Revolut Pulls in $4.8 Million

Revolut Pulls in $4.8 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Revolut

Screen Shot 2016-02-05 at 6.06.43 PM

London-based Revolut launched in 2014 under the premise that people should not be charged for spending and transferring their own money in a different currency. This week, the startup closed a $4.8 million round of funding.

The round was led by Balderton Capital. Additional contributors include: Index Ventures, Point Nine Capital, Seedcamp, and Venrex Investment Management.

Combined with the startup’s previous investments, this round brings its total funding to $7.6 million.

In January, Revolut launched version 2.0 of its personal money cloud. Its redesigned app is focused on offering transparency while maintaining an intuitive user experience.

The company’s CEO and Founder Nikolay Storonsky, and CTO Vlad Yatsenko debuted Revolut at FinovateEurope 2015 in London.

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Advisor Software Launches Robo-advisor Platform, ASI Digital Advisor

Advisor Software Launches Robo-advisor Platform, ASI Digital Advisor
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Advisor Software

ASI_Digital_Adviso_homepage_Feb2016

Advisor Software this week introduced its white-label, robo-advisor platform, ASI Digital Advisor. The technology, announced at the TD Ameritrade National LINC conference in Florida, makes it easier for wealth managers and financial advisors to begin providing their clients with automated digital investment advice.

“By building our application in a modular fashion using APIs,” said company VP of Product Management Kevin Kraus, “we were able to develop a digital advice solution that is the most flexible and scalable on the market today.”

AdvisorSoftware_FinDEVrSF2015_stage

Pictured: Advisor Software VP of Product Management Kevin Kraus and VP of Engineering Archana Rao demonstrating their Wealth Management Cloud at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015.

ASI Digital Advisor gives wealth managers the ability to generate model portfolios, build risk- and goal-based portfolios, and automate processes such as client onboarding and rebalancing, all with a responsive design to a state-of-the-art user experience.

Chairman and CEO of Advisor Software Andrew Rudd said that the new technology was a standard-setter in terms of “usability, scalability, and flexibility in the digital advice space.”

“Competitive platforms often ask advisors to make too many compromises,” Rudd said. “With our solution, advisors can easily modernize the user experience for their clients without having to alter the way they do business.”

Advisor Software’s new solution arrives just a few weeks after the company announced major hires for the position of Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Sales. David Cooper, a former senior executive at Fiserv and Greendot, will take the helm as CTO, and Tom Flint, co-founder of Tiburon Wealth Management, will become Advisor Software’s next VP of Sales.

Founded in June 1995 and headquartered in Walnut Creek, California, Advisor Software demonstrated its Wealth Management Cloud platform at FinovateFall 2015. In its FinDEVr debut a month later, Advisor Software showed how the more than 100 APIs on its platform help developers build and deploy a wide variety of wealth management apps.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Blackhawk Network, VISA, wipro

Around the web:

  • Blackhawk Network acquires NimbleCommerce, a digital commerce platform and network.
  • Wipro wins seven-year, IT-infrastructure contract with international insurer RSA.
  • Visa unveils its new Visa Developer Program, giving developers API-based access to many of Visa’s payment technologies.

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: 29 Companies Raise $350 Million Week Ending Jan 29; Full Month Tops $4 Billion

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding, Uncategorized

Money_circuitFor the third time in that past four weeks a fintech funding record has fallen. This week it was number of companies, beating the total funded two weeks ago by one. As you may recall, last week we set the new mark (by a large margin) for the highest weekly dollar total with $2.7 billion.

All told, last week 29 fintech companies worldwide brought in $352 million, including Finovate alum PinDrop Security, which added $75 million for its voice biometrics tools to fight fraud.

In January, fintech companies raised $4 billion in equity and debt worldwide, almost four times the $780 million raised during January 2015. And the number of deals is up 70% (104 compared to 61 in 2015).

Here are the fintech deals by size from 23 Jan to 29 Jan 2016:

Nexara Holdings
Mortgage startup with two brands: NewFI & Bluestream Lending
Latest round: $100 million Series
Total raised: $100 million
HQ: Emeryville, California
Tags: Consumer, credit, mortgage, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

Pindrop Security
Anti-fraud technology for financial institutions and others
Latest round: $75 million Series C
Total raised: $122 million
HQ: Atlanta, Georgia
Tags: Enterprise, SMB, fraud, voice biometrics, security, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Cadre
Real estate investing platform
Latest round: $50 million Series B
Total raised: $68.3 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Consumer, advisors, real estate, mortgage, investing, wealth management
Source: FT Partners

Bayut
UAE real estate portal
Latest round: $20 million Series C
Total raised: $29 Million
HQ: Dubai, UAE
Tags: Consumer, home buying, renting, mortgage, real estate
Source: Crunchbase

