Credit Karma Thinks Mobile with Snowball Acquisition

Credit Karma Thinks Mobile with Snowball Acquisition
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Credit Karma

CreditKarma_homepage_Jan2016

“Snowball” isn’t just a strategy for repaying debt. It’s also the name of the first acquisition by personal finance and credit management platform, Credit Karma.

“We have tens of thousands of data points on a particular customer at any time,” Credit Karma CTO Ryan Graciano told TechCrunch last week. “But sorting through all that … is a very tricky thing to do, especially in a way where you’re not overwhelming the user with spurious notifications.”

And that’s where Snowball comes in. The app was developed in 2014 to aggregate multiple Android-based messaging apps. Credit Karma plans to use the technology to deliver actionable mobile notifications, and they like the fact that the platform is native to Android. “Android is a key platform for us,” Graciano said. “And these guys have a really amazing experience on Android.”

CreditKarma_stage_FS2009

From left: Credit Karma CEO Ken Lin, founder, and VP Nichole Mustard, business development, demonstrated Credit Karma’s Debt Manager platform at FinovateSpring 2009.

Five members of Snowball’s six-person team will join Credit Karma, including Snowball CEO Anish Acharya who will serve as senior director for product management. Snowball had raised $2.3 million in funding from investors including Felicis Ventures, First Round Capital and Greylock Partners.

Founded in July 2007 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Credit Karma specializes in providing credit management information, including free credit monitoring, credit scores, reports, and email alerts. The company has raised more than $368 million in financing, including its most recent $175 million Series D round in June 2015 . Credit Karma was named to Fast Company’s 2015 Silicon Valley “Nice” list, and was recognized by Glassdoor as one of the “Best Places to Work in 2016” in December, the same month the company joined 19 fellow Finovate alums on the first Forbes Fintech 50. In November 2015, Credit Karma celebrated giving away its billionth free credit score since launching in 2008.

Credit Karma demonstrated its Debt Manager platform at FinovateSpring 2009.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: CBW Bank, Credit Karma, Fiserv, Global Debt Registry, Radius, Urban FT, WealthForge, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • “Credit Karma Thinks Mobile with Snowball Acquisition“
  • “Finovate Debuts: Urban FT Brings a Social PFM to Prepaid Cardholders”

Around the web

  • Let’s Talk Payments features several Finovate alums in its look at fintech in Europe. Remember FinovateEurope 2016 is just over one month away.
  • American Banker highlights Global Debt Registry in a review of companies tackling the problem of debt collection.
  • WealthForge publishes its 2015 Year in Review in infographic form.
  • American Banker recognizes CBW Bank’s Suresh Ramamurthi as Innovator of the Year.
  • Suffolk Bancorp in N.Y. Names Fiserv Core Processor (paywall).
  • Zopa reviews 2015 stats and discloses 2016 plans.

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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Happy New Year! Webster Bank Jumpstarts Financial Resolutions

Happy New Year! Webster Bank Jumpstarts Financial Resolutions
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Holiday promotions, Webster Bank

newyearbanner_SFFCUWhile I have taken banks and credit unions to task for basically ignoring the December holiday period, the real missed opportunity is not Christmas, but New Years. The annual calendar reboot is the time when people are most likely to be thinking about their long-term finances.

Three years ago, I found only one example of a new year’s message among the largest 80 banks and credit unions. This year I looked at a few dozen websites more or less at random and again found just a single “look at your finances” message. Webster Bank not only showcased a page-dominating “financial checkup” spot, but also incorporated the message into their main pull-down (mouseover) “Bank” navigation (see first screenshot below).

The promotion is designed to get Webster customers into the branch, or on the phone, for a financial checkup. The service appears to be free of charge, although the bank doesn’t reveal specifics. Customers are asked to complete a contact-me form (see second screenshot below) with just a single qualifying question, whether the appointment is to discuss business or personal finances.

