Buzz Points Unveils New Online Dashboard, Buzz Insight

Buzz Points Unveils New Online Dashboard, Buzz Insight
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Buzz Points

BuzzPoints_homepage_July2016

One month after picking up a $1.8 million investment, Austin, Texas-based Buzz Points is unveiling its new online management portal, Buzz Insight for its rewards and marketing platform. Buzz Points CEO Dwayne Spradlin says that Buzz Insight will “enable community banks and credit unions to better comprehend how their customers and members are interacting within their communities, giv[ing] them the power to implement more targeted and effective campaigns and offers.”

Buzz Insight is geared toward community financial institutions (CFIs) like credit unions and smaller banks, giving them visibility into customers’ and local business data. With the Insight dashboard, CFIs will get real-time program management and reporting, as well as cardholder analytics, behavior, and other metrics, making it easier for CFIs to enroll and engage with their customers. “With Buzz Insight,” Spradlin said, “in-depth analysis and innovation come together to drive revenue and retention.”

BuzzPoints_stage_FF2015

Director of Product Michael Hall demonstrated the Buzz Points Mobile App at FinovateFall 2015 in New York.

More than just a rewards and loyalty program, Buzz Points seeks to empower local commerce by incentivizing its members to buy locally produced goods and services. At the same time, Buzz Points’ technology helps those local businesses better understand the preferences of consumers in their communities and successfully compete against national and regional chains. The goal is to create a “pro-local message” that creates an “emotional connection” between cardholders and local merchants. Emotion aside, Buzz Points reports its users are bigger debit card users than the national average (52% above), have 26% higher average monthly spend, and yield $5 in interchange fees per account each month.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Buzz Points demonstrated its mobile app at FinovateFall 2015. The company joined Jack Henry’s Symitar vendor-integration program earlier this month and in May, Buzz Points announced a partnership that will bring its loyalty rewards program to the “customer-owners” of  credit union service organization (CUSO), Xtend.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Buzz Points, Entrust Datacard, i-exceed, IBM, Student Loan Genius

On Finovate.com

  • Buzz Points Unveils New Online Dashboard, Buzz Insight
  • Mudra Bank Chooses i-exceed’s Appzillion for Mobile Banking App
  • Finovate Debuts: Student Loan Genius Gives Employers Tools To Help Millennial Workers Tackle Debt

Around the web

  • Bank of the Ozarks deploys instant card-issuance solution from Entrust Datacard.
  • IBM unveils secure, online service to help businesses conduct blockchain testing.

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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FinovateFall 2016 Presenters Revealed!

FinovateFall 2016 Presenters Revealed!
By Erika Sanchez Posted on
Categories: Finovate Marketing, FinovateFall 2016

091615FinovateFall00058

Summer is now in full effect which means it must be time to announce our presenting companies for FinovateFall 2016!

This was our most competitive application pool in our 10-year history, and we spent weeks reviewing application after application. The innovations in those applications ranged from blockchain technology and biometrics to the latest in big-data solutions, investment management, and customer on-boarding and experience. After hours of review and debate, we have curated a roster of both leading, established companies and hot, young startups that are guaranteed to pique your curiosity on September 8 & 9. And to see more information and background on each presenter, stay tuned for our Sneak Peek series.

Without further ado, below is a list of the companies showcasing their latest and greatest in New York.

In addition to the companies listed above, we’ll be revealing a handful of stealth companies closer to the event.

With these innovative companies hitting the stage, along with eight hours full of high-quality networking in just two days, this is an event you surely won’t want to miss. Register your ticket before Friday, July 29, and take advantage of the early-bird pricing!

FinovateFall 2016 is sponsored by The Bancorp, Financial Technology Partners, Hudson Cook, and KPMG.

FinovateFall 2016 is partnered with Acuity Market Intelligence, Aite Group, American Bankers Association, Bank Innovators Council, BankersHub, Bankless Times, BayPay Forum, Bitcoin Magazine, Breaking Banks, California Bankers Association, Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, Celent, Digital Currency Council, EbankingNews, FemTechLeaders, The Fintech Times, IDC Financial Insights, Javelin, Juniper Research, Korea FinTech Forum, Mercator Advisory Group, NYPAY, Payments & Cards Network, The Paypers, PitchBook, Plug and Play,  SME Finance Forum, Swiss Finance + Technology Association, and Western Independent Bankers.