College Ave Student Loans
Student loan lender
Latest round: $20 million
Total raised: $40 million
HQ: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Tags: Consumer, credit, youth market, underwriting, lending, loans, FirstTrust Bank (loan originator)
Source: Crunchbase

The Zebra
Car insurance price comparison
Latest round: $17 million Series A
Total raised: $23.03 million
HQ: Austin, Texas
Tags: Consumer, insurance, automobile insurance, price comparison, lead gen, discovery, quotes
Source: Crunchbase

PitchBook
Investment information
Latest round: $10 million Series B
Total raised: Unkown
HQ: Seattle, Washington
Tags: SMB, advisors, enterprise, investing, trading, wealth management
Source: FT Partners

Sprinklebit
Social investing platform
Latest round: $10 million Series A
Total raised: $13.7 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Consumer, investing, trading, social media
Source: Crunchbase

Sonovate
Contract financing and management services for professional recruitment firms
Latest round: $7.1 Million Series
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: SMB, credit, receivables financing, management
Source: FT Partners

Bench
Online bookkeeping service
Latest round: $6.75 million Series
Total raised: $23.5 Million
HQ: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Tags: SMB, bookkeeping, accounting, invoicing
Source: Crunchbase

Wave Accounting
Online accounting & invoicing
Latest round: $6.3 million
Total raised: $6.3 million
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tags: SMB, bookkeeping, accounting, invoicing
Source: Crunchbase

Cumulus Funding
Consumer alt-lender
Latest round: $5.9 million Series
Total raised: $6.75 million
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Tags: Consumer, credit, underwriting, loans, lending
Source: FT Partners

Kurtosys
Client reporting and information management for financial services
Latest round: $5.2 million Series
Total raised: $25.6 million
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: Enterprise, advisors, wealth management, hosting
Source: FT Partners

Smartika
Social lending platform
Latest round: $4.9 million
Total raised: $4.9 million
HQ: Milan, Italy
Tags: Consumer, credit, person-to-person, marketplace lender, underwriting, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Vestorly
Content management for financial services
Latest round: $4.1 million Series A
Total raised: $4.1 million
HQ: New York City
Tags: Enterprise, content, investing
Source: FT Partners

Dopay
Electronic payroll system 
Latest round: $2.4 million Series A
Total raised: $8.0 million
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: B2B2C, SMB, payments, payroll, human resources, underbanked, unbanked, Barclays Accelerator
Source: Crunchbase

Insurify
Car insurance comparison site
Latest round: $2 million Seed
Total raised: $2 million
HQ: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Tags: Consumer, insurance, automobile, car insurance, lead gen, price comparison, discovery
Source: Crunchbase

ClaimKit
Insurance claim management
Latest round: $1.8 million
Total raised: $2.36 million
HQ: Overland Park, Kansas
Tags: Enterprise, insurance claim processing
Source: FT Partners

AlgoMerchant
Investment portal
Latest round: $1.3 million Seed
Total raised: $1.3 million
HQ: Singapore
Tags: Consumer, investing, lead gen, wealth management, discovery, advisors
Source: Crunchbase

Jewel Paymentech 
Risk management for payment acquirers 
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $1 million
HQ: Singapore
Tags: SMB, enterprise, security, fraud management, acquirers, merchants, payments
Source: Crunchbase

YoPay
Digital payments
Latest round: $550,000 Seed
Total raised: 550,000
HQ: New York City
Tags: SMB, merchants, credit/debit card acquiring, payments
Source: Crunchbase

bitFlyer
Japanese bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $420,000
Total raised: $7.36 million
HQ: Japan
Tags: Consumer, SMB, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, virtual currency, blockchain
Source: Crunchbase

SatoshiPay
Bitcoin nanopayments
Latest round: $390,000
Total raised: $630,000
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: Consumer, payments, micro-payments, content, virtual currency
Source: Crunchbase

Billecta
Online invoicing 
Latest round: $140,000
Total raised: $140,000
HQ: Sweden
Tags:SMB, bookkeeping, accounting, invoicing
Source: Crunchbase

Finova Financial
Online vehicle-secured lending
Latest round: $125,000 Seed
Total raised: $125,000
HQ: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Tags: Consumer, credit, automobile lending, alt-lender, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

C2FO
Working capital finance
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: $85 million in prior rounds
HQ: Fairway, Kansas
Tags: SMB, enterprise, credit, receivables financing, trade finance, factoring, underwriting, Citibank (investor)
Source: FT Partners

CreditNation
Loan comparison site
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Delhi, India
Tags: Consumer, credit, lead gen, price comparison, loans, discovery, lending
Source: Crunchbase

Truebill
Recurring payments management
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, payments, personal financial management, billpay, recurring bills, PFM, Ycombinator
Source: Crunchbase

True Potential
Wealth management technology
Latest round: Undisclosed Private Equity
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: London, England, UK
Tags: Advisors, consumer, wealth management, investing
Source: Crunchbase

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German P2P Bitcoin Lending Innovator Bitbond Launches its API

German P2P Bitcoin Lending Innovator Bitbond Launches its API
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bitbond

Bitbond_homepage_Feb2016

Lending and borrowing money using bitcoin just got a lot easier.

