Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: App Annie, Authy, Avoka, CREALOGIX, DriveWealth, Fiserv, Insuritas, Lendstar, PayPal, Persado, Qumram, Taulia, Temenos, Wealthfront

On Finovate.com

  • “PayPal Taps into Bitcoin by Adding Wences Casares to Board”
  • “Taulia Raises $46 Million in Series E; Names New CFO”
  • Check out “Finovate Debuts: Authy’s Password Alternative”

Around the web

  • DriveWealth teams up with StockRadar to provide investors in China with access to U.S. stocks.
  • DNB Luxembourg goes live with Temenos core banking system.
  • Three credit unions in British Columbia—Bulkley Valley Credit Union, North Peace Savings and Credit Union, and Spruce Credit Union— choose DNA account processing technology from Fiserv.
  • Wealthfront launches new, free portfolio review service.
  • Insuritas to power insurance agency solution for Greater New Orleans Federal Credit Union.

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: 24 Companies Raise $570 Million Week Ending 8 Jan

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

HappyNewYear_MoneyThe year is off to a big start with 24 companies raising $569 million in the first week of 2016. However, three-quarters of that ($425 million) was additional debt for three big alt-lenders: Finovate alum LoanNow ($50 million) along with CommonBond ($275 million) and Qredits ($100 million).

The $138 million in new equity last week was 25% more than the $110 million from the same week a year ago. And the number of deals was up 40% (24 compared to 17).

In addition to LoanNow, Finovate alums attracting new capital included:

Here are the deals by size from 1 Jan to 8 Jan 2016:

CommonBond
Person-to-person student loan lender
Latest round: $275 million Debt
Total raised: $319.7 million ($44.7 million Equity, $275 million Debt)
HQ: New York City, New York
Tags: Consumer, credit, lending, loans, underwriting, investing, P2P, student loans
Source: Crunchbase

Qredits
Dutch person-to-person SMB lender
Latest round: $100 million Debt
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: The Netherlands
Tags: SMB, credit, lending, loans, underwriting, investing, P2P, alt-lender, marketplace lender, European Investment Bank (lender)
Source: Crunchbase

NuBank
Brazilian neo-bank
Latest round: $52 million Series C
Total raised: $98.3 million
HQ: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Tags: Consumer, mobile, debit card, neobank, personal finance, PFM
Source: Crunchbase

LoanNow
Consumer alt-lender
Latest round: $50 million Debt
Total raised: $56 ($6 million Equity, $50 million Debt)
HQ: Santa Ana, California
Tags: Consumer, credit, lending, loans, underwriting, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Toast
Person-to-person lender
Latest round: $30 million Series B
Total raised: $30 million
HQ: Boston, Massachusetts
Tags: SMB, point-of-sale, merchants, restaurants, bars, credit/debit cards
Source: Crunchbase

Lendful Financial
Online alt-lender
Latest round: $15 million
Total raised: $15 million
HQ: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Tags: Consumer, credit, lending, loans
Source: Crunchbase

freee
Online accounting
Latest round: $8.3 million Series D
Total raised: $55.5 million
HQ: Tokyo, Japan
Tags: SMB, accounting, billpay, invoicing
Source: Crunchbase

Street Contxt
Financial communications platform
Latest round: $8 million Series A
Total raised: $8 million
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tags: Advisers, wealth management, investing, enterprise
Source: Crunchbase

Gem
Blockchain technology
Latest round: $7.1 million Series A
Total raised: $7.1 million
HQ: Venice, California
Tags: Enterprise, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, database
Source: Finovate

Direct Match
Trading venue for U.S. Treasuries
Latest round: $6 million Series A
Total raised: $9 million
HQ: New York City, New York
Tags: Investing, trading, enterprise, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

StartEngine
Equity crowdfunding platform
Latest round: $5.5 million
Total raised: $5.5 million
HQ: Santa Monica, California
Tags: SMB, equity crowdfunding, capital, investing, P2P
Source: FT Partners

KnCMiner
Bitcoin mining hardware
Latest round: $3 million
Total raised: $32 million
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, hardware, blockchain
Source: Crunchbase

Xfers
Asian payment gateway
Latest round: $2.5 million Seed
Total raised: $2.5 million
HQ: Singapore
Tags: Consumer, payments, remittances
Source: Crunchbase

