Blog - Page 658 of 1215

Sezzle Scoops Up $500k Investment from Brussels-based E-Merge

By David Penn Posted on June 21, 2016
Categories: Sezzle

Courtesy of Brussels-based fintech fund, E-Merge, Sezzle is $500,000 closer to its fundraising goal of $1.5 million.

Sezzle is a startup based in Minnesota whose initial solution, Sezzle Pay, leverages the ACH rails to provide faster, lower cost payments. With the customer’s bank account details, Sezzle Pay can initiate immediate payments at checkout. “That’s attractive because ACH is such a low-cost payment method,” Sezzle founder and CEO Charlie Youakim explained during his company’s Finovate debut this spring. “Our rate is 1.5% plus 15 cents, that’s half the cost of quoted credit and debit card processing.” He added: “That’s going to bend the ear of the merchant. That’s going to get Sezzle Pay in the checkout.”

Sezzle CEO Charlie Youakim demonstrated Sezzle Pay at FinovateSpring 2016 in San Jose.

And in order to better compete at the checkout, Sezzle offers 1% rewards for users that click through and pay with Sezzle Pay. This is novel in that while 60% of payments are made with debit cards, “you’d be hard pressed to find a debit card that can give you rewards,” Youakim said. The solution also appeals to millennials, according to Youakim, who noted that only 37% of millennials have a credit card. “The other 63% have no way of getting rewards,” he said.

Writing about the investment at the Sezzle blog, Youakin thanked investors and referenced a number of new hires to help further build the Sezzle platform, including Python, Django, and Swift developers Sukhneer Guron and Rishi Mukherjee, and a pair of “young Ivy Leaguers,” Sean Kilgarriff and Killian Brackey. “We’ve already put some of this capital to use,” he wrote. “I’m excited to see what this team can do now that we have the resources and support that we require to reach our goals.

Founded in January 2016 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sezzle demonstrated its Sezzle Pay technology at FinovateSpring 2016. The company is a 2016 semifinalist in the Minnesota Cup, the largest statewide, new-venture competition in the U.S., and was profiled in SuperbCrew.com earlier this month.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Reverse Takeover IPO Places ayondo on the Singapore Exchange

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 21, 2016
Categories: ayondo, Mergers & Acquisitions

In a $117 million (S$158 million) reverse takeover (RTO) deal, brokerage and social trading platform ayondo will be listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) after finalizing an agreement with Starland Holdings, a Singapore-based property developer.

A reverse takeover occurs when a private company acquires a public company in order to bypass the complicated IPO process. Frankfurt-based ayondo stated that it opted for a reverse takeover because of “volatility in financial markets.” The company’s press release says, “In such market conditions, an RTO provides greater certainty as key terms such as funds raised and valuation are agreed between buyer and seller, and not necessarily subject to prevailing market conditions as is always the case in an IPO. The RTO route also offers ayondo other advantages, such as lower listing costs.”

Starland anticipates the deal will help the company “expand its business in line with its diversification strategy into the fintech business” and will offer “more consistent and sustainable financial growth.” The purchase will be completed through the issuance of new shares of Starland. The finalization of the takeover is conditional, pending approval of shareholders.

ayondo debuts ayondo 3.0 at FinovateEurope 2013 in London

ayondo was founded in 2008 with a mission to revolutionize retail trading. The company’s brokerage platform lets users copy the moves of top traders to optimize returns. At FinovateEurope 2013, ayondo unveiled the newest version of its service, its London brokerage, and a trader career training curriculum. Last month, the company brought on Rick Fulton as CFO.

According to Singapore news site e27, ayondo is the first fintech company (and third tech company) to IPO via the SGX.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Best of Show Winner Quid to Open London Office

By David Penn Posted on June 21, 2016
Categories: Quid

San Francisco-based, text-analytics innovator Quid is opening up its first international offices in London.

Quid CEO Neville Crawley said that London was a “perfect base” to better engage European clients such as Siemens, BCG, and the World Economic Forum. He added that the new location would also help his company “benefit from the ideas, energy and diversity of the London tech scene.” The new offices will be in Shoreditch in London’s East End.

Pictured: Quid Principal Sarah Pilewski demonstrated Opus at FinovateSpring 2016 in San Jose.

