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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Persado

By David Penn Posted on January 14, 2016
Categories: FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek, Persado

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

Persado’s machine-learning platform generates the most effective language for communications designed to drive action.

Features

Emotionally engaging content at every lifecycle touchpoint
World’s largest database of scored and tagged marketing language
Data-driven technology that eliminates the guesswork from creativity

Why it’s great
Persado customers are seeing, on average, a 75% response lift across web, email, display, and social.

Presenter

Lawrence Whittle, Chief Revenue Officer

Whittle is the Chief Revenue Officer of Persado. He is responsible for driving the overall sales, the go-to-market strategy and execution, as well as developing its network of eco-system partners.
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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Lendstar

By David Penn Posted on January 14, 2016
Categories: FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek, Lendstar

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

Germany’s Lendstar is a mobile app that allows users to source, share, and send money, combined with a link to their existing bank account.

Features

Allow immediate money transactions, no hassle to chase your spendings
Enable one or many transactions
Help to organize all private financial transactions

Why it’s great
Collect money, divide bills, and transfer funds directly from your bank account? Go for Lendstar!

Presenters

Christopher Kampshoff, CEO

Kampshoff is the creative lead behind the Lendstar concept, being responsible for business development, finances and marketing. He has also several years of experience in the finance sector.
LinkedIn

Johannes Schubert, Head of Product Development

Schubert is a FinTech solution enthusiast and is keen to change the way we all deal with transferring money. He turns boring transactions into a fun way of exchanging money between friends.
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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Qumram

By David Penn Posted on January 14, 2016
Categories: FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek, Qumram

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

Based in Zurich, Switzerland, Qumram provides software to record user sessions on web, social, and mobile to ensure regulatory compliance (i.e., MiFID II) and prevent fraud.

Features

Enable communication and transactions via social media for real customer centricity
Ensure compliance with Qumram session recording
Prevent fraud by identifying erratic behaviors

Why it’s great
The #1 solution for compliant, customer-centric banks, Qumram empowers banks such as UBS to engage and transact on all digital channels in a compliant manner.

Presenters

Simon Scheurer, Co-Founder & CTO

Scheurer is an experienced CTO, strategic technology advisor, and entrepreneur. As a “magician” with masters degrees in mathematics and physics, he loves solving technical challenges.
LinkedIn

Mathias Wegmueller, Co-Founder & Business Development

Wegmueller is an experience team leader, advisor for digital transformation strategies and projects. He is a seasoned consultant, entrepreneur, and board member.
LinkedIn

Patrick Barnert, CEO

Barnert is a visionary business leader as global entrepreneur and manager. He was senior vice president at OpenText, responsible for $800m revenue.
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FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: CREALOGIX

By David Penn Posted on January 14, 2016
Categories: CREALOGIX, FinovateEurope 2016, FinovateEurope 2016 Sneak Peek

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

Swiss innovator CREALOGIX presents its Digital Banking Hub, the pivotal point of digital transformation in banking. The basic idea is openness via targeted use of APIs toward third-party applications for seamless offerings.

Features

An all-in-one, personalized, seamless, secure banking experience for the client
A digital banking delivery platform that lets banks upgrade their digital services quickly and flexibly

Why it’s great
The use of the established and comprehensive API-layer of the Digital Banking Hub by CREALOGIX helps banks quickly transform their digital business to stay future-ready.

Presenters

Geraldine Critchley, Head of Product Marketing

Following the convergence of the digital business with banking technology for years, Critchley has been shaping product strategy and international branding for CREALOGIX.
LinkedIn

Antony Bream, U.K. Managing Director

Bream is an internationally experienced U.K. managing and sales director specializing in the marketing, business development, and selling of digital financial services solutions, both in-house and SaaS.
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Finovate Debuts: Authy’s Password Alternative

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 14, 2016
Categories: Authy, Finovate Debuts, Twilio

The question isn’t whether the password’s dead, but rather, is it enough.

Authy Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) offers a scalable secondary authentication method that provides protection beyond the basic user name plus password. Only 36% of financial websites use a secondary authentication method. Authy seeks to improve that by offering an intuitive user experience that removes login friction while adding security.

Stats

11,000+ applications protected
2 million+ end users served
Available globally
~10 million customers between Authy and Twilio combined
Access to Twilio’s developer ecosystem of 700k

Products

The company, owned by Twilio, offers three products:

Authy OneCode sends a one-time verification code via SMS or automated voice call (illustrated far left)
Authy SoftToken is an app that runs on any device and generates a one-time code (illustrated far right)
Authy OneTouch allows the user to approve or deny the authentication with a yes/no response (illustrated middle)

Authy OneTouch is the easiest to use since it requires only the push of a yes button rather than entering a code.