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BizEquity Forges Strategic Partnership with Sawtooth Solutions

BizEquity Forges Strategic Partnership with Sawtooth Solutions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BizEquity

BizEquity_homepage_July2016

Cloud-based business-valuation specialist BizEquity has inked a strategic partnership that will bring its prospecting and valuation-as-a-service technology, Advisor Office, to the wealth management platform of Sawtooth Solutions.

“With the advent of the new DOL fiduciary ruling, and increasing pressures from robo-advisers, now more than ever the more than 400,000 financial advisers in the U.S. will need to arm themselves with more value-added solutions for their clients,” says Michael Carter, BizEquity CEO.

Brad Pries, Sawtooth, CEO, added that the challenges that wealth managers face from regulations and roboadvisers alike may actually represent “significant growth opportunities for those financial advisers willing to embrace technology to offer comprehensive, integrated, holistic financial advice.”

BizEquity_stage_FEU2015

Left to right: Semyon Fishman, VP engineering, and CEO Mike Carter demonstrated BizEquity One UK at FinovateEurope 2015 in London.

Launched last fall, Advisor Office will enable wealth managers using Sawtooth’s TAMP platform to get an accurate valuation of business assets when providing business owners with wealth management and investment advice. The solution uses big data to determine whether companies are over or under-insured, for example, as well as analyzing cash flow, assets, revenue, and other metrics. Advisor Office can also serve as a prospecting and engagement platform by helping wealth managers capture and convert leads on potential new clients, while providing new offers to current clients.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania—and Tower Hamlets in London—BizEquity demonstrated its valuation-as-a-service solution, BizEquity One UK, at FinovateEurope 2015. The company took home top honors at the Bank Director’s FinXTech Awards in March 2016, one month after unveiling the Smarter Prospecting feature of its Advisor Office platform. Last fall, BizEquity announced that its partnership with fellow Finovate alum Envestnet would bring its Advisor Office solution to more than 42,000 new adviser clients.

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Stratumn’s LenderBot is a Micro-Insurance Solution for the Sharing Economy

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Stratumn

Screen Shot 2016-07-13 at 8.54.22 AM

Blockchain-powered workflow-solutions company Stratumn recently launched a micro-insurance proof-of-concept for the sharing economy. It’s called LenderBot, and it was developed in a partnership with Deloitte and LemonWay.

The aim of LenderBot is to facilitate the borrowing and lending of high-value items while offering a way for lenders to insure those items. The entire workflow takes place through a chatbot on Facebook Messenger. Once the borrower and lender agree to the loan terms, they interact with the bot to digitally sign the agreement. The bitcoin blockchain serves as a trusted third party to the loan contract.

Richard Caetano, CEO of Stratumn, said, “Here we rely on the identification provided by Facebook and LemonWay to create a three-way contract between insured parties and the insurer. This transfer of confidence is reinforced by the use of cryptography and time-stamped data in the blockchain. This guarantees data protection and traceability of every step in the subscription of the insurance contract.”

Stratumn provides the Trusted Workflow tools; LemonWay supplies the payment solution; and Deloitte brings its knowledge of the financial industry and relationships across the globe.

26022356870_1aaffa4074_kRichard Caetano, CEO, presented Stratumn’s blockchain-development platform at FinDEVr New York 2016.

Earlier this year, Stratumn’s CEO Richard Caetano gave a presentation titled Building and Securing Smart Workflow Using Chainscript and the Stratumn Blockchain Development Platform at FinDEVr New York 2016. Established in 2015, Stratumn released three small libraries earlier this month to help developers use Stratumn beta and Chainscript. The company is based in Paris and has raised $670k in seed funding.

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FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVr APIntelligence
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinDEVr APIntelligence, Personal Capital, Stratumn, Thomson Reuters, Trulioo

FinDEVrSV16-withdateOur FinDEVr New York developer showcase was a success! FinDEVr Silicon Valley will be held October 18 & 19 in Santa Clara. Register today and save.