Snapcart
Consumer receipt manager
Latest round: $1.68 million
Total raised: $1.68 million
HQ: Jakarta, Indonesia
Tags: Consumer, debit/credit cards, mobile, spending, PFM
Source: Crunchbase

CUneXus Solutions
Consumer lending software for financial institutions
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $1.65 million
HQ: Santa Rosa, California
Tags: Consumer, credit, lending, loans, underwriting, enterprise, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Deposit Solutions
Deposit software for financial institutions
Latest round: $1.0 million Series A
Total raised: $7.0 million
HQ: Hamburg, Germany
Tags: Consumer, Peter Thiel (investor)
Source: Crunchbase

Zebpay
Person-to-person lender
Latest round: $1 million Series A
Total raised: $1.1 million
HQ: Singapore
Tags: Consumer, payments, P2P, bitcoin, blockchain, cryptocurrency, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Toborrow
SMB P2P lender
Latest round: $350,000
Total raised: $2.74 million
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Tags: SMB, loans, credit, peer-to-peer, underwriting, crowdfunding, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Cuvva
Short-term automobile insurer
Latest round: $590,000
Total raised: $590,000
HQ: Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, insurance, automobile, mobile
Source: FT Partners

Nestiny
Homebuyer education website
Latest round: $350,000 Angel
Total raised: $350,000
HQ: Manakin Sabot, Virginia
Tags: Consumer, mortgage, real estate, home buying, agents, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

Buckit (StashLLC)
Consumer receipt manager
Latest round: $143,000 Seed
Total raised: $143,000
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tags: Consumer, debit/credit cards, mobile, spending, PFM
Source: Crunchbase

Agent Review
Insurance education and agent referrals
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Bellevue, Washington
Tags: Consumer, insurance, agents, lead gen
Source: FT Partners

Patientco
Healthcare payment technology
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: $3.75 million prior to latest round
HQ: Atlanta, Georgia
Tags: SMB, healthcare, payments
Source: FT Partners

Tiendo Pago
Short-term working capital provider
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Lima, Peru
Tags: SMB, lending, loans, commercial lending, underwriting, alt-lender, Accion (investor)
Source: FT Partners

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Union Bank & Trust Picks Prairie Cloudware’s Digital Payments Guardian to Power its Mobile Wallet

Union Bank & Trust Picks Prairie Cloudware’s Digital Payments Guardian to Power its Mobile Wallet
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Prairie Cloudware

PrairieCloudware_homepage_Jan2016

Union Bank & Trust (UBT), a $3.2 billion dollar bank, has chosen Digital Payments Guardian from fellow Nebraskan Prairie Cloudware to power UBT’s branded mobile wallet.

Alan Fosler, SVP at UBT, explained that using Digital Payments Guardian from Prairie Cloudware “will facilitate tokenization of payment and personal data” for customers using their debit cards via Android devices.

“As digital devices increasingly become the tool of choice for simplifying the complexities of life, we want to give our customers an easier, safer way to pay,” Fosler said.

PrairieCloudware_stage_FS2015

From left: Chief Revenue Officer Doug Parr and Chief Marketing Officer Mike Carter demonstrated Prairie Cloudware’s Digital Payments Guardian at FinovateSpring 2015.

Prairie Cloudware’s Chief Revenue Officer Doug Parr pointed to two factors that make his company’s technology a strong choice for FIs. First, Parr noted that “consumers have repeatedly indicated that they prefer to consume mobile payments via the existing relationships they have with their banks.” And second, the technology that delivers mobile payments cannot be a burden to either the user or the bank offering it. “Our Digital Payments Guardian allows regional organizations to deploy mobile payment services without needing a staff of thousands and an eight-figure technology budget,” Parr said.

UBT is not the only company that has adopted the technology in recent months. INTECH announced in October that it was licensing Digital Payments Guardian to provide to its credit union clients. In June, Prairie Cloudware announced a new round of funding.

Union Bank & Trust was founded in 1917 as the Farmer’s State Bank, changed its name to Union Bank in 1935, and added trust powers in 1959, becoming Union Bank & Trust Company. UBT is the third-largest, privately owned bank in Nebraska with assets of $3.2 billion.

Founded in December 2012 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Prairie Cloudware demonstrated its Digital Payments Guardian at FinovateSpring 2015.