OneTouch has a variety of use cases, including:

Account login
Large-value transaction validation
Multi-approval solution:
- Escrow model (both parties need to approve)
- Sequential approval (manager’s manager’s manager approval)
- Primary user approval (parent approval of child’s request)

Authy OneTouch example

Here’s how Authy OneTouch works to authenticate a high-value money transfer:

Sender enters the amount to transfer, in this case $5,300
Authy sends an approval request to the sender (pictured right) as well as to the recipient. The approval screen notes the institution, transaction amount, account number, and a request for the user to confirm or deny the transaction.
If both parties accept, funds are transferred

For new or stolen devices, Authy offers the ability to add or replace devices to a trusted circle. This prevents fraudsters from confirming transactions using a stolen phone.

Twilio acquisition

Before it was acquired by messaging API provider Twilio in February 2015, Authy was a Twilio customer.

To preserve Authy’s product after the acquisition, Twilio incorporated Authy’s offerings into its developer portal to complement its own products. As Twilio’s founder and CEO Jeff Lawson states, “This isn’t a typical acquisition where the Authy team members will be absorbed into the borg and the product slowly forgotten. Nope. Just the opposite – we love the Authy product and are investing massively in expanding its footprint with developers of all kinds.”

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

At its live demo at FinovateFall 2015, Authy was new to the Finovate stage but the technology was not. Alums Coinbase, Knox, Loyal3, and LendUp are all Authy customers. Dan Killmer (Lead Solutions Architect), Marc Boroditsky (VP and General Manager), and John Lindsay (CEO, Bitwage) debuted Authy OneTouch at FinovateFall 2015 in New York:

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Bank-Distributed Content You Might Actually Use from Umpqua, Arvest

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 14, 2016
Categories: Chase Bank, Marketing, Umpqua Bank

Discussing bank and credit union blogs seems so last decade. While the hype has certainly died, so-called content marketing is still an effective strategy if done right (remember, less is more).

Just look at Chase Bank’s site, which went through its last major remodel less than a year ago. Once you scroll down the page (below the fold on most laptops), it’s almost entirely general personal-finance content. The section called News & Stories shows 9 to 12 articles initially, or 40 if you click on “more” at the bottom. They run the gamut of what you might see around the Web with catchy titles such “5 Food Trends to Watch in 2016” or “Three Perfect Days in the Greek Isles.”

Chase has more data scientists and Ph.D.s at their disposal than NASA, and if the bank chooses to devote more than half its homepage to content marketing, you can bet they are seeing engagement, if not yet a measurable sales lift. (While I thought they went too far, cluttering their homepage, I yield to the data).

However, the problem with most corporate-written “content” (not to pick on Chase) is that most of it – from any large organization that’s not a media company – is almost always super boring. Content-by-committee is just too watered down to be compelling to readers, who see hundreds, if not thousands, of more intriguing links and articles every week in Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, NY Times or the other big media outlets.

The best FI-sponsored content sticks to local subjects that aren’t widely available in large media outlets. There are few financial institutions that have stuck to blogging over the long haul, but one that stands out is Arvest Bank. I’ve subscribed to its blog feed for many years, and I’ve found their content to be continually excellent. I’m not in their geographic footprint, so I don’t personally benefit from their insights. But as an outside observer, I think they provide a good mix of local interest material, personal as well as small biz financial advice, and simple updates on their products or holiday hours.

The four most recent posts show up in a feed on their homepage (lower left below):

Clicking through to an article brings you to their main blog page, which divides the topics into four logical categories: Community News, Arvest News, Business Banking, and Personal Finance (see below):

But blogs and traditional articles are a tough sell, especially to younger customers accustomed to getting info from YouTube, Facebook, SnapChat, and Instagram. That’s why I love the podcasts from Umpqua Bank. They have outsourced the work to a pro SuChin Pak, who interviews interesting people about money subjects (six episodes are archived on Soundcloud). The bank features the podcasts on their homepage (see main image below). The bank also posts some traditional press release news items near the bottom of the homepage (see below):

——–
Note:
I can’t write about content market without a shout-out to Tim McAlpine and the team at Currency Marketing who do some of the best work on the planet, for example, the Young & Free campaign aimed at 25-and-unders and its newest effort, That Money Thing.

——-
Top-right image licensed from 123rf.com

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Taulia Raises $46 Millon in Series E; Names New CFO

By David Penn Posted on January 14, 2016
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Taulia

In a round led by Zouk Capital, financial supply-chain specialist Taulia has raised $46 million in new funding.

