Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Asseco, Cachet Financial Solutions, Cloud Lending, Finhorizon, Insuritas, InvestGlass, investify, Markit, MX, myInvenio, Personal Capital, Ripple, Sandstone, Taulia, Xpenditure, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • “Taulia Announces Record New Bookings; New CMO Holzapfel”
  • “MX Recruits Don MacDonald, Former Intel and Fiserv CMO”

Around the web

  • Cachet Financial Solutions deploys its Select Mobile Deposit solution for Kentucky-based Whitaker Bank Corporation.
  • UBS hires Markit to manage its Investment Bank’s investible indices.
  • The Hindu quotes Cloud Lending Solutions’ CEO and co-founder Snehal Fulzele on digital transformation.
  • Personal Capital launches Financial Fitness program for employers to help employees reach their wealth goals.
  • Zopa wins Personal Loan Provider of the Year at the Consumer Moneyfacts Awards 2016.
  • Bank Innovation features video of Ripple CEO Chris Larsen discussing the internet of value at Davos.
  • CB&S Bank selects Insuritas to power its insurance-agency solution for customers.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

 

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SuiteBox Wins Mobile Category of KPMG Fintech Innovation Challenge

SuiteBox Wins Mobile Category of KPMG Fintech Innovation Challenge
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: SuiteBox

SuiteBox_homepage_Jan2016b

Less than a month away from its Finovate debut, SuiteBox earned top honors in the mobile category of the KPMG Fintech Innovation Challenge.

The New Zealand-based company’s technology enables users to hold, manage, and record meetings online as well as share, analyze, and sign documents with any web connection via a virtual office environment.

SuiteBox_video

(Click image to play video)

“This success is a ringing endorsement of the opportunity for truly mobile virtual meetings between professionals and their clients across many industries,” SuiteBox CEO Richard Mannell said. “SuiteBox is excited to be at the forefront of delivering mobile office solutions globally.”

Organized by fellow Finovate alum Matchi, the KPMG Fintech Innovation Challenge is designed to encourage collaboration between fintech startups and FIs. Through the Challenge, six companies are selected by a panel of judges, and matched up with financial organizations to develop their technologies. On 10/11 February, the six companies will participate in the KPMG FinTech Innovation Summit in London along with a number of FIs including:

  • AIB (Ireland)
  • Bank Hapoalim (Israel)
  • Caixa Bank (Spain)
  • Liberty Group (South Africa)
  • Nationwide (United Kingdom)
  • Rabobank (Netherlands)
  • Standard Bank (South Africa)
  • Westpac (Australia)

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Newmarket, Auckland, SuiteBox has more than 200 companies currently using its technology. This includes financial planners like Midwinter Financial Services, which announced in November that it would integrate SuiteBox, and independent financial advisory firm Canopy Private, “a major adopter of virtual advice solutions.”

Currently expanding in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and United Kingdom, SuiteBox will demonstrate its technology at FinovateEurope 2016 in London in February.

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CEO Interview: Nexmo’s Tony Jamous

CEO Interview: Nexmo’s Tony Jamous
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: CEO Interview, Nexmo

NexmoHomepage

Nexmo is a global cloud communications platform company providing communication APIs and SDKs for voice, text, messaging, phone verification, and chat-app connectivity.

At FinDEVr San Francisco 2015, Nexmo showed how its APIs and SDKs help companies such as Expedia, Zipcar, and Viber increase security, decrease fraud, and protect user identity—without compromising the user experience. To dig a bit deeper, we recently spoke with the San Francisco-based company’s CEO, Tony Jamous.

To dig a bit deeper, we recently spoke with the San Francisco-based company’s CEO, Tony Jamous. Prior to founding Nexmo in 2010, Jamous worked at Paymo, which was acquired by BOKU in 2009.

In his interview, Jamous spoke with us about the inspiration for Nexmo, the company’s competitive advantages, and its challenges.

Finovate: What was the impetus behind creating Nexmo?TonyJamous

Jamous: Nexmo was created to reduce the barriers to entry for developers to innovate with communication technologies and enable scalable and global high-quality communication infrastructure. Imagine how hard it would have been for Airbnb, one of our global customers, to individually connect to more than 200 carrier networks using arcane telecommunications protocols.