On FinDEVr.com

Alumni updates

  • Thomson Reuters unveils its KYC due-diligence solution, Org ID.
  • Personal Capital Offers Digital Wealth Management for BancAlliance’s Member Banks.
  • Trulioo extends its identity-verification platform, Global Gateway, to the Middle East and North Africa.

Stay current on daily news from the fintech developer community! Follow FinDEVr on Twitter.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BizEquity, blooom, D3 Banking, Fiserv, GMC Software Technology, Insuritas, Jack Henry, Lendio, Stratumn, Thomson Reuters, TSYS

On Finovate.com

  • Check out this week’s FinDEVr APIntelligence.
  • BizEquity Forges Strategic Partnership with Sawtooth Solutions

Around the web

  • Thomson Reuters unveils its KYC due-diligence solution, Org ID.
  • Jack Henry Banking has “refreshed”  its SilverLake Systems core banking solution.
  • Lloyds Banking Group renews processing agreement with TSYS.
  • St. Louis-based Midwest BankCentre picks Insuritas to open and manage its turnkey insurance agency.
  • 2016 Gartner Market Guide for Customer Journey Analytics lists GMC Software as a representative vendor.
  • Lendio to participate in small business lending disclosure, SMART (Straightforward Metrics Around Rate and Total cost) Box initiative.
  • D3 Banking wins Depth of Service Award in vendor analysis report from Celent.
  • Encentus FCU to deploy core account processing technology from Fiserv.

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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Fintech Fundings: 38 Companies Raised $300 Million First Week of June

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

money_keyWith 38 deals reported—one shy of the weekly record—fintech companies raised $303 million worldwide the first week of June. Nine of the deals were for undisclosed amounts and $2 million was reported as debt.

Two Finovate alums landed new money this week:

The total number of deals YTD stands at 589, 90% more than last year’s 306. Total dollars raised YTD is now $16.1 billion, more than double the $7.3 billion raised during the same period a year ago.

——-

Fintech deals by size from 28 May to 3 June, 2016:

Partners Life
Online insurance
Latest round: $134.5 million
Total raised: $134.5 million
HQ: Auckland, New Zealand
Tags: Consumer, insurance, life, disability, business risk
Source: Crunchbase

Vibes (owned by Syniverse)
Mobile wallet analytics
Latest round: $45 million Series B
Total raised: $60 million
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Tags: Institutions, enterprise, payments, mobile, wallet, analytics, marketing
Source: Crunchbase

Digit
Mobile savings account
Latest round: $22.5 million Series B
Total raised: $36.3 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, savings accounts, deposits, mobile, youth market, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Qingshongchou Network Technology
Equity crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $20 million Series B
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Bejing, China
Tags: Consumer, peer-to-peer, P2P, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Vyze
Financing solutions for retailers and manufacturers
Latest round: $13 million Series B
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Austin, Texas
Tags: SMB, merchants, point of sale, POS, alt-lending, credit, underwriting, trade finance
Source: Crunchbase

Zibby
Lease-to-own financing platform
Latest round: $12.5 million
Total raised: $12.5 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: SMB, consumer (B2B2C), lending, merchants, credit, point-of-purchase financing, leasing
Source: FT Partners

Payveris
Digital payments platform for financial institutions
Latest round: $7.5 million
Total raised: $14.15 million
HQ: Rocky Hill, Connecticut
Tags: Institutions, SMB, merchants, payments, mobile, API, developers
Source: Crunchbase

Avenues India
Payment processing
Latest round: $6.7 million
Total raised: $6.7 million
HQ: Mumbai, India
Tags: SMB, payments, merchants, POS, point of sale, acquring, debit/credit cards
Source: FT Partners

goHenry
Prepaid debit card for youth
Latest round: $5.8 million Equity Crowdfunding (Crowdcube)
Total raised: $5.8 million
HQ: Farnborough, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, payments, youth market, parental controls, debit card, prepaid, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

SeedInvest
Equity crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $5.1 million
Total raised: $10.4 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Consumer, SMB, peer-to-peer, P2P, investing, equity
Source: Crunchbase