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PayPal Taps into Bitcoin by Adding Wences Casares to Board

PayPal Taps into Bitcoin by Adding Wences Casares to Board
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bling Nation, PayPal

PayPalHomepage1.13

CasaresPayPal today announced it has selected Wences Casares, founder and CEO of bitcoin wallet Xapo, to its board of directors.

Casares will serve on PayPal’s Compensation Committee and is the ninth member of PayPal’s board.

Before founding Xapo, which released a bitcoin debit card last fall, Casares was head of Lemon mobile wallet (sold to LifeLock in 2013). He also founded Finovate alum Bling Nation, a mobile payment and merchant-rewards solution for the pre-smartphone era (if you’d like to see some retro fintech, check out Bling Nation’s FinovateFall 2010 demo). Though the startup gained traction with PayPal and a number of banks, Bling Nation closed its doors in 2011 after failing to land merchant partnerships.

PayPal debuted its Instant Account Creation at FinovateEurope 2012. PayPal’s Braintree presented at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 and will show off what’s new for developers at FinDEVr New York 2016 in March.

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FinDEVr APIntelligence

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinDEVr APIntelligence, Gem, PayPal, Quisk

FinDEVrNY16-V2(wdate)We’re taking our FinDEVr developer showcase to New York on 29/30 March 2016. Super Early Bird tickets are on sale through this Friday, 15 January, so register today and save.

The latest news from FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 presenters

  • Network International plans UAE deployment of cashless, cardless payment technology developed by Quisk.
  • Gem raises $7 million in Series A.

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

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Finovate Debuts: Finanteq Helps Innovative Banks Succeed in Mobile with SuperWallet

Finovate Debuts: Finanteq Helps Innovative Banks Succeed in Mobile with SuperWallet
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Finanteq, Finovate Debuts

most Finanteq_homepage_Nov2015

Can you imagine spending as much time with your banking app as you do with Facebook or Twitter?

Not only can FINANTEQ imagine it, but with its new banking app, SuperWallet, the Polish spinoff from eLeader is doing everything it can to make it happen across Europe and, soon, across America.

FINANTEQ’s goal is to move banks from the end of the value chain to the front. “Right now the bank is just an icon on a credit slip,” said FINANTEQ customer adviser, Kate Miroslaw. FINANTEQ’s SuperWallet reverses this deficiency by combining mobile banking, payments, and m-commerce all in one mobile banking app. Rather than being an afterthought, the mobile banking app suddenly is at the center of attention when it comes to paying bills, booking a flight, or ordering concert tickets.

Finanteq_stage_FF2015

From left: Finanteq m-Commerce Operations Manager Tomasz Perski; Customer Adviser Kate Miroslaw; and Marketing Manager Artur Malek demonstrated SuperWallet at FinovateFall 2015.

“Would people love the Starbucks app so much if it were just about payments?” asks Artur Malek, marketing manager for FINANTEQ. His point is that by allowing customers to do things like order ahead, the app transforms the consumer experience for the better. “This is the added value beyond payments,” Malek says. “And this is exactly what we do.”

Company facts:

  • Founded in September 2014 as a spinoff from eLeader
  • Headquartered in Lublin, Poland
  • Employs 100 professionals in Poland and the United States.

Finanteq_screen_1How it works

The way FINANTEQ sees it, banks theoretically have many ways to build relationships with their customers. But the actual interactions between banks and customers often don’t live up to these opportunities. “Selling to customers doesn’t happen very often,” Malek points out. And while payments are frequent, banks are often bystanders to the transaction, and besides, the payment space is increasingly being infiltrated by non-bank actors such as Apple and Samsung.

FINANTEQ’s solution is simple: combine e-commerce, banking, and payments in one app provided by the bank. In their demonstration of SuperWallet, the team from FINANTEQ walked through a wide variety of scenarios: checking account balance, booking a hotel, paying for parking remotely, buying concert tickets, hiring an Uber car, ordering groceries or takeout … all without leaving the app.

This means consumers don’t have to install numerous apps and, more importantly, don’t have to share data with scores of merchants. The bank safeguards the sensitive data transmitting only what is required for a transaction.

Finanteq_art_4“Payment is made using data in the app, delivery address and other details of the transaction,” says Tomasz Perski, e-commerce operations manager. “There are many shops inside the app, but once authorized, there is no need for login or password. The services and shops available are chosen by the bank (bank partners) or by Finanteq, and the app can also feature offers and discounts.”