Early on, we were obsessed with building networks and investing in cloud technologies to sustain quality of network as our customers scaled their businesses. Nexmo uniquely connects our customers’ traffic as closely to carriers as is physically possible to reduce message and call latency. We also measure quality feedback for every transaction and adapt how each message or voice call is being routed in real time to continually improve overall quality.

Finovate: Your solutions are used in a number of industries. What is unique about the communications and fraud problems in the financial services sector?

Jamous: The phone number has emerged in recent years as a user-friendly way to identify and authenticate real people. Our APIs, especially Verify (pictured below) and Number Insight, are designed to enable financial services players to easily embed two (or more) factor authentication, and gather data on the phone number during the transaction. These tools enable financial service providers to reduce fraud without the need to gain expertise in teleco rules and regulations.

NexmoVerify

Finovate: What is the most creative solution you’ve seen a financial services company build using a Nexmo API?

Jamous: Bitcoin platforms have been driving innovation in fraud prevention at a faster rate than any other segment within the fintech space, and Nexmo works with many of the leading bitcoin companies.

To secure your bitcoins from theft, enabling phone-number two-factor authentication with the Nexmo Verify SDK or API is strongly recommended. This involves sending a one-time password (OTP) to a user over a separate communication channel (SMS or voice) rather than the IP channel (internet) used by the bitcoin exchange or wallet. Aside from sending payments, phone-number verification can also be required for registration, login, resetting passwords and authenticating changes made to your [specific] bitcoin exchange or wallet account. Bitcoin theft might be irreversible, but you can prevent it with an extra layer of protection using Nexmo’s Verify API or Verify SDK.

Finovate: What are the biggest challenges for Nexmo?

Jamous: Nexmo has reached a phase in which we need to both scale the business and improve operational efficiency, all while keeping a priority on customer-facing teams and tools. We have a long journey ahead, which will be both challenging and exciting for the team.

Nexmo will demo what’s new with its Verify SDK at FinovateEurope on 9/10 February in London. Tickets are selling fast; register today to secure your seat.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Arroweye Solutions, Big Data Scoring, CREALOGIX, Envestnet, Expensify, FreeAgent, Jack Henry, Mint, Nexmo, QuickBooks, Shoeboxed, Xero, Yodlee

On Finovate.com

  • “SuiteBox Wins Mobile Category of KPMG Fintech Innovation Challenge” (See SuiteBox at FinovateEurope 2016 in London next month.)

Around the web

  • Financial reporter profiles Big Data Scoring, founded in Scandanavia and headquartered in the United Kingdom.
  • Envestnet | Yodlee to bring account aggregation and PFM tools to Australian Superannuation Fund, QSuper.
  • Creative Boom lists Xero, FreeAgent, Expensify, QuickBooks, Mint, and Shoeboxed in its roundup of must-have apps for freelancers.
  • ACI Worldwide launches UP Retail Payments, combining technologies to produce an end-to-end enterprise payments solution.
  • Bank Innovation features Dave Foss, new CEO for Jack Henry & Associates.
  • CREALOGIX forges digital banking partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). Join CREALOGIX in London for FinovateEurope next month.
  • PaymentEye interviews Arroweye Solutions CEO Render Dahiya on how EMV migration will impact issuers.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Fintech Fundings: 23 Companies Raise $2.7 Billion Week Ending Jan 22

Fintech Fundings: 23 Companies Raise $2.7 Billion Week Ending Jan 22
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

money_yuanLast week, we set the record for most fintech deals in a single week with 28. This week, we established a new mark (by a large margin) for the highest weekly dollar total with $2.7 billion. The previous record was $1.6 billion the third week of August 2015. These are mind-boggling numbers. Imagine this: Your company, JD.com, raises $1 billion, and you are not even the biggest deal, as Chinese rival Lufax brings in $1.2 billion the very same week.

All told, 23 fintech companies worldwide brought in $2.733 billion. That included four Finovate alums who raised a total of more than $190 million:

Year-to-date, fintech companies have raised $3.5 billion in equity and debt worldwide, almost six times the $680 million raised during the first three weeks of 2015. And the number of deals is up 67% (75 compared to 45 in 2015).