Quid specializes in leveraging machine intelligence to read massive amounts of text and then turning that data into interactive visual maps. These maps enable users to better observe and understand patterns and relationships that may have been too difficult to recognize otherwise or too time-consuming and inefficient to try and spot using a manual process.

In her demonstration at FinovateSpring in May, Quid’s Sarah Pilewski called the technology a “platform for understanding complex questions” and used the example of a researcher analyzing the impact of Apple Pay in the retail market. While in the past, work like this would be characterized by what Pilewski called “a room of smart people and a white board” or, more recently, hours of pouring over Google search results. But Quid organizes information based on logical topics which can differentiate a column on the partnership between Apple and Ali Baba from an article on RiteAid’s adoption of ApplePay. This spring Quid previewed its Opus technology, which expands the ability of the platform to analyze and visualize unstructured data from a wide range of sources such as earnings reports, customer feedback, and other text datasets.

Founded in 2010, headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York City, Quid demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2016, taking home Best of Show honors. The company was named to Fast Company’s 2016 Most Innovative Companies list in February, and has been profiled by the San Francisco Business Times and featured on CNBC. Quid counts Intel, Pfizer, and Walmart among its U.S. customers and has raised $66 million in funding.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on June 21, 2016
Categories: ayondo, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, IBM, itBit, Markit, MX, payworks, Quid, Sezzle, Trulioo, Trustly, Yoyo

On Finovate.com

Best of Show Winner Quid to Open London Office.

Reverse Takeover IPO Places ayondo on the Singapore Exchange.

Sezzle Scoops Up $500,000 Investment from Brussels-based E-Merge.

MX Adds Cash Flow Feature to MoneyDesktop Platform.

On FinDEVr.com

Markit Agrees to Acquire Prism Valuation.

Around the web

Australia’s Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to deploy cloud development platform from IBM.

itBit and Euroclear announce plans to use blockchain technology to provide a settlement service for the London gold market.

Trulioo expands to South America as part of Canada’s Fintech Mission to Brazil.

IBS Intelligence features Yoyo Wallet as startup of the month.

Payworks extends Stripe POS integration effort.

Trustly opens London office and hires General Manager from Worldpay.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

savedroid AG Completes € 1 Million Seed Round; Announces Beta Launch

By David Penn Posted on June 20, 2016
Categories: Funding, Fundings, savedroid

After coining the coolest new word in fintech during its Finovate debut this spring (i.e., combining “swipe” and “move” to get the new verb “to smoove”) the team behind savedroid announced that its savings app is now available in beta. Those interested in checking out Germany’s first intelligent savings app can register today at savedroid.de and give the technology a try.

savedroid turns everyday activities and transactions into opportunities to save. The free mobile app’s algorithms support lifestyle savings rules called “smooves” that enable users to save a few bucks every time they work out at the gym, or to set aside 50 cents every time they log on to Facebook. The technology also analyzes consumption patterns and offers the user ways to save more or spend more wisely, including opportunities to find better values in everything from high-speed internet service to life insurance to utility bills. savedroid calls its service “personal consumption optimization at zero cost.”

Pictured: CEO and founder Dr. Yassin Hankir demonstrated savedroid at FinovateSpring 2016 in San Jose.

savedroid also announced that it completed a € 1 million seed round. Participating in the funding were the Investment and Development Bank Rheinland-Pfalaz (ISB) as well as business angel investors including the founders of Infosys and Traxpay, Debjit Chaudhuri and Dr. Michael Rundshagen, respectively. The funds will help support product development, adding new talent to the savedroid team, and investment into the launch of the app. savedroid founder and CEO Dr. Yassin Hankir told Rhein Main Startups that he was “very pleased” to attract such strong investors despite his company’s relative newness.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, savedroid demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2016. Company founder Hankir is also the man who co-founded the goal-savings app Vaamo in 2013. Vaamo demoed at FinovateEurope 2014.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

ThetaRay Signs with ING Netherlands to Detect SME Lending Fraud

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 20, 2016
Categories: ING Bank, ThetaRay

Big-data analytics company ThetaRay inked an agreement today with ING Netherlands that combines its Advanced Analytics solution for fraud detection with ING’s existing risk engine.

