating on the front-end customer experience, off loading the nuts and bolts of payments to Treezor, a French white-label payments provider. Treezor is able to provide instant MasterCard numbers to Qonto customers, with the plastic arriving within 5 days. That helps get the new business customer onboarded immediately, a great first impression.

A few Finovate alums are pursuing this market, but none in France.

Bento (FS15 demo)
Expensify (Fs13 demo)
Holvi (acquired by BBVA March 2016) (FEU13 demo)

The company was in the news last week with their first fundraising, snagging $1.7 million from Alven Capital and Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, which also invested in N26 and TransferWise.

Bottom line: Supplying businesses, even smaller ones, is a lucrative proposition. They are not as price sensitive as they appear, because few owners have the time or patience to shop for banking services. Once they settle on a provider, you have a good chance of keeping them for the life of their business, IF you can meet their needs as they grow, especially credit. And startups are uniquely positioned to appeal to small business customers, because as a small biz themselves, they understand the customer like no large bank can.

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NatWest, RBS to Offer Clients Business Banking Solutions from FreeAgent

By David Penn Posted on January 20, 2017
Categories: FreeAgent

This week marks two big wins for online accounting system provider FreeAgent. NatWest has agreed to provide FreeAgent’s SaaS business banking solution to its small business clients this year. FreeAgent also signed an agreement with The Royal Bank of Scotland that will put its cloud-based accounting solution in the hands of RBS’s small business customers.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to have been chosen from over 30 vendors to help and support Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest’s business customers,” FreeAgent CEO Ed Molyneux wrote on the company blog. “By moving onto the FreeAgent platform, we hope life will become easier for these small businesses (who in many cases have to do their accounting themselves) by allowing them to concentrate on running their businesses.”

Pictured: Ed Molyneux, founder and CEO of FreeAgent, demonstrating his company’s SaaS accounting solution at FinovateEurope 2013 in London.

As part of the partnership, FreeAgent’s technology will be connected to the business bank accounts of RBS and NatWest customers. The company’s platform – already used by 50,000 businesses – helps small businesses, entrepreneurs, and freelancers manage invoices, expenses, taxes, projects, and more. In December, FreeAgent launched a variety of new features for its mobile app, FreeAgent Mobile, including a tax timeline and notifications, a profit & loss screen, and a cashflow screen. FreeAgent Mobile is available on both iOS and Android platforms.

Founded in 2007 and based in Edinburgh, U.K., FreeAgent demonstrated its platform at FinovateEurope 2013. The company raised more than $10 million in funding from investors including IRIS Software Group, SaaS Capital, and Seedrs, before going public last November. FreeAgent trades on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “FREE” and has a market capitalization of $54 million (£44 million). The company’s technology was listed in Creative Boom’s roundup of “must-have apps for freelancers” last year.

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