Smart Pension
U.K. pension auto-enrollment service
Latest round: $4.8 million Series A
Total raised: $4.8 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: SMB, advisers, payroll, employers, employee benefits, account opening, accounting
Source: Crunchbase

Smartkarma
Marketplace for Asian investment research
Latest round: $4.7 million
Total raised: $7.5 million
HQ: Singapore
Tags: Consumer, advisers, trading, wealth management, investing
Source: FT Partners

Homie
P2P real estate marketplace
Latest round: $4.5 million Seed
Total raised: $8.26 million
HQ: Salt Lake City, Utah
Tags: Consumer, SMB, peer-to-peer, home buying, mortgage, real estate properites
Source: Crunchbase

CallVu
Digital engagement platform 
Latest round: $3 million
Total raised: $3 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Institutions, marketing, customer service, retention, NICE Systems (investor), Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

FundingGates
Accounts receivables platform for small businesses
Latest round: $2.26 million Debt
Total raised: $8.17 million ($5.92 million Equity)
HQ: New York City
Tags: SMB, accounting, bookkeeping, accounts receivables, AR management, billing, invoicing, collections
Source: Crunchbase

Kikka Capital
Alt-lender for small businesses
Latest round: $2 million Seed
Total raised: $2 million
HQ: Perth, Australia
Tags: SMB, commerical, lending, credit, underwriting, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Moka
mPOS platform
Latest round: $1.9 million Series A
Total raised: $1.9 million
HQ: Jakarta, Indonesia
Tags: SMB, merchant, payments, POS, point of sale, credit/debit cards, acquiring
Source: Crunchbase

Sernova Financial
Clearing services
Latest round: $1.46 million Seed
Total raised: $1.46 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Advisers, institutions, investing, trading, risk management
Source: Crunchbase

FundedbyMe
Equity crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $1.3 million
Total raised: $2.8 million
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Tags: Consumer, SMB, peer-to-peer, P2P, equity, investing
Source: Crunchbase

FinAccel
Alt-lending
Latest round: $1.1 million Seed
Total raised: $1.1 million
HQ: Jakarta, Indonesia
Tags: Consumer, merchants, POS, point-of-sale financing, lending, credit, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

WiseAlpha
Corporate loan-investing platform
Latest round: $860,000
Total raised: $1.2 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, lending, peer-to-peer, P2P, credit, underwriting, investing
Source: FT Partners

Macrovue
Theme-based investing
Latest round: $680,000 Convertible Note
Total raised: $680,000
HQ: Sydney, Australia
Tags: Consumer, advisers, investing, trading, ETFs, wealth management
Source: Crunchbase

AngelSpan
Investor-relations platform for startups
Latest round: $600,000
Total raised: $600,000
HQ: Austin, Texas
Tags: SMB, small business, investing
Source: FT Partners

Moneytis
Funds transfers
Latest round: $334,000 Seed
Total raised: $390,000
HQ: Paris, France
Tags: Consumer, remittances, fx, international funds transfer, bitcoin, crypto-currency
Source: Crunchbase

BudgetBakers
Personal financial management
Latest round: $290,000 Seed
Total raised: $430,000
HQ: Prague, Czech Republic
Tags: Consumer, PFM, budgeting, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Currency Alliance
Comcoin digital currency
Latest round: $223,000 Seed
Total raised: $223,000
HQ: Barcelona, Spain
Tags: Consumer, SMB, payments, virtual currency, crypto-currency, bitcoin, blockchain
Source: Crunchbase

AMoney
Blockchain protocol
Latest round: $100,000 Seed ($5 million valuation)
Total raised: $100,000
HQ: Cameroon
Tags: Consumer, payments, remittancees, funds transfer, cryptocurrency
Source: Crunchbase

Bonop.com
Micro-payments for online content
Latest round: $56,000 Seed
Total raised: $110,000
HQ: Marbella, Spain
Tags: Consumer, SMB, payments, micro-payments
Source: Crunchbase

iBan
Crowdlending platform
Latest round: $56,000 Seed
Total raised: $56,000
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, lending, peer-to-peer, P2P, credit, underwriting, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Bridgei2i
Process automation for financial institutions
Latest round: Undisclosed (11% stake to Cuscal)
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Bangalore, India
Tags: Institutions, analytics, business-process optimizatio, BI, Finovate alum
Source: FT Partners