The future

Superwallet has been available in Eastern Europe since 2014 courtesy of early client Santander Group. And two new banks in Poland are expected to come online with the technology in early 2016. FINANTEQ is currently building out its U.S. team in anticipation of entering the U.S. market. Malek says the company is building relationships with merchants, especially aggregators. He mentioned that FINANTEQ now offers bus-ticket purchases in more than 130 cities.

Called one of the most innovative mobile banking apps by Forrester Research, Superwallet also won the Citi Mobile Challenge in April 2015 in Warsaw by taking top honors in the digital wallet category.

Currently, FINANTEQ has good traction in the CEE region. Its clients are some of the biggest and most innovative banks in countries like Poland, including Finovate alum, mBank, which is also a client.

Check out this video of FINANTEQ’s FinovateFall 2015 demonstration.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alpha Payments Cloud, App Annie, D3 Banking, Finanteq, Fiserv, Hip Money, Markit, Prairie Cloudware, Quisk, Ripple

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: FINANTEQ Helps Innovative Banks Succeed in Mobile with SuperWallet”
  • Check out this week’s “FinDEVr APIntelligence”
  • “Union Bank & Trust Picks Prairie Cloudware’s Digital Payments Guardian to Power its Mobile Wallet”

Around the web

  • Iberiabank to deploy retail and SME platform from D3 Banking.
  • New savings app, Hip Money, featured in new video.
  • Fiserv and Alpha Payments Cloud team up to bring easier, faster payment processing to Australia.
  • Markit to begin using Amazon web services.
  • Earthport launches distributed ledger hub with single API access to Ripple.
  • Network International plans UAE deployment of cashless, cardless payment technology developed by Quisk.
  • TechCrunch: “App Annie Adds Support for Apple TV Apps, Including a ‘Top Charts’ Section”

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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A New Year, a New (York) FinDEVr: New Presenters and New Savings!

A New Year, a New (York) FinDEVr: New Presenters and New Savings!
By Heather Stowell Posted on
Categories: FinDEVr 2016 New York

Presentation - Laptop Feed 2 copy

The New Year is off to an exciting start! FinDEVr New York, our first East Coast event for technologists, is only three months away and half the presenter roster is full. We’ve just added more than 10 new presenting companies to an already impressive list. And on 29/30 March, these companies will showcase their latest tools, technologies, APIs, platforms, case studies and tutorials for creating the next wave of fintech innovations in 15-minute, TED-style presentations.

For this East Coast expansion, we’re projecting an audience of more than 600 CTOs, developers, software architects, UX designers, VPs of engineering, product managers and other technologists. We hope you’re one of them! With ticket prices at their lowest early bird rates, now is the time to register. Super early bird tickets are on sale through this Friday, 15 January.

Below is a list of the presenting companies so far (minus stealth companies), and we’ll announce the full roster closer to the event:

Interested in following news from these companies, along with last year’s presenting companies? Follow FinDEVr on Twitter and keep an eye out for our weekly FinDEVr APIntelligence blog posted every Wednesday.

FinDEVr New York 2016 is partnered with Bank Innovators Council, BankersHub, The BayPay Forum, Bitcoin Magazine, bobsguide, Byte Academy, Celent, Mercator Advisory Group, Payments & Cards Network, and Women Who Code.

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Innofis

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Innofis
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek, Innofis

InnoFISHomepage

FEU2016_logo_withdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

Innofis is a fully digital banking platform which combines knowledge of customer behavior and context with predictive analytics and machine learning to provide highly personalized information and services.

Features of the platform:

  • Leverage digital banking platforms to build personal customer relationships
  • Delight customers with information and offers that are relevant for them
  • Monitor results and activity in real-time

Why it’s great

Innofis’s product solves the problem of banks risking the loss of digital customers by improving transaction-based digital banking platforms, with relationship-driven solutions.

InnofisPresenter1Presenters

David Moreno, CEO
Moreno has a successful career of 20+ years in the financial services industry. He founded Innofis in 2012 to realize his vision for banking innovation.
LinkedIn

David Falk, CMOInnofisPresenter2
Falk is an international marketing and sales professional with 20+ years of experience. At Innofis he is in charge of managing the growing global demand for its solutions.
LinkedIn

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BBVA Compass to Leverage BlackRock-owned FutureAdvisor

BBVA Compass to Leverage BlackRock-owned FutureAdvisor
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FutureAdvisor

FutureAdvisorHomepage1.12.16

Retirement and college savings robo-advisor, FutureAdvisor, announced its first major bank partner today.

