FinovateSpring Sneak Peek: meetinvest

FinovateSpring Sneak Peek: meetinvest

meetinvest_homepage_Mar2016

FS2016-wdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals May 10 & 11. Register today.

meetinvest presents the world’s first single stock, expert-based, algorithm-driven robo-advisor as a white-label solution for the financial services industry targeting investors worldwide.

Features:

  • A ‘role-model’ approach towards stock investing
  • Using proven ‘recipes’ of 30+ world class investment experts such as Buffett, Templeton.
  • Algorithmic-driven portfolio management, 100% user autonomy.

Why it’s great

Investors are now empowered to invest like professionals using a toolkit that employs proven expert ‘recipes’ with state-of-the-art portfolio-management techniques.

Presenter: Michel Jacquemai, Co-foundermeetinvest_micheljacquemai

Jacquemai has 22 years of experience in asset management, primarily in equities and hedge funds. He co-founded meetinvest to combine his know-how with the best expert strategies available worldwide.
LinkedIn

FinovateSpring Sneak Peek: WorthFM

FinovateSpring Sneak Peek: WorthFM

WorthFM_homepage_Mar2016

FS2016-wdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals May 10 & 11. Register today.

WorthFM is an all-digital investing and money management platform developed for emerging-to-mass affluent women.

Features:

  • Provides an entire cash management solution as well as portfolio management
  • Grows knowledge about investing as investments grow.
  • Filters guidance based on unique personality assessment.

Why it’s great

Women want WorthFM. Through our media partner, DailyWorth, we have nearly eight years of behavioral finance data on more than a million women. We built women the money management platform they’ve been waiting for.

Presenter

WorthFM_AmandaSteinbergAmanda Steinberg, CEO & Co-founder

A successful serial entrepreneur, Steinberg has 20+ years experience engineering digital solutions, raising venture capital, and creating companies for social good.
LinkedIn

 

FinovateSpring Sneak Peek: LendingRobot

FinovateSpring Sneak Peek: LendingRobot

LendingRobot_homepage_Mar2016

FS2016-wdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500+ fintech professionals on May 10 and 11. Register today.

LendingRobot is the first robo-adviser for peer lending. It combines a user-friendly interface with sophisticated, machine-learning algorithms to help individual investors get steady returns.

Lending Robot features:

  • A new way to monitor investments in peer lending
  • Benefits from LendingRobot’s extensive experience in the field
  • 100% free, no commitment

Why it’s great
LendingRobot is really, really easy to use. But it uses some really, really fancy software to provide really, really good returns to individual investors.

Presenters

LendingRobot_EmmanuelMarotEmmanuel Marot, CEO

Marot is 27% financial quant, 25% entrepreneur, 20% designer, 18% in high tech, 12% in unconventional wisdom, and at least 2% wrong.
LinkedIn

 

LendingRobot_GiladGolanGilad Golan, President

Golan is a software developer and entrepreneur who loves building innovative products.
LinkedIn

Welcome to Day One of FinDEVr New York

FinDEVr_registration

It’s FinDEVr Day! After a pair of awesome developers conferences in Silicon Valley in 2014 and 2015, we are thrilled to share the show with audiences here on the East Coast.

The conference begins Tuesday morning with registration at 9 AM, and the first session kicks off just after 10 AM. The full schedule of presentations is available below.

Time

Stage 2 Presentation

Stage 4 Presentation

10:05 Flybits Markit
10:25 Avoka The Beast Apps
10:40 Intermission Intermission
11:10 Google Cloud Platform Praesidio
11:30 Sayula Aerospike
11:50 Financial Apps TokBox
12:05 Lunch Lunch
1:00 Mambu Braintree
1:20 Nostrum Group FairCom
1:40 Stealth Finicity
2:00 Thinking Capital Nexmo
2:15 Intermission Intermission
2:45 Hyperwallet Xignite
3:05 Stealth Forte
3:25 Stratumn OnDeck

The day ends with appetizers, an open bar, and the opportunity to meet, ask questions, and exchange ideas one-on-one with the presenters and fellow attendees.

Be sure to follow our Live Twitter feed @FinDEVr and if you join in the conversation, please add #FinDEVr to your tweets. We’re looking forward to a great first day of FinDEVr New York, and if you have any questions, visit our FAQ or email us at [email protected] for answers.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Welcome to Day One of FinDEVr New York”

Around the web

  • Irish Tech News interviews Bryan Clagett, Geezeo CMO.
  • The Columbus Dispatch profiles Klarna and its efforts to make online commerce easier.
  • New York Times column on companies helping employees retire student debt features Tuition.io.
  • BankNXT Fintech Podcast chats with Aire founder, Aneesh Varma.
  • GMC Software introduces its Inspire Mobile Advantage solution that helps create a responsive, interactive and regulatory-compliant mobile experience.
  • Vera launches new IRM-as-a-Service platform to allow developers to use Vera’s SDK.