Harbortouch
Payment processor
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: $279+ million
HQ: Allentown, Pennsylvania
Tags: SMB, payments, merchants, POS, point of sale, acquring, debit/credit cards
Source: FT Partners

Investree
P2P lending marketplace
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Jarkarta, Indonesia
Tags: Consumer, lending, peer-to-peer, P2P, credit, underwriting, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Moroku
Mobile banking software
Latest round: Undisclosed (11% stake to Cuscal)
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Sydney, Australia
Tags: Institutions, B2B2C, mobile banking, UX/UI
Source: FT Partners

Pay4later
Retail finance gateway
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: SMB, merchant, consumer, lending, underwriting, point of sale purchases
Source: Crunchbase

PennyPass
Digital payments
Latest round: Undisclosed Angel
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, SMB, payments, micro-payments, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

PinPay
Mobile payments
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: $1.1 million
HQ: Beirut, Lebanon
Tags: Consumer, payments, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Stratifund
Information for crowdfunding investors
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Tags: Consumer, lending, peer-to-peer, P2P, information, investing, discover, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

Valendo
Online asset lending
Latest round: Undisclosed Series A
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Tags: Consumer, lending, pawnshop, intallment loans, underwriting, investing, short-term credit
Source: Crunchbase

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Xero Partners with 60th Financial Institution to Offer Direct Feeds

Xero Partners with 60th Financial Institution to Offer Direct Feeds
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Xero

Screen Shot 2016-07-12 at 12.49.27 PM

Cloud accounting platform Xero announced a partnership with Australia’s largest bank, Commonwealth Bank. New Zealand-based Xero is working with the bank to launch a series of innovations to make small business banking easier.

The first enhancement in this series enables Commonwealth bank-clients to set up a direct feed of their Commonwealth banking transactions directly into their Xero accounting platform. This marks the 60th financial institution Xero has partnered with to offer direct feeds to its users.

Small businesses can automatically import everyday accounts, loan accounts, and cash-management accounts to view in their Xero accounting platform. The direct feeds do not import historical transactions and usually take only 24 hours—instead of the previous 10-day waiting period—to begin importing.

This development is part of Xero’s efforts to make things simpler and more efficient for small business owners and their advisers. With direct feeds, they can view and manage their business bank accounts and accounting ledger together, on a single platform.

Last month Xero integrated with Wells Fargo, the largest small business bank in the United States, and already has partnerships with Silicon Valley Bank and City National Bank. Brett Pitts, head of digital for Wells Fargo, said that the partnership is “a very important first step.”

Xero most recently presented at FinDEVr San Francisco 2014 when the company’s Head of U.S. Partnerships David Pollock spoke about building an API-driven ecosystem for small businesses. At FinovateSpring 2011, CEO Rod Drury debuted the company’s Business Identification solution.

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Finovate Debuts: CardLinx Helps Members Find & Post Card-Linked Offers

Finovate Debuts: CardLinx Helps Members Find & Post Card-Linked Offers
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: CardLinX, Finovate Debuts

Screen Shot 2016-07-08 at 11.04.56 AM

The first card-linked offers company, Cardlytics, launched in 2008. The fintech community started paying attention to the linked-offers trend around 2012, but by that time, so many players had entered into the market that it had become fragmented, making it difficult to compete.

The CardLinx Association launched to unite retailers, advertisers, publishers, payment networks, payment processors and technology providers in the space; enhancing the interoperability of loyalty programs to create a better customer shopping and merchant experience. The collaborative platform brings cohesiveness by developing standards for the industry.

At FinovateSpring 2016, The CardLinx Association debuted Listing Information Monitor eCenter (CLIMe). “How do you get all of these companies to work together?” the company’s CEO and founder, Silvio Tavares, asked in his demo. He addressed the question by showing the logos of the companies that have partnered under The CardLinx Association.

Screen Shot 2016-07-11 at 3.00.11 PM

These companies represent some of the members that share data on CLIMe. Companies use the database to search offers and offer requests; card-linked technology providers list offers, and banks and digital publishers request offers.

Company facts:

  • Headquartered in San Bruno, CA
  • Founded in 2013
  • Membership has doubled every year
SilvioDemoThe CardLinx Association’s Silvio Tavares, CEO and president, demoed at FinovateSpring 2016 in San Jose

Silvio-HIRES_4x5We interviewed Silvio Tavares, the company’s CEO and president, after his FinovateSpring 2016 demo in San Jose.

Finovate: What problem does CLIMe solve?

Tavares: Card-linked offers enable merchants to deliver targeted discounts and loyalty benefits through mobile apps hosted by banks and digital publishers. The cool thing for consumers is that the offers can be used without a paper coupon or promo code. All they need to do is pay with their existing card. Prior to CLIMe, the CardLinx Listing Information Monitor eCenter, digital publishers had often found it cumbersome to consistently source high-quality merchant card-linked offers. Merchants and retailers have also found it difficult to find the broadest possible audience for their card-linked offers and card-linked loyalty programs. CLIMe solves both of these problems by providing a central online platform for merchants and their card-linked technology partners to publish the availability of their card-linked offers to large-scale digital publishers and payment card issuers.

Finovate: Who are your primary customers?

Tavares: The CardLinx Association is a global multi-industry association focused on growing the card-linking industry. Our members include companies from the entire digital commerce ecosystem from digital publishers to payment systems to payment processors to card-linking technology companies to retailers and advertisers. For example, Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung, MasterCard, American Express, Airbnb, Whole Foods and Sears are all members. Our members are interested in developing the card-linking industry through developing common standards and industry services to minimize and eliminate friction in the sourcing, serving, publishing, redeeming, and cross syndicating of card-linked offers and loyalty programs.

Finovate: How does CLIMe solve the problem better?

Tavares: As a multi-industry association, CardLinx has the reach to make sure all participants in the card-linking ecosystem can access and distribute the latest offers and benefits through CLIMe. Before CLIMe, a central database for card-linking offers was unavailable.

Finovate: Tell us about your favorite implementation of your solution.

Tavares: Go Daddy, a leading hosting company recently joined CardLinx and used CLIMe to publish an offer for their web-hosting services. Using CLIMe enabled them to get their offer to multiple banks and digital publishers. This enabled them to get a much broader reach for their offer in a very short amount of time.

Finovate: What in your background gave you the confidence to tackle this challenge?

Tavares: When I listened to our members and others in the card-linking industry, a central repository of offers and benefits like CLIMe was a recurring item on the wishlist to help propel the growth of the industry. By the time I was at CardLinx, I had the mandate from our board and feedback from others in the industry that a centralized database would ease the sourcing of card-linked offers with the end result of bringing card-linking to more consumers.

Additionally, before starting the CardLinx Association over two years ago, I was in the payments industry for many years first at Visa and First Data. Before that I was an investment banker and attorney in the field so I’ve seen the payments industry develop over the years and was able to identify areas where collaboration among companies and industries would benefit all.

Finovate: What are some upcoming initiatives from CardLinX that we can look forward to over the next few months?

Tavares: CardLinx is working on our next set of industry standards. In the past we have addressed common card-linked insertion orders, fraud reporting and prevention, priority of offer redemptions and standard reporting metrics. We are currently working on standards to enable uniform opt-in consents for consumers and also new standards for SKU/Item level offers.

Finovate: Where do you see CardLinX a year or two from now?

Tavares: The CardLinx Association has been doubling in size every year since we started. We see our membership continuing to grow, especially with retailers and advertisers as well as internationally. In the past year, we have added members from South Korea, Japan, Germany and as far away as Iceland. Card-linking is becoming the technology of choice for digital commerce.

Also, we see card-linking moving beyond just cards and mobile phones to what we call the Internet of Commerce Things or IoCT. The IoCT is using card-linking to enable everyday objects to pay and be used for commerce. These things include watches that can pay, fitness trackers that can pay, refrigerators that can pay and even cars that can pay. The CardLinx Association will play a central role in standardizing and facilitating the growth of the Internet of Commerce Things.