The partnership will empower ING to uncover new SME lending fraud by detecting anomalies through its transactional and organizational data. Beate Zwijnenberg, director of fraud and cybersecurity for ING Netherlands, says that ThetaRay impressed the company by “rapidly identifying a number of transactional anomalies.” She describes the company’s precision in detecting fraudulent activity as “truly innovative.”

ThetaRay’s algorithms help financial services organizations protect against cybersecurity threats, enhance operational efficiency, and detect risk. At FinovateFall 2015, Theta Ray’s fraud and credit risk algorithms were demoed. Udi Solomon, VP of product, began the demo saying, “We are able to take any type of structured or semi-structured data source to automatically and in just a few seconds… to detect the first signs of anomalous activity.” He continued by showing how the algorithms help banks leverage their big data.

Udi Solomon (VP, Product) demoes ThetaRay at FinovateFall 2015.

ThetaRay, headquartered in Israel and the United States, has raised a total of $25 million from investors including Alibaba and General Electric. Mark Gazit is CEO. Last fall, the company was named Most Innovative Industrial Internet Technology at GE’s Minds + Machines 2015.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Ledger Launches Newest Hardware Wallet: Nano S

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 20, 2016
Categories: Ledger

Blockchain hardware-solutions company Ledger announced a new hardware wallet today. A successor to the HW.1 and Unplugged wallets, Ledger’s Nano S differentiates itself by offering a built-in OLED display and by adding protection for Ethereum fund transfers.

The Paris-based company created the Nano S after spending 18 months improving the Nano, Ledger’s best-selling product. It connects to any computer through USB—allowing users to send and receive payments, check their accounts, manage multiple addresses—and even supports the FIDO Universal Second Factor standard.

The built-in OLED display on the Nano S allows the user to double-check and confirm each transaction by tapping the buttons on the device. While the Nano S includes built-in apps for both Bitcoin and Ethereum, it also supports other blockchain-based currencies.

Priced at 58€ ($66), the Nano S comes with a set of Chrome applications to help users manage their wallets. It is available for pre-order today and will be shipping at the end of July.

At FinovateEurope 2016 Ledger CEO Eric Larchevêque debuted Ledger Blue, a touch-screen smartcard for developers. Ledger Blue offers a second display that connects to devices via BLE, NFC, or USB and thwarts malware attacks by delivering the correct payment address.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on June 20, 2016
Categories: Actiance, CBW Bank, eToro, Fiserv, Ledger, Plaid, Qumram, ThetaRay, Top Image Systems

On Finovate.com

Ledger Launches Newest Hardware Wallet: Nano S.

ThetaRay Signs with ING Netherlands to Detect SME Lending Fraud.

On FinDEVr.com

Goldman Sachs Leads $44 Million Investment in Plaid.

Around the web

Oklahoma’s Welch State Bank ($227 million) to deploy core account-processing platform from Fiserv.

Qumram adds Peter Ödman and Patrick Barnert to its board of directors. Ödman elected board chair.

Top Image Systems inks eFLOW AP for SAP deal with Swiss road construction and civil engineering firm.

PageFreezer partners with Actiance for social media archiving.

eToro launches updated features.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Personal Capital Brings on Former Yodlee CFO

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 17, 2016
Categories: Personal Capital

Online wealth-management platform Personal Capital today announced it has brought on former Yodlee CFO, Mike Armsby (pictured), as its new CFO. Armsby, a Harvard MBA grad, has previously served as CFO of View, a high-tech glass supplier, and PowerLight, a solar development company.

The California-based company has also promoted three current executives:

Jay Shah is now CEO of Personal Capital Advisors, an RIA which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Personal Capital; Shah retains his role as chief operating officer of the parent firm.
Mark Goines is now vice chairman.
Paul Bergholm is now chief administrative officer.

In a funding round that boosted its valuation to $500 million, Personal Capital raised $50 million last month, with another $25 million pending. The company’s CEO Bill Harris said the new executives are “key to powering our next phase of hyper-growth.” Earlier this spring, the company announced it had exceeded $2 billion assets under management, up from $1.6 billion in November of last year.