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: 28 Companies Raise $220 Million Week Ending March 25

pig_sunglasses_money_croppedFor the 12th consecutive week, there were 20+ fintech fundings worldwide. Total dollar value was $218 million, which includes $29 million of debt. YTD, the total number of deals stands at 313, double last year’s 158.  Total dollars raised, $6.2 billion YTD, is also double the $3.2 billion at this point last year.

The number of deals was inflated somewhat by the six new fintech companies launched at YC’s demo day that we had not previously covered. In total, there were 13 fintech startups (or 15 by the Bank Innovations definition), 12% of the total YC W16 class of 109.

Three Finovate alums brought in new cash:

Here are the fintech deals by size from 19 March to 25 March 2016:

Open Lending
Automated lending solutions for financial institutions
Latest round: $40 million
Total raised: $50 million
HQ: Austin, Texas
Tags: Enterprise, lending, loans, credit, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

Edgewater Markets
Foreign exchange aggregation & distribution
Latest round: $30 million Private Equity
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: New York City
Tags: Institutional, SMB, foreign exchange, FX, remittances, treasury
Source: Crunchbase

Flexiti Financial
Point-of-sale financing for retailers
Latest round: $25 million Debt
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tags: SMB, consumer lending, loans, POS, merchants, in-store financing
Source: Crunchbase

Maxwell Health
Payroll & beneifts platform
Latest round: $22 million Series C
Total raised: $56.4 million
HQ: Boston, Massachusetts
Tags: SMB, payroll, human resources, insurance, HR, benefits, healthcare
Source: Crunchbase

HomeUnion
Real estate investment marketplace
Latest round: $16 million Series B
Total raised: $21.5 million
HQ: Irvine, California
Tags: Consumers, lending, mortgage, credit, underwriting, investing
Source: Crunchbase

FriendSurance
Peer-to-peer insurance provider
Latest round: $15.3 million
Total raised: $15.3 million
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Tags: Consumers, insurance, P2P, crowdfunding
Source: Crunchbase

GoCardless
Recurring billing services for small businesses
Latest round: $13 million
Total raised: $24.8 million
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: SMB, billing, payments, billpay, ebilling, Y Combinator (investor)
Source: Crunchbase

Kreditech Holding
Banking services for the underbanked
Latest round: $11 million (last part of $103 million Series C)
Total raised: $366 million (includes $215 million debt)
HQ: Hamburg, Germany
Tags: Consumers, lending, banking, underwriting, algorithmic banking, APIs, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

GrouPay
Payment collection services from groups 
Latest round: $10.9 million
Total raised: $19.25 million
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: SMB,SMB, billing, payments, billpay, ebilling
Source: Crunchbase

CurrencyFair
P2P international funds transfer marketplace
Latest round: $9 million
Total raised: $24.4 million
HQ: Dublin, Ireland
Tags: Consumers, SMB, remittances, FX, currency, payments, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Eliptic
Blockchain forensics tools
Latest round: $5 million
Total raised: $7 million
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: Enterprise, SMB, blockchain, bitcoin, virtual currency, cryptocurrency, fraud, security
Source: Crunchbase

CrowdStreet
Commercial real estate crowdfunding marketplace
Latest round: $4.92 million Series A
Total raised: $6.27 million
HQ: Portland, Oregon
Tags: Consumers, lending, loans, credit, underwriting, real estate, commercial mortgage, investing, P2P, peer-to-peer
Source: Crunchbase

Stocard
Mobile wallet
Latest round: $4.5 million
Total raised: $6.66 million
HQ: Mannheim, Germany
Tags: Consumers, SMB, merchants, payments, loyalty, rewards, POS
Source: Crunchbase

Jumio
Authentication services
Latest round: $3.7 million Debt
Total raised: $36.7 million
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Tags: SMB, enterprise, fraud prevention, security, mobile account opening, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase, TechCrunch

Airwallex
Online foreign exchange services
Latest round: $2 million Angel
Total raised: $3 million
HQ: Melbourne, Australia
Tags: Consumers, lending, student loans, credit, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

Fina Zero
Lending portal
Latest round: $1.2 million
Total raised: $1.2 million
HQ: Sweden
Tags: Consumers, lending, credit, price comparison, lead gen, discovery
Source: Crunchbase