P2P bitcoin lending platform, Bitbond, has released its API for investors and developers. Quoted at Usebitcoins.info, company CEO and founder Radoslav Albrecht said the API “reflects Bitbond’s desire to make the lives of investors on our platform as easy as possible.”

Bitbond_stage_FEU2015

Pictured (left to right): Bitbond co-founders Robert Nasiadek (CTO) and Radoslav Albrecht (CEO) demonstrating Bitbond AutoInvest.

Available with complete documentation, the Bitbond API gives investors and developers the ability to “customise and automate” the entire loan process, while providing ready access to Bitbond’s entire loan history data. “This allows investors to analyze data and to craft individual investment strategies based on it,” Albrecht explained. “We are sure that developers and investors alike will get terrific value from the Bitbond API.”

A few Bitbond statistics:

  • More than 23,000 active users in more than 120 countries
  • More than 1,1000 loans originated for a loan volume of more than $340,000
  • Loans available up to $10,000 at rates beginning at 7.7%
  • Terms range from six weeks to five years

Recent headlines for Bitbond include the launch of its bitcoin purchasing power index in November, and the beginning of its bitcoin affiliate program in September. Last summer, Bitbond was recognized as a “rising fintech startup” by Coin Telegraph.

Founded in January 2013 and headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Bitbond demonstrated its AutoInvest feature at FinovateEurope 2015. The company has raised more than $940,000 in funding; its most recent investment was an angel round led by Point Nine Capital in May 2015.

For more developer-friendly news, be sure to visit our sister blog, FinDEVr.com. And remember that Very Early Bird discounts to FinDEVr New York 2016 end this Friday.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Bazaarvoice, Dwolla, itBit, Nomis Solutions

Around the web:

  • Nomis Solutions introduces new version of its Dynamic Pricing solution with behavioral attribute pricing and active recalibration.
  • ReBusiness Online looks at Bazaarvoice and its move into new offices in Austin.
  • Bank Innovation: Dwolla updates its API to facilitate better ACH transactions.
  • Business Insider quotes itBit CEO Chad Cascarilla on banks and the blockchain.

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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A Cartographer’s Guide to FinovateEurope

A Cartographer’s Guide to FinovateEurope
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2016

If you’ve already registered for FinovateEurope, you’ve probably already seen the list of 71 presenting companies that will showcase on 9 & 10 of February at the event in London (if you haven’t registered yet, there’s still time).

For a unique view of the demoing companies, take a look at our presenter map that shows where each company is headquartered:

FEU16PresenterMapFinal.small

The 71 presenting companies represent 20 different countries:

  • 17 are North America-based companies bringing their innovations to Europe
  • 11 are based in the U.K.
  • 6 are Swiss, the country with the densest concentration of presenters

The event is only a few days away, so it’s time to start planning your trip. Here are a few tips:

  1. Register today. This year will be our largest FinovateEurope audience yet and tickets are going fast
  2. Download our event app (search Finovate in the Bizzabo app) to connect with other attendees, view information about the presenters, and more
  3. Check out our Sneak Peek series for a preview of select demos
  4. For specific questions, visit our FAQ at the bottom of the event site or email europe@finovate.com

FinovateEurope 2016 is sponsored by The Bancorp and KPMG.

FinovateEurope 2016 is partnered with Acuity Market Intelligence, Aite Group, Bank Innovators Council, BankersHub, BayPay Forum, bob’s guide, Byte Academy, Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, Celent, The Cointelegraph, CrowdReviews, Digital Currency Council, Emerging Payments Association, Financial Services Club, Fintech Finance, The Fintech Times, Harrington Starr, IDC Financial Insights, Mapa Research, Mercator Advisory Group, The New Economy, Payments & Cards Network, PitchBook, Plus Journal, SME Finance Forum, techUK, The Paypers, Verdict Financial, and World Finance.

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Finovate Alums Are Top Tech Startup Fundraisers in Four States

Finovate Alums Are Top Tech Startup Fundraisers in Four States
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Avalara, CashStar, edo Interactive, Funding, Fundings, Kabbage

TheUSofStartups_infographic

An interesting infographic from CB Insights reveals four Finovate/FinDEVr alums to be the most well-funded tech startups in their respective states.