The San Francisco-based company has partnered with BBVA Compass which will use FutureAdvisor to power a digital investment service for its clients.

The announcement comes five months after investment manager BlackRock acquired FutureAdvisor for an undisclosed amount, prompting the robo-advisor to change its customer-acquisition strategy from direct-to-consumer to business-to-business.

BBVA hopes the partnership will help it engage with millennial customers who aren’t currently using its investment services and are seeking a digital experience. As BBVA Compass Chairman and CEO Manolo Sánchez says, “The ultimate goal here is to help our clients take greater control of their finances so they can build bright futures.”

screenshot_ipad_retirement

BBVA clients, who will gain access to FutureAdvisor’s services later this year, can either link their external investment accounts and receive a customized investment plan, or they can opt for a managed portfolio in which assets are held through the bank’s broker-dealer affiliate, BBVA Compass Investment Solutions.

FutureAdvisor is not the first Finovate alum with which BBVA has formed ties. The bank, which has 672 branches across the U.S., acquired Simple in 2014, and partnered with Dwolla in the spring of 2015 to leverage the startup’s FiSync for real-time transfers.

Since launching its service in 2013, FutureAdvisor has managed more than $700 million in client investments. The company received the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer award in 2015, and Euromoney’s Best American Wealth Management Innovator award in 2014.

FutureAdvisor CEO Bo Lu debuted its premium offering at FinovateFall 2013 in New York.

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Invesco Acquires Jemstep for Undisclosed Sum

Invesco Acquires Jemstep for Undisclosed Sum
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Jemstep

Jemstep_homepage_Jan2016

Global investment management firm, Invesco, has acquired Jemstep, a startup that provides digital financial planning resources for professional advisers. Terms of the purchase were not immediately available.

“We believe investors are best served by partnering with a financial adviser to reach their unique investment goals,” says Martin L. Flanagan, Invessco CEO and president. “Jemstep’s proven platform enhances our ability to help advisers grow their business and … deliver superior client experiences in a rapidly evolving market environment.”

Jemstep_FS2013_stage

From left: Jemstep CEO Kevin Cimring and CTO Matthew Rennie demonstrated Jemstep Portfolio Manager at FinovateSpring 2013.

Jemstep is an online investment adviser that specializes in providing personalized advice to help people meet their financial and retirement goals. The company’s Portfolio Manager solution predicts how much money a given investment portfolio is likely to provide in retirement, and suggests alternative investment strategies that may yield even greater returns, including an action plan that specifies exactly what to buy and what to sell in all of their accounts, including 401(k) accounts. Lastly, the platform provides continuous monitoring and alerts to help investors, financial planners, and advisers stay on track.

Jemstep was highlighted in June 2015 by Let’s Talk Payments as one of those companies “pushing the envelope” in payment analytics. The same month, ThinkAdvisor looked at Jemstep in a column on the evolution of financial advisers. In May, Fox Financial Planning Network announced that it would use Jemstep’s Advisor Pro as the automated service platform for its AdvisorTouch Symphony program. And in April 2015, Jemstep partnered with Orion Advisor Services to bring automation to independent advisers on Orion’s platform.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Palo Alto, Jemstep demonstrated its Portfolio Manager at FinovateSpring 2013. Kevin Cimring and Michael Blumenthal are joint CEOs.

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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: EyeVerify

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: EyeVerify
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: EyeVerify, FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek

EyeVerifyHomepageFEU2016_logo_withdateA look at the companies demoing live to 1,500 fintech professionals. Register today.

Unlock every opportunity with Eyeprint ID™ created by EyeVerify. One look opens mobile devices, logs you into apps and secures your mobile payments.

Features:

  • Convenient—authentication takes less than a second
  • Secure—more than 99.99% accurate
  • Private—biometric never leaves your device

Why it’s great
EyeVerify is convenient, secure and private.

EyeVerifyPresenterPresenter

Toby Rush, CEO
As founder and CEO of two mobile ventures, Rush’s expertise in imaging, sensors and mobility gives him early insight into trends and technologies that affect consumers and the enterprise.
LinkedIn

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