Front Desk
Mobile business scheduling, invoicing & payments platform
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $15.7 million
HQ: Seattle, WA
Tags: SMB, invoicing, payments, accounts receivables, accounting bookkeeping
Source: FT Partners

RSK Labs
Smart contract platform tied to bitcoin
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $1 million
HQ: California
Tags: SMB, security, authentication, bitcoin, contracts, legal, fraud, cryptocurrency, blockchain
Source: FT Partners

Aspire Financial
Connects marketplace lenders to institutional capital
Latest round: $750,000 Seed
Total raised: $750,000
HQ: Toronto, Canada (Twitter)
Tags: Consumers, lending, student loans, credit, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

Hockeystick
Financial data for private equity funds
Latest round: $600,000 Seed
Total raised: $600,000
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tags: Investors, big data, business intelligence, investing, capital markets
Source: Crunchbase

Creditseva.com
Credit management tools
Latest round: $360,000
Total raised: $375,000
HQ: Hyderabad, India
Tags: Consumers, lending, student loans, credit, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

AlphaFlow
Real estate investing management platform for consumers
Latest round: $120,000 Seed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: California
Tags: Consumers, investing, mortgage, lending, real estate, P2P, Y Combinator (investor)
Source: Techcrunch

Emburse
Debit card with company-driven expense rules
Latest round: $120,000
Total raised: $ million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: SMB, expense management, expense reports, debit card, prepaid, accounting, bookkeeping, Y Combinator (investor), Community Federal Savings Bank (issuer)
Source: Techcrunch

Landed
Crowdfunding down payments for home purchase
Latest round: $120,000
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumers, mortgage, P2P, peer-to-peer, credit, peer-to-peer, real estate, HR, benefits, Y Combinator (investor)
Source: Techcrunch

LendEDU
Student loan refinancing portal
Latest round: $120,000 Seed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Tags: Consumers, lending, student loans, credit, price comparison, discovery, lead gen, Y Combinator (investor)
Source: Techcrunch

Meter Feeder
Payment technology for parking meters
Latest round: $120,000 Seed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Braddock, Pennsylvania
Tags: Government, payments, merchants, acquiring, credit/debit cards, mobile, Y Combinator (investor)
Source: Crunchbase

Paystack
Nigerian online credit card processor
Latest round: $120,000 Seed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: California
Tags: SMB, merchants, acquiring, credit/debit cards, acquiring, Y Combinator (investor)
Source: TechCrunch

LiquidX
Marketplace for trade finance assets
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: New York City
Tags: SMB, enterprise, commercial lending, financing, commercial credit
Source: FT Partners

Finovate Alumni News

Around the web

  • Fortune.com recognizes Shoeboxed among its five startup companies to watch in Durham, North Carolina.
  • Business Builders interviews Harper Reed, head of commerce at Braintree.
  • Kurtosys features Personal Capital, Wealthfront, LearnVest, and Betterment in a look at the future of roboadvisers.
  • Kasasa (formerly BancVue) launches Retail Portfolio Optimization solution with enhanced, data-driven account analysis.
  • New York Times column on apps that help you save highlights Qapital.

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.

Finovate Alums Make Tech Tour’s 50 High Growth European Companies

Finovate Alums Make Tech Tour’s 50 High Growth European Companies

TechTourGrowth50_2016Tech Tour recognized seven Finovate alums in its 2016 Tech Tour Growth 50 (TTG50), a roster of the fastest-growing technology companies in Europe. Making this year’s cut were:

Managing Director of The Tech Tour William Stevens said that recognizing these companies was important in a world otherwise focused on “the billion-dollar unicorn successes.” He pointed out that the Tech Tour Growth 50 companies had “created more than 8,000 high-tech jobs, attracted $3.5 billion of investment, and have an estimated combined valuation of $14.2 billion.”

“This is a clear demonstration of Europe’s strength, potential and competitiveness in scaling-up tech businesses,” Stevens said.

A few additional metrics on the companies of the 2016 Tech Tour Growth 50:

  • 90%: percent founded in the last 10 years.
  • 22 months: the average time from formation to first funding
  • 66%: percent with at least one U.S. investor

This year’s list was chosen by a selection committee chaired by Jean-Michel Deligny, managing director of Silverpeak Investment Bank. Serving on the committee were representatives of:

  • Accel Partners
  • Amadeus Capital Partners
  • Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  • DN Capital
  • Earlybird
  • Highland Capital Partners Europe
  • Idinvest Partners
  • The World Economic Forum.