Here are the fintech deals by size from 16 Jan to 22 Jan 2016:

Lufax
Chinese P2P lender
Latest round: $1.22 billion Series B (at $18.5 billion valuation)
Total raised: $1.7 billion
HQ: Shanghai, China
Tags: Consumer, credit, person-to-person, marketplace lender, underwriting, investing, Ping Am (investor)
Source: Crunchbase, Crowdfund Insider

JD Finance
Financial subsidiary of JD.com (direct sales company)
Latest round: $1 billion at $7.1 billion valuation
Total raised: $1 billion
HQ: Chaoyang, China
Tags: Consumer, SMB, credit, deposits, mobile, banking
Source: Crunchbase

WeLab
Consumer alt-credit provider
Latest round: $160 million Series B
Total raised: $180 million
HQ: Hong Kong, China
Tags: Consumer, credit, mobile, underwriting, lending, ING Bank (investor)
Source: Crunchbase

LendUp
Payday loan alternative
Latest round: $150 million Series B (mix of equity/debt)
Total raised: $164 million (mix of equity/debt)
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, credit, lending, underwriting, mobile, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Digital Asset
Distributed ledger technology for financial services
Latest round: $50 million
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: New York City, New York
Tags: Enterprise, blockchain, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, database, securities trading, custody
FI investors: JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, ABN AMRO, Santander, PNC, Citigroup
Source: FT Partners

BlueVine
Small-business invoice factoring
Latest round: $40 million Series C
Total raised: $64 million
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Tags: SMB, credit, factoring, accounts receivables financing, underwriting, commercial credit, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Blend Labs
Mortgage processing platform
Latest round: $40 million Series C
Total raised: $65 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Enterprise, mortgage banking/brokers, credit, home loans, process automation
Source: FT Partners

Zameen.com
Pakistani residential real estate portal
Latest round: $2o million Series C
Total raised: $29 million
HQ: Lahore, Pakistan
Tags: Consumer, real estate, lead gen, mortgage, home buying, agents
Source: Crunchbase

Housing.com (aka Locon Solutions)
Indian residential real estate portal
Latest round: $14.7 million Series
Total raised: $154.2 million
HQ: Mumbai, India
Tags: Consumer, real estate, lead gen, mortgage, home buying, agents
Source: Crunchbase

Travelers Box
Kiosk to convert foreign coins and currency into gift cards
Latest round: $10 million Series
Total raised: $14.5 million
HQ: Istanbul, Turkey
Tags: Consumer, FX, hardware, gift cards
Source: Crunchbase

Neyber
Platform for employers to lend to employees
Latest round: $8.56 million Series
Total raised: $8.56 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, B2B2C, credit, underwriting, HR, employee benefits, loans
Source: Crunchbase

PayIt
Government mobile payment processor
Latest round: $4.5 million Series A
Total raised: $4.5 million
HQ: Kansas City, Missouri
Tags: Consumer, payments, tickets, B2G2C, merchants, acquiring, debit/credit cards
Source: Crunchbase

CapLinked
Cloud-based platform for coordinating asset sales, financings and M&A
Latest round: $3.5 million
Total raised: $9.4 million
HQ: Manhattan Beach, California
Tags: SMB, deals, investing, investment banking, advisers, Peter Thiel (investor)
Source: Crunchbase, American Banker

Solovis
Investment management platform for advisers
Latest round: $3.25 million
Total raised: $3.5 million
HQ: Birmingham, Alabama
Tags: Investment managers, wealth management, investing, insurance, family office
Source: Crunchbase

LoanHero
Point-of-sale financing
Latest round: $2.5 million Seed
Total raised: $4.6 million
HQ: La Jolla, California
Tags: Consumer, credit, POS, underwriting, loans, purchase financing, tablet
Source: Crunchbase

EasyPolicy
Indian insurance portal
Latest round: $2.2 million Seed
Total raised: $2.2 million
HQ: Uttar Pradesh, India
Tags: Consumer, insurance, lead gen, price comparison, car/auto, life
Source: Crunchbase