Finovate: What kind of metrics or facts about CardLinX can we share with our readers?

Tavares: In our annual survey sourced from the largest merchants, payment companies, publishers and card-linked technology companies, over 50% of respondents noted that card-linking transactions have grown by at least 50% in the last 12 months.  This compares to last year’s February survey when the majority of respondents reported growth of at least 10%. So card-linking offers and loyalty programs are still growing at a rapid pace because innovations to create branded purchases are on the rise as is consumer awareness of card-linking. Additionally, over 60% of respondents say that card-linking has the potential to grow to over a $10 billion revenue industry in the U.S. alone. So there is a lot of room for new entrants to the card-linking industry.

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Student Loan Genius to Help TrendKite Employees Retire Debt Faster, Save Sooner

Student Loan Genius to Help TrendKite Employees Retire Debt Faster, Save Sooner
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Student Loan Genius

StudentLoanGenius_stage_FS2016c

Left to right: Emiliano Villarreal (Chuck Norris of Product) and CEO Tony Aguilar, confound, demonstrated Student Loan Genius at FinovateSpring 2016.

Employees of PR analytics innovator TrendKite will soon have a much easier time paying off their student loans and saving for retirement. The Austin-based company will deploy technology from Student Loan Genius that will enable them to provide loan-debt repayment assistance to both TrendKite employees as well as members of their immediate families.

Student Loan Genius founder and CEO Tony Aguilar says that educating companies on this issue is a big part of the startup’s early success: Student Loan Genius offers free surveys and showcases the real stories of employees and their challenges to repay student-loan debt to show the impact. “In 2013 when we launched, most company leaders we talked to had no clue that the student-loan problem was actually affecting their businesses,” Aguilar said.

Jennifer Cantu, TrendKite’s VP of people, echoed this point, saying, “Issues that concern [employees], like student loans, are issues we should try to help with. When we saw the data, we knew student-loan benefits were a requirement, not an option.”

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Student Loan Genius demonstrated its platform at FinovateSpring 2016. The company has raised $3.1 million in funding, courtesy of a seed investment led by Gibraltar Ventures and featuring participation by Capital Factory, Fenway Summer Ventures, Kapor Capital, VilCap Investments, and Village Capital. This spring, Prudential Retirement announced that it would provide Student Loan Genius to its clients.

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Personal Capital Offers Digital Wealth Management for BancAlliance’s Member Banks

Personal Capital Offers Digital Wealth Management for BancAlliance’s Member Banks
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Personal Capital

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California-based wealth-management platform Personal Capital is partnering with BancAlliance, a vital connection that will give the former access to BancAlliance’s network of 200 community banks.

Screen Shot 2016-07-12 at 9.16.05 AMBancAlliance’s member banks—ranging in size from $200 million to $10 billion AUM across 40 U.S. states—receive access to programs and services that help them compete against larger financial institutions. The member banks can now offer co-branded personal finance and wealth-management tools powered by Personal Capital. In a press release Brian Graham, CEO of BancAlliance, said, “With Personal Capital, we are able to give our members the best tools available today to help their customers plan for their own futures. Moreover, our members will gain an entirely new marketing channel through Personal Capital.”

The aim is to broaden the scope of products and services banks offer their clients and to give clients tools to grow, manage and understand their net worth. Personal Capital CEO Bill Harris says, “Through the partnership with BancAlliance, customers have access to tools and advice that have traditionally been reserved for only the ultra-wealthy.”

Personal Capital has helped its one million registered users track $245 billion and has $2.5 billion AUM. Last month the company hired former Yodlee CFO Mike Armsby as its new CFO. In May, Personal Capital picked up an investment of $50 million, boosting its valuation to $500 million. The company expects to raise another $25 million in 2017.

Personal Capital most recently presented at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015, where the company’s CTO Fritz Robbins talked about data-driven retirement planning. At FinovateSpring 2014, CEO Bill Harris and Chief Product Officer Jim Del Favero debuted One Click Investment Proposals.

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