At FinovateSpring 2014, Personal Capital launched One Click Investment Proposals. The company’s CTO Fritz Robbins gave a presentation titled Data-Driven Retirement Planning at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Cachet Financial Solutions to Power Mobile Deposit for Malauzai Software

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 17, 2016
Categories: Cachet Financial Solutions, Malauzai

Mobile deposit-capture specialist Cachet Financial Solutions teamed up with community financial institution (CFI) technology-provider Malauzai to deliver mobile-deposit capabilities to Malauzai’s clients.

Austin-based Malauzai has integrated Cachet’s Select Mobile Deposit API into its MOX Everywhere Suite to help CFIs offer customers a way to deposit checks by taking a photo. Cachet’s solution works well with Malauzai’s needs: It allows individual CFIs to define separate business groups and to set up different sets of deposit limits and rules for each group. This way a financial institution can increase a customer’s deposit limits over time.

This news comes after Malauzai CPO Robb Gaynor launched MOX Pay at FinovateSpring 2016 last month. MOX Pay allows CFIs to extend their current business-service offerings with a mobile wallet option that empowers business customers to publish payment-centric mobile apps.

Last year, Malauzai counted one million downloads of its SmartApps. The company has more than 400 banks and credit union clients covering 7 million logins from 400,000+ active end users.

Based in Minnesota, Cachet Financial Solutions debuted Select Mobile Money at FinovateFall 2014. The company partnered with PAYTOO mobile wallet last month to power the startup’s mobile account-opening process.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Corezoid Goes AWS with its Platform-as-a-Service Core Banking Technology

By David Penn Posted on June 17, 2016
Categories: Corezoid

Core banking technology innovator Corezoid announced that its platform-as-a-service process engine will be available via the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. The technology improves bank operations by coordinating API data into processes and then organizing and locating these processes in a single cloud-based platform. Whether used as a new digital core or as a process layer above current systems, Corezoid enables banks to spend less time and money in development, and more time deploying ready-made mobile banking, e-commerce, compliance, and other solutions.

“There are around 30,000 banks and financial institutions in the world, and they’re all trying to create 30,000 different Internet banks, 30,000 mobile banking apps and so on,” Corezoid CEO Alexander Vityaz said. “But it’s a lot of unnecessary work. Ninety-nine percent of business operations in banks are the same standard. These operations need to be commoditized and moved to the cloud.”

Pictured: Corezoid CMO and cofounder Sergey Danilenko demonstrating the Corezoid process engine at FinovateSpring 2016 in San Jose.

Developed as a project from the R&D department at PrivatBank, Corezoid’s Process Engine enables companies to build business intelligence, communications, workflow management, and other apps in a matter of days with no hardcoding. The technology serves as a development platform, enabling banks to take advantage of the proliferation of banking and financial APIs without having to spend significant amounts of time and money finding or developing their own local technical talent. “Banks can stop acting as if they are IT companies,” Danilenko said from the Finovate stage this spring.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, Corezoid demonstrated its process engine at FinovateSpring 2016. The company also participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr San Francisco 2015, with a presentation, “Build Your Company’s Digital Core with Corezoid.” Corezoid announced last month that its service would be available in both the U.S. and Western Europe. In February the company’s technology was deployed by Western Union to launch its new online money transfer service in Ukraine.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Stock Gifting Platform Stockpile Acquires SparkGift

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 17, 2016
Categories: Mergers & Acquisitions, Stockpile

Just in time to remind you of what would make a great Father’s Day gift, stock gift card company Stockpile acquired SparkGift, a startup behind a similar stock egifting idea.

Stockpile will transfer SparkGift’s customer base onto its own brokerage platform for free in the next three months. Upon transferring, SparkGift customers will receive new features, including 99-cent stock trades, an iOS app, and the ability for kids and teens to independently check their own accounts and place trades (with their moms’ and dads’ permission, of course).

Stockpile CEO Avi Lele describes SparkGift as “an innovator in personalizing and democratizing the stock market for the millennial generation” saying that the San Francisco-based startup “shares Stockpile’s mission of making investing accessible to everyone.”

Palo Alto-based Stockpile allows users to buy fractional stock shares starting at $10. In 2015 the company partnered with Blackhawk Network to offer physical gift cards in denominations of $25, $50, and $100 at select U.S. retailers.

Founded in 2010, Stockpile CEO Avi Lele and Chief Commercial Officer Dan Schatt launched the company at FinovateSpring 2014 in a demo that won Best of Show.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook