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CoverHound Launches Insurance for Small Businesses

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 22, 2016
Categories: CoverHound

Online insurance marketplace CoverHound expanded its offerings today. In addition to offering insight into auto, homeowners, and renters insurance, customers now can use CoverHound to find insurance for their small business.

The new business suite allows users to compare rates of custom commercial coverage. Currently, the insurance offerings are targeted toward businesses with fewer than 20 employees, but the company has plans to expand to cover larger companies. At launch, carriers include:

Chubb Liberty Mutual Berkshire Hathaway Direct Hiscox Progressive Employers

More carriers will be available in the future. To get a quote, customers start by answering questions on the company's web or mobile interface. Then they are connected by phone to a licensed insurance adviser to match them with the right coverage, including:

General liability Professional liability Business owners policy Commercial auto Cyber insurance

"Having once been a startup ourselves, CoverHound understands the growing pains of a small…

Avalara Raises $96 Million in New Funding

By David Penn Posted on September 22, 2016
Categories: Avalara

We're busy working on next month's FinDEVr Silicon Valley developer's conference (tickets still available), so we were thrilled to hear news of a major investment in Avalara, one of our FinDEVr alums from last year's event.

Avalara, an innovator in automated tax management for small businesses, raised $96 million in new funding from a group of investors including Warburg Pincus, Sageview Capital, and Technology Crossover Ventures this week. Moreover, the company hinted it may be considering an initial public offering in the near future.

Quoted in GeekWire, company CEO Scott McFarlane called the possible IPO a "terrific outcome for Avalara someday if all the cards came together." Avalara will use $50 million of this week's investment to support acquisitions and growth—particularly its Compliance Cloud platform. The balance will be used to buy back shares from the company's early investors. "This financing offers some long-term individual shareholders a…

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on September 22, 2016
Categories: Avalara, Cachet Financial Solutions, CoverHound, Dwolla, eSignLive, Expensify, Hedgeable, Kony, Lleida.net, Marqeta, Modo Payments, WePay

On Finovate.com

CoverHound Launches Insurance for Small Businesses Check out today's FinDEVr presentation previews: Marqeta Lleida.net Modo Avalara Raises $96 Million in New Funding

Around the web

Dwolla to power same day ACH transfers with new API. Let's Talk Payments interviews Tommy Petrogiannis, eSignLive CEO. WePay chooses Workflow Manager from Sphonic to help meet KYC and KYB requirements. PYMNTS.com profiles Hedgeable. Kony Wins First Place Honors for 2016 CTIA Emerging Tech Awards. Expensify launches Concierge, and AI virtual assistant. Cachet Financial Solutions to Deploy Select Mobile Deposit Solution for Mobile-Only Bank Varo Money.

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.

Lleida.net Calls New Patent a Turning Point

By David Penn Posted on September 21, 2016
Categories: Lleida.net

The fastest way to gain a man's affections, goes the old saying, is through his stomach. Spanish certification and consulting specialist Lleida.net is hoping the fastest way to win the affections of U.S. businesses is through the U.S. Patent Office.

FinDEVr alum Lleida.net (FDSV15) announced last week that it won a key patent for its registered email solution. The patent gives Lleida.net a 20-year lock on the technology and is the cornerstone of the company's strategy for competing in the U.S. market. Lleida.net CEO Sisco Sapena said that the granting of the patent was a testament to "the effort Lleida.net's team has made in recent years in developing registered electronic notification services and solutions."

An innovator in the field of electronic communication registration and data validation, Lleida.net serves both public and private companies with registered email, invoices, SMS, and electronic contracts, as well as validation for IDs, passports,…

OurCrowd Pulls in $72 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 21, 2016
Categories: Funding, OurCrowd

OurCrowd, an equity crowdfunding platform that boasts a network of 15,000 investors to fund U.S. and Israeli startups, raised $72 million. Financial institutions, family offices, and private investors from five continents participated in the Series C round, though most of the investors remain unnamed.

Singapore bank UOB Group, however, has come out as a strategic investor to help OurCrowd expand globally beyond the U.S. and Israel. Janet Young, managing director of group channels and digitalization at UOB Group, said, "We look forward to working closely with OurCrowd to further develop their platform to support the startup ecosystem both in Singapore and the broader Asian market. Our investment into this Series C funding for OurCrowd reinforces our commitment to support startups and small businesses.”

According to OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved, the company will use half of the funds to fuel global expansion and build out the product. The other half…

Tactics: Helping Students and Other First-Time Renters

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 21, 2016
Categories: Loans & Credit, Youth market

Looking to provide real value to younger customers, especially the children of your core deposit base? Help them get started in the rental game. I have five family members who have recently rented in the Seattle and Los Angeles metro areas, and it's a brutal seller's market for apartments. Landlords are picky and require financial assurances similar to, or even more stringent, than a mortgage (pre-2008 anyway).

For example, as a co-signer on my son's lease, I was asked to provide two years of tax returns despite the fact that he has a good job lined up (albeit not until after graduating in May) and sufficient current resources to pay the monthly tab. And then there's the initial cash outlay (in his case, $4,000 in certified checks). All this is quite daunting for new renters or anyone looking to make a move.