Linxo
Personal financial manager
Latest round: $2.18 million Seed
Total raised: $2.18 million
HQ: Aix-en-Provence, France
Tags: Consumer, personal finance management, PFM, spending, budgeting, mobile, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Cashforce
Enterprise cash management
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Herentals, Belgium
Tags: Enterprise, SMB, accounting, cash management, treasury, commercial banking
Source: Let’s Talk Payments

Fisdom
Mobile personal investing
Latest round: $500,000 Seed
Total raised: $500,000
HQ: Bangalore, India
Tags: Consumer, investing, savings, personal finance
Source: Crunchbase

IP Commerce
SMB accounting technology (CommerceSync)
Latest round: Undisclosed Series A
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Denver, Colorado
Tags: SMB, accounting, developers, ecommerce, financial management, payments, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Central Technology Services
Software and IT financing
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Tags: SMB, enterprise, commercial credit, asset financing
Source: FT Partners

EPS
Retail banking and ATM technology
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: $10 million (previously)
HQ: Mumbai, India
Tags: Financial institutions, B2B2C, deposits, banking, payments
Source: FT Partners

Precidian
Investment management
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Bedminster, New Jersey
Tags: Enterprise, mutual funds, ETFs, trading, advisers, wealth management, Legg Mason (investor)
Source: FT Partners

——–

Image licensed from 123rf.com

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Linxo Raises €2 Million from Crédit Agricole

Linxo Raises €2 Million from Crédit Agricole
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, linxo

Linxo_homepage_Jan2016

French PFM innovator Linxo (a FinovateEurope 2011 alum) has raised €2 million in funding from new investor Crédit Agricole, and existing investor Crédit Mutuel Arkéa. Having raised €500,000 in 2013, the company’s total capital now stands at more than $2.6 million.

The investment will help strenghten Linxo’s position in France, as well as fund the company’s expansion into other European markets. Linxo also plans to add talent to both its technical and communications teams.

Linxo_stage_FEU2011

From left: Co-founders Hugues Pisapia, managing director, and CEO Bruno Van Haetsdaele demonstrated the Linxo platform at FinovateEurope 2011.

Bruno Van Haetsdaele and Hugues Pisapia, Linxo co-founders, said the investment was a show of confidence in their platform. “These investors confirm our development while leaving us the independence and autonomy to continue to grow rapidly,” said Van Haetsdaele. The pair says the trust of leading banking players showed a strong signal of confidence in the security of Linxo’s solution and the sustainability of their business model.

Linxo specializes in personal finance management and savings-optimization solutions for consumers. It’s the first account-aggregation service supported by French FIs. More than simply aggregating accounts, Linxo has opened up its platform to application developers looking to build features such as partner dashboards, rewards and offers programs, and more.

Linxo demonstrated its platform at FinovateEurope 2011 in London. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, France, Linxo employs seven and says its platform has been used by more than 850,000 businesses and individuals.

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IP Commerce Closes Series A Round

IP Commerce Closes Series A Round
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, IP Commerce

IPCommerceHomepage

This week, small business software company IP Commerce landed its first round of funding since it was founded in 2007. The amount was undisclosed.

Top-name investors contributed to the round:

  • First Data Ventures
  • Intel Capital
  • Meritage Funds
  • Camp One Ventures
  • Augury Capital Partners
  • Service Provider Capital

The company’s flagship product, Commerce Sync, helps its 7,000+ small business clients eliminate manual data entry by syncing sales information with their accounting platform. IP Commerce holds partnerships with Clover, Stripe, Square, Quickbooks, and Xero.

IP Commerce company will use the funds to expand its workforce and enhance the functionality of Commerce Sync.

First Data’s Peter Karpas, global head of SMB Solutions, has been appointed to IP Commerce’s board of directors.

IP Commerce is based in Denver. The company debuted its Multi-party Payments Commerce Playlist at FinovateSpring 2012.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BehavioSec, Betterment, Currency Cloud, IP Commerce, linxo, MasterCard, On Deck Capital, Tradeshift, TransferWise, Vouch

On Finovate.com

  • “IP Commerce Closes Series A Round”
  • “Linxo Raises €2 Million from Crédit Agricole”

Around the web

  • MasterCard and TransferWise talk about the “future of money and credit” with TechCruch at Davos 2016.
  • Let’s Talk Payments features Betterment in a roundup of fintech startups focused on reducing fees for retirement savers.
  • OnDeck enters referral agreement with Opus Bank to power SMB lending.
  • BehavioSec to power behavioral biometrics for TeleSign.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Capital Preferences

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Capital Preferences
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Capital Preferences, FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek

CapitalPreferences_homepage_Jan2016

FEULogowithDate    A look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

 

Capital Preferences takes the pain out of client profiling. We use game theory to create each client’s Economic Fingerprint—letting you customize advice and prove suitability.