A number of unnamed, new strategic and institutional investors participated in the round, as well as all of Taulia’s existing institutional investors. The new infusion of capital takes the company’s total to more than $130 million.

Taulia CEO Cedric Bru said the investment would help “further accelerate (Taulia’s) rapid expansion,” and praised the “global experience” of his company’s investors. “We are in the best position to fuel the next stage of Taulia’s explosive growth,” he said.

Pictured (left to right): Taulia Director of European Marketing Matthew Stammers and Director of European Solutions Consulting Christophe Juvanon demonstrating Taulia Enhanced Discounting at FinovateEurope 2015.

Zouk Capital CEO Samer Salty praised Taulia’s ability to “streamline and strengthen” the financial supply chain. Salty called the company a “clear match” with his firm’s strategy of “backing high-growth companies that use technology to create efficiency.”

Taulia uses advanced e-invoicing, supplier management, and supplier financing to help connect companies like Coca-Cola Bottling, Hallmark, John Deere, and other Fortune 500 firms to their suppliers. Since inception, Taulia has processed more than $150 billion in transactions for 700,000 suppliers in more than 100 countries.

Recent headlines for the company include its partnership with KPMG, announced in December, and joining the OFS Portal community in November. In July, Taulia earned a spot in CIO Review’s 20 Most Promising Procurement Solution Providers for 2015.

Taulia also announced today that John Varughese had joined the company as its new Chief Financial Officer. Formerly of Perella Weinberg Partners, Varughese will be responsible for all finance, legal, and human resource operations at Taulia. Bru, who joined Taulia as CEO last April, praised Varughese’s “strategic leadership and significant entrepreneurial experience.”

“(Varughese) helped some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley succeed,” Bru added, “and we can’t wait to put his skills to work as an integral part of our leadership team.”

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in San Francisco, Taulia demonstrated Taulia Enhanced Discounting (TED) at FinovateEurope 2015. The company also has offices in London, Dusseldorf, and Sofia.

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App Annie Reels in $63 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 14, 2016
Categories: App Annie, Funding

App analytics, market data, and insights company, App Annie, closed on $63 million in debt and equity funding today.

The Series E round, consisting of “mostly equity,” was led by Greenspring Associates. Previous investors e.Ventures, Greycroft Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital contributed to the equity, while Silicon Valley Bank furnished the debt.

This is the company’s sixth and largest round of funding, which now totals $157 million. The funds will be used to improve and expand upon the company’s products, as well as scale its business operations.

App Annie also announced that Netsuite CEO Zach Nelson has joined its board of directors. This follows the company’s recent hiring spree of C-level execs, including Chief Financial Officer Mark Vranesh and Chief Revenue Officer Ted Krantz.

According to TechCrunch’s interview with App Annie CEO Bertrand Schmitt, the company is open to acquisitions in 2016, adding to its acquisitions of Mobidia and Distimo in 2015. Additionally, Schmitt made it clear that App Annie will not file for an IPO in 2016.

App Annie has 425 employees across 15 offices around the globe. The San Francisco-based company has 500,000 members, hundreds of which pay a yearly subscription fee, averaging $80,000, for advanced services. App Annie was recently recognized by Deloitte for its 54X revenue growth between 2011 and 2014.

The company demoed at FinovateAsia 2013 in Singapore.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on January 14, 2016
Categories: App Annie, Authy, Avoka, CREALOGIX, DriveWealth, Fiserv, Insuritas, Lendstar, PayPal, Persado, Qumram, Taulia, Temenos, Wealthfront

On Finovate.com

“App Annie Reels in $63 Million”

“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”

Take a look at the latest Sneak Peeks for FinovateEurope 2016:
- Avoka
- CREALOGIX
- Lendstar
- Persado
- Qumram

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 January 13, 2016
Categories: Funding

HappyNewYear_Money The 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:

Gem, which pulled in $7.1 million to advance its blockchain efforts
CUneXus, which added $1 million for its loan origination platform

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

By David Penn Posted on January 13, 2016
Categories: Prairie Cloudware

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.

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

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 13, 2016
Categories: Bling Nation, PayPal

PayPal 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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——- Top-right image licensed from 123rf.com

Pictured (left to right): Taulia Director of European Marketing Matthew Stammers and Director of European Solutions Consulting Christophe Juvanon demonstrating Taulia Enhanced Discounting at FinovateEurope 2015.

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

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Top-right image licensed from 123rf.com