Where financial problems exist, banks and credit…

Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on September 21, 2016
Categories: EVRY, Featurespace, Fiserv, Guardian Analytics, IBM, Insuritas, Lendio, Lleida.net, OurCrowd, Prosper, SuiteBox, TIO Networks

On Finovate.com

OurCrowd Pulls in $72 Million. Lleida.net Calls New Patent a Turning Point.

Around the web

EVRY launches cloud services with global capacity and secure data storage in Norway. IBM to provide new real-time payments systems for The Clearing House. Prosper Marketplace reports its 2016 portfolio is on pace for its highest estimated return since 2013. Fiserv rings opening bell on Nasdaq to celebrate 30 years on the exchange. Chubb and Nationwide launch several core products on the Insuritas SmartCART platform. Lendio partners with Supplier Success to offer working capital to its clients. Oracle names SuiteBox among platform innovation winners. TIO Networks makes Canada's 2016 PROFIT 500 list with five-year revenue growth of 125%. Guardian Analytics partners with The Pathfinder Group to streamline real-time wire-fraud prevention for wire-transfer system customers. BBC article names Featurespace one of the notable tech companies headquartered in the city.

This post will be updated…

FinDEVr Preview: DefenseStorm

By David Penn Posted on September 20, 2016
Categories: DefenseStorm, FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley, FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley Preview

FinDEVr Previews highlight companies presenting new developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016, October 18 & 19. Early-bird savings end Friday, so pick up your ticket today to save your spot.

While cloud adoption of business-productivity applications like Office 365 and AWS has accelerated, so too has the risk factor tied to these types of applications. DefenseStorm will discuss what to monitor and best practices for securing the cloud in the fintech space.

Why it's a must-see

Securely configuring your cloud environment is the first thing to do when deploying to the cloud, but it's not the last. Continuous monitoring of your cloud infrastructure for security events is just as critical, but it does come with its own challenges. Learn best practices that will ensure your cloud infrastructure is truly secure.

Check out more of today's FinDEVr previews:

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FinDEVr Preview: AutoGravity

By David Penn Posted on September 20, 2016
Categories: AutoGravity, FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley, FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley Preview

AutoGravity will present its implementation of a modern, distributed Spring Cloud micro-services architecture that powers several elegant consumer front ends (web, iOS, Android). AutoGravity's powerful and flexible backend integrates various data sources and partners within a proprietary data-secure framework.

Why it's a must-see

AutoGravity took current software-design trends and applied them to bridge the worlds of legacy-rich banking systems with state-of-the-art, beautiful mobile applications. AutoGravity's proprietary, data-security framework by far exceeds current security standards for the industry.

Check out more of today's FinDEVr previews:

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FinDEVr Preview: Expensify

By David Penn Posted on September 20, 2016
Categories: Expensify, FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley, FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley Preview

CEO David Barrett will discuss how Bedrock became the infrastructure backbone of Expensify's explosive growth, and how Bedrock can be used to scale your company.

Why it's a must-see

Expensify will be introducing its open-source project built for developers to strengthen and enhance your developer's toolbox for data storage, caching, and job management, and illustrate how it can be used to help scale your company.

Check out more of today's FinDEVr previews:

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FinDEVr Preview: Wootrader

By David Penn Posted on September 20, 2016
Categories: FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley, FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley Preview, Wootrader

FinDEVr Previews highlight companies presenting new developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016, October 18 & 19. Early-bird savings end Friday, so pick up your ticket today to save your spot.

Wootrader will introduce its new configurable stock market dashboard platform, FinanceBoards, and explain how anyone, from first-time investors to financial institutions, can benefit from the ability to access—in one place, on their own configurable dashboards—a wealth of classic, as well as new, financial data.

Why it's a must-see

The fintech industry is split between institutional systems with many decades of in-depth data and innovative, laser-focused startups with unique datasets. FinanceBoards builds a bridge to integrate any custom API from company financials, technical charts and indicators to website SEO metrics, Facebook "likes" and Appstore downloads and ratings.

Check out more of today's FinDEVr previews:

AutoGravity DefenseStorm Expensify Hyperwallet 1787fp

FinDEVr Preview: Hyperwallet

By David Penn Posted on September 20, 2016
Categories: FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley, FinDEVr 2016 Silicon Valley Preview, Hyperwallet

FinDEVr Previews highlight companies presenting new developer tools, platforms, and integrations at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2016, October 18 & 19. Early-bird savings end Friday, so pick up your ticket today and save your spot.

With Hyperwallet, see how some simple code can make it easier to pay your independent contractors, suppliers, and resellers almost anywhere in the world. Learn how RESTful payout APIs can ensure a frictionless end-user experience, secure connections to a scalable global financial network, and direct payouts through payee-directed optionality.

Why it's a must-see

A must-attend for developers tasked with solving payment issues within their marketplace or on-demand economy platform, this presentation of Hyperwallet's developer toolkit (global payout REST APIs, SDKs, JavaScript widgets and web hooks) will demonstrate how attendees can integrate worldwide payout functionality into their platform in 10 minutes or less.

Check out more of today's FinDEVr Previews:

AutoGravity Expensify Wootrader DefenseStorm 1787fp