Features

  • We lower risk and raise customization potential
  • We provide statistical confidence that you are providing suitable advice
  • We sell to the right clients based upon their preferences

Why it’s great
Firms that know their clients best will win. Your client’s Economic Fingerprint is the key to serve them better, grow revenue, stay compliant, and lower the regulatory risk profile of your business.

Presenter

CapitalPreferences_BernardDelReyBernard Del Rey, CEO

Del Rey is an experienced chief marketing officer, a leader at JP Morgan Asset Management and Morgan Stanley Investment Management, who then founded Capital Position, a global strategy and marketing firm.
LinkedIn

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: additiv

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: additiv
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: additiv, FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek

additiv_homepage_Jan2016

FEULogowithDate    A look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

 

additiv will present Descartes, based on the platform additiv Digital Finance Suite (DFS).

Features

  • Additiv DFS: digitization realized fast and efficiently
  • Full self-service hybrid, or personal adviser-focused solutions including robo-adviser technology
  • For the banking and insurance markets

Why it’s great
Descartes is a high-end, multi-algorithmic robo-adviser for demanding, self-directed investors offering a holistic advisory and portfolio-management approach.

Presenters

additiv_MichaelStemmieMichael Stemmle, Owner and CEO

Stemmle has long-term consulting experience with a focus on the development and implementation of business, sales, and distribution strategies for the finance and insurance industries.
LinkedIn

 

additiv_AdrianoLucatelliAdriano B. Lucatelli, Entrepreneur, Founder of Descartes AG

Lucatelli is a Swiss entrepreneur, investor, and member of the board of directors of various companies (one of them additiv). He has lectured at the University of Zurich on international finance since 2012.
LinkedIn

 

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: AdviceRobo

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: AdviceRobo
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: AdviceGames, FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek

AdviceRobo_homepage_Jan2016

FEULogowithDate     A look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

 

CreditRobo from AdviceRobo provides behavior-based predictive and preventive solutions, instant credit scoring, and a gamified user interface by applying the latest technologies such as machine learning.

Features

  • Reduces risk in your customer base
  • Gives actionable insights for highly effective campaigns
  • Offers personalized services, such as a personal online dashboard
  • Improves your ROI

Why it’s great
AdviceRobo helps you to predict and prevent, on an individual level, the credit risk in your base.

Presenters

diederik van thielDiederick van Thiel, CEO

Founder and CEO Thiel previously founded and sold eyeOpen, the world’s first online mortgage robo-advisor. He is enrolled in a Ph.D. program on behavioral finance and big-data-driven customer experiences.
LinkedIn

Diederick van Tiel en Rosali Waleson-SteenkamerRosali Steenkamer, CCO

Founder and CCO Steenbakmer previously founded and sold eyeOpen, the world’s first online mortgage robo-advisor. She has in-depth expertise and experience in the field of marketing, communication, and sales.
LinkedIn

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: eWise

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: eWise
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: eWise, FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek

eWise_homepage_Jan2016

FEULogowithDate A look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

 

eWise is a leading international provider of private and secure personal finance management (PFM) and account-aggregation solutions. eWise will present its new data privacy feature.

Features

Responsibility and security in Personal Money Management since 2000.

  • Money Manager
  • Personal Data Vault
  • Data Privacy Settings

Why it’s great
Having our financial data in one place and sharing it in return for better services will revolutionize the relationship we have with our money.

Presenters

eWise_AlexGrinbergAlex Grinberg, Head of Business Development and Founder

Grinberg started his career in law and technology, as senior legal counsel at IBM and Oracle. He founded eWise in 2000 and is now driving business development.
LinkedIn

 

eWise_DeanYoungDean Young, Head of Product Management

Young is based in Singapore and has more than 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry.
LinkedIn

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