“Using CB Insights data, we analyzed the most well-funded startups by state, based on disclosed equity funding,” read the CB Insights blog accompanying the map. The survey did not include debt funding and companies that had to have raised at least $5 million. The survey also excluded Alaska or Hawaii, which had no qualifying startups.

Avalara_FinDEVr2015_logoAvalara (Washington State)

CashStar_Grayscale_Logo_No_TagCashStar (Maine)

edo_Interactive_logoedo Interactive (Tennessee)

 

Kabbage_logoKabbage (Georgia)

For more on funding for Finovate alums, check out our funding year-in-review, Finovate Alums Raise More than $3 Billion in 2015.

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FinDEVr APIntelligence

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Avalara, FinDEVr APIntelligence, Markit, Mitek, Nexmo, On Deck Capital, Thinking Capital, Tradier

FinDEVrNY16-V2(wdate)We’re taking our FinDEVr developer showcase to New York on March 29 & 30, 2016. Register today and save $200 through Friday.

The latest from FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 presenters:

  • Thinking Capital to power new “Staples Business Loans” program for small businesses in Canada.
  • Markit lands three new customers for its KY3P (Know Your Third Party) platform.
  • LandedCost from Avalara helps SMEs navigate international taxes, tariffs, and fees.
  • American Banker: OnDeck Capital adds former E-Trade exec to board.
  • Mitek partners with Harland Clarke to improve RDC security.

Alumni Updates:

  • Online trading platform Investfly integrates with the Tradier brokerage API.

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: Expensify, Insuritas, Luxoft, Markit, On Deck Capital, Thinking Capital, Valuto

On Finovate.com:

  • A Cartographer’s Guide to FinovateEurope.

Around the web:

  • Thinking Capital to power new Staples Business Loans program for small businesses in Canada.
  • Markit lands three new customers for its KY3P (Know Your Third Party) platform, including fellow alum, Luxoft.
  • VentureBeat looks at Expensify and its plans for European expansion.
  • Currency One launches Valuto in Europe. See the live demo at FinovateEurope next week in London.
  • American Banker: OnDeck Capital adds former E-Trade exec to board.
  • Insuritas to power insurance solution for Bank of England and Bank of England Mortgage.

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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FinDEVr New York — Save $200 through Friday!

FinDEVr New York — Save $200 through Friday!
By Heather Stowell Posted on
Categories: FinDEVr 2016 New York, FinDEVr Marketing

iContact Header Template FindevrNY

With less than two months to go until FinDEVr New York, now is a great time to take advantage of very early-bird savings on tickets. If you register by this Friday, you’ll not only save your spot at the premier event for fintech developers, but also save yourself $200.

With all the excitement over the “tech” in “fintech” – and after hosting two great developer conferences in San Francisco in 2014 and 2015 – we’ve expanded FinDEVr to both coasts. So join us in New York on March 29 and 30 as dozens of innovative startups and established companies showcase the latest tools, technologies, APIs, platforms, case studies, and tutorials that builders will use to create the next wave of fintech innovations.

Our full FinDEVr New York presenter line-up is almost set. Here’s a look at the innovators already onboard:

Screen Shot 2016-02-01 at 9.05.12 AM

If you’re new to FinDEVr, check out the action from our previous developer conferences in 2014 and 2015.

And remember, very early-bird tickets are on sale through this Friday, February 5. Pick up your tickets today. Save your spot. Save $200. And we’ll see you in New York in March!

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BlackRock’s FutureAdvisor Collaborating with RBC Wealth Management

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

FutureAdvisorHomepage1.12.16

Digital wealth management solution provider FutureAdvisor recently made it big when it was acquired by investment management company BlackRock in 2015.

This week the robo-advisor announced another endorsement. The U.S. branch of RBC Wealth Management is launching a pilot program called RBC Investor Gateway that offers clients a digital advice option powered by FutureAdvisor.

The terms of the deal were undisclosed. As far as the mechanics for the agreement are concerned, RBC will act as the custodian of all of the Investor Gateway client assets and will take responsibility for producing and distributing account statement and tax documents.

RBC makes it clear that Investor Gateway is not meant to replace traditional financial advisors. Rather, the product is intended to serve as a stepping stone for budding investors to build a relationship with RBC Wealth Management as a financial advisor.

Financial Planning quotes Corporate Insight Consulting’s Sean McDermott:

“It gives RBC an opportunity to establish relationships with younger potential clients, who may be comfortable with digitally grounded advice to start, but who will eventually want a relationship with a human advisor. For FutureAdvisor, this further reinforces the brand’s legitimacy and position as a leader in the digital advice space.”

McDermott employs the phrase “further reinforces,” because FutureAdvisor has experienced plenty of recent success:

FutureAdvisor’s Founder & CEO Bo Lu demoed its premium service at FinovateFall 2013.

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