Companies for the TTTG50 were chosen based on “innovation potential, management team, and pedigree,” as well as factors such as sales growth. Candidates were required to have a minimum of €10 million in revenue, €20 million in total funding, and a valuation of at least €100 million but less than €1 billion.

The Tech Tour was founded in 1998 and is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Alums Make Tech Tour’s 50 High Growth European Companies”

On FinDEVr.com

Around the web

  • GreenKey unveils pilot version of its “voice quote capture” technology. See GreenKey at FinDEVr New York next week.
  • Boku announces new partnerships that will bring direct carrier billing to Google Play in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
  • InvestGlass and Hip Pocket presented their technologies as part of the Innovation Challenge buy Sony launched by Matchi last week.
  • Patch of Land reaches 3 key milestones in Q1: $100m in origination, over $25m returned to investors, new products introduced.

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.

Chatbot Banking

Chatbot Banking

2 5 billion peopleTry wrapping your brain around this little nugget. There are now 2.5 billion unique users of messaging apps worldwide. And they are fast becoming news, search and ecommerce platforms on their own.

How does chat morph into ecommerce, let alone banking? In China and other Asian countries, embedded chatbots are all the rage on messaging platforms such as Wechat, WhatsApp, Kik, Telegram and Slack.

Telegram is the only messaging platform to open up its chat API, such that there are now 120,000 bots serving its 5 million users (for example, see @gif and @vid at work here).

Tencent’s WeChat, the most popular messaging app in China … lets users shop, pay bills and book appointments.
Wall Street Journal, 22 Dec 2015 

chatbank_mockupJust yesterday, YC-incubated Chatfuel demoed its platform at W16 Demo Day. And it’s coming soon to Facebook’s Messenger (of course).

Chatbot is hard to define. Google tells us:

chat·bot /ˈCHatbät/
noun
a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the Internet.
“Chatbots often treat conversations like they’re a game of tennis: talk, reply, talk, reply.”

Unlike sales/service “live chat” that’s become commonplace within online banking, chatbot banking is 100% automated and includes a back and forth “chat” designed to hone in on the precise question or request. They are a boon to mobile self-service, where the limitations of screen size make traditional searching less user-friendly.

But chatbots can also handle transactions, especially the repetitive routine ones typical of online/mobile banking sessions. See the inset for how I imagine text banking might work for one of the most common tasks: balance inquiry with a subsequent funds-transfer.

Looking ahead
If you think of online banking via a PC as digital banking 1.0, and mobile as digital banking 2.0, then the upcoming invisible UI (or the “no UI, UI” coined by USAA’s Neff Hudson) using chatbots, AI and machine learning could very well be version 3.0. At least, that’s my hope. It reminds me of my all-time favorite quote about banking (circa late 1990’s), from noted technologist Esther Dyson:

Banking is like vacuuming; it’s vital, but everybody tries to reduce their vacuuming time.

Embrace the vacuum. People pay good money for them (no relation to Esther, I think).

Finovate Debuts: Valuto’s Open API Offers Multi-Currency Accounts

Finovate Debuts: Valuto’s Open API Offers Multi-Currency Accounts

ValutoHomepage

In an increasingly global economy, Valuto’s multicurrency account helps small businesses send and receive payments in five different European currencies. Valuto integrates into systems such as SaaS accounting, ERP and invoicing systems, and other tools businesses already use daily. The multicurrency account leverages Valuto’s P2P currency exchange marketplace offering a foreign-exchange solution at a lower cost than banks.

Valuto believes financial services should be flawless. Since the biggest obstacles for consumers exist in international transfers and foreign exchange, they decided to tackle this market first. “We believe that businesses deserve the convenience of having their banking operations fully automated,” said Matthew Harris, director of strategy and partnerships.

Company facts:

  • 110 employees
  • €3.2 billion in turnover in 2015 (€9.2 billion since being founded)
  • 360,000+ registered users
  • Headquartered in Poznan, Poland
  • Founded in November 2009
ValutoStageIMGPictured left-to-right: Founder and CEO Michał Czekalski; Matthew Harris, international business development and partnerships; Lukasz Olek, founder and chief product officer onstage at FinovateEurope 2016.

In the company’s FinovateEurope 2016 demo, Valuto launched its open API, showing how to integrate a multicurrency account into an SaaS accounting system. Once the open API is integrated into an SMB’s existing platform, they can issue cross-border invoices to make and collect payments in multiple countries and currencies.


ValutoHarrisAt FinovateEurope, we chatted with Matthew Harris, director of strategy and partnerships for Valuto, to get more insight:

Finovate: What problem does Valuto solve?

Harris: Valuto is an innovative solution that bypasses expensive intermediaries such as banks or FX brokers. It is a cost-effective service that facilitates everything from foreign exchange to sending and receiving transfers in local currencies across several European countries. Valuto provides its customers faster settlement times than those offered by the banks due to our network of client-safeguarded bank accounts situated throughout Europe. Finally, which is what we unveiled at Finovate Europe this year, the Valuto open API (makes it) possible to integrate Valuto functionalities into services such as desktop, SaaS accounting, e-invoicing, P2P investment marketplaces and B2B e-commerce sites.

Finovate: Who are your primary customers?

Harris: At the moment our primary customers are SMEs and sole traders. Nevertheless, in recent months we have seen a significant uptake from individuals who have seen value in our service.

Finovate: How does Valuto solve the problem better?

Harris: Valuto users, especially SMEs and sole traders, can enjoy terms and conditions usually reserved for large corporate clients by the banks. When using Valuto, there are no middlemen, meaning Valuto customers can use our currency-exchange marketplace to exchange between one another, thus bypassing expensive spreads charged by the banks.

ValutoIMG1

Moreover, Valuto cuts out the middlemen by offering domestic, localized payouts and pay-ins from our network of bank accounts. This is why Valuto transfers are transparent, predictable and inexpensive.

A typical cross-border transfer passes through several correspondent banks, each taking a percentage off the initial payment amount. This is why traditional cross-border transfers are complex, erratic and costly.

ValutoIMG2

With Valuto, transfers are transparent, predictable and inexpensive.

ValutoIMG3

Valuto to Valuto (V2V) is a unique transfer option available to Valuto customers. Everyone who has a Valuto account and sufficient balance can transfer funds to another Valuto customer. The transfer is completely free and will be visible on the recipient’s account within seconds.

ValutoIMG4

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

Harris: My favorite implementation of Valuto would have to be the integration of the Valuto multicurrency payment account into an SaaS accounting solution in order to automate payments, collections and reconciliation. We will go live with our first integration March of this year.

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

Harris: Valuto is a brand new project, and was created by individuals with extensive proven track records of developing innovative financial services and products. Valuto’s co-founders, Michał Czekalski and Łukasz Olek, began their careers by establishing Internetowykantor.pl, one of the largest companies on the online currency-exchange market in Poland. Now they are introducing Valuto as a modern solution for clients across Europe.

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

Harris: In the upcoming months we will launch a new API function designed for P2P investment platforms. It’s a unique feature that will make us stand out from our competition on the market. We’ve seen a lot of fintech solutions aimed at the banks so we wanted to direct our next project to helping fellow fintech providers continue to disrupt the banking sector.

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

Harris: We see Valuto as a major player throughout Europe and several other major economies globally. Additionally, our customers can expect numerous new functionalities added to the multicurrency payment account, leading to our goal of creating a modern, connected bank similar to the internet of things. Apart from that, we expect Valuto to be integrated into everything from SaaS accounting platforms to P2P investment marketplaces and more.

Kreditech Lands $11 Million to Close Series C Round of $103 Million

Kreditech Lands $11 Million to Close Series C Round of $103 Million

KreditechHomepage2016

Underbanked financial services provider Kreditech has closed a Series C funding round of $103 million this week after receiving an $11 million investment from the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), an organization that specializes in the economic development of emerging countries.

The Germany-based company received the first installment of the Series C round, totalling $92 million, in September 2015. That round was led by J.C. Flowers & Co. Other notable investors include HPE Growth Capital, Blumberg Capital, and Peter Thiel. The closing of this Series C round brings Kreditech’s total funding to $151 million.

According to TechCrunch, Kreditech is valued between $279 million to $335 million and the company is in the process of raising “another very large debt round,” which should close in Q3 2016.

Monedo

Kreditech will use the funds to bolster its Monedo platform that offers credit services and digital banking products to the underbanked population. The company’s CEO & co-founder Alexander Graubner-Müller states, “Most of our customers are not able to obtain credit at traditional banks … . Through Kreditech’s technology we can perform a more precise credit rating to offer credit at fair and risk-weighted conditions. With the new funding, we will continue advancing our scoring technology to continuously improve and expand our product offering.”

Kreditech uses 20,000 data points, updated every minute, to offer 24/7 access to credit decisioning for anyone in 35 seconds.

KreditechStageIMG

Kreditech’s founder and former CEO, Sebastian Diemer, and current CEO, Alexander Graubner-Müller, debuted Zaimo, Kredito24 and K24 at FinovateSpring 2014.