While Webster was the only FI playing the “new year resolution” card, South Florida Federal Credit Union gets an honorable mention for its timely Happy New Year graphic, one of four rotating promotions running at year-end (see last screenshot below and inset above).

——–

Webster Bank homepage (31 Dec 2015)
Note: The pull-down menus shown here also carries a similar message

websterbank_newyear_2016

 

Webster “Fresh Look” landing page (link)

webster_newyear_2


South Florida FCU homepage (31 Dec 2015)

southfloridaCU_newyears

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Fintech Fundings: 15 Companies Raise $51 Million Week Ending 25 Dec 2015

Fintech Fundings: 15 Companies Raise $51 Million Week Ending 25 Dec 2015
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Uncategorized

Holiday_money_pigFor just the fourth time this year, weekly fintech fundings fell below the $100-million mark with 15 companies raising a total of $51 million.

The second-largest round of the week ($4 million), went to Finovate veteran Dana Bowers’ latest startup, Venminder. The Kentucky-based company has developed a vendor-management platform for banks and credit unions. Bowers is the founder of iPay Technologies, which demoed at the first Finovate in 2007, and was acquired by Jack Henry in 2010.

With just one holiday-shortened week remaining in the year, the total invested in private fintech companies YTD now stands at $18.8 billion.

Here are the deals by size from 19 Dec to 25 Dec 2015:

PokitDok
Person-to-person lender
Latest round: $35.1 million Series B
Total raised: $40.7 million
HQ: San Mateo, California
Tags: Enterprise, healthcare, payments, insurance, billing, API, developers
Source: Crunchbase

Venminder
Vendor management for financial services companies
Latest round: $4 million
Total raised: $6.3 million
HQ: Elizabethtown, Kentucky
Tags: Enterprise, risk management, compliance, operations
Source: Crunchbase

Prestiamoci
Person-to-person consumer lender
Latest round: $2.2 million Series
Total raised: $3.5 million
HQ: Milan, Italy
Tags: Consumer, lending, underwriting, sub-prime, loans, P2P, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Streami
Blockchain-based remittances
Latest round: $2 million Seed
Total raised: $2 million
HQ: Seoul, South Korea
Tags: Blockchain, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, payments, remittances
Source: Crunchbase

Snapcard
Bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $4.45 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: SMB, consumer, blockchain, cryptocurrency, payments, wallet, bitcoin
Source: Crunchbase

BTCS (aka Bitcoin Shop)
Blockchain technology
Latest round: $1.4 million Post-IPO equity
Total raised: $4.2 million
HQ: Troy, Michigan
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, payments, blockchain
Source: Crunchbase

Sharesight
Investment portfolio management
Latest round: $1.35 million Seed
Total raised: $1.35 million
HQ: Wellington, Australia
Tags: Consumer, investing, trading, aggregation, wealth management
Source: Crunchbase

BorsadelCredito.it
Person-to-person small business lender
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $1.1 million
HQ: Milan, Italy
Tags: SME, lending, alt-credit, underwriting, sub-prime, loans, P2P, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Chronos Technologies
F0rex trading technology
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $1 million
HQ: Scottsdale, Arizona
Tags: Forex trading, investing, fx
Source: Crunchbase

Minkasu
Mobile and online payments
Latest round: $1 million Seed
Total raised: $1.75 million
HQ: Milpitas, California
Tags: Consumer, mobile wallet, security, payments
Source: Crunchbase

The PayPro
International payments
Latest round: $450,000 Seed
Total raised: $450,000
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: SMB, payments, billpay, fx, international payments, billpay, remittances
Source: Crunchbase

Bee
Mobile bank/card
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: $4.6 million
HQ: New York City, New York
Tags: Consumer, prepaid debit card, neo-bank, challenger bank, mobile, AXA (investor)
Source: Crunchbase

 

Depo
Escrow and renter-deposit management
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Sweden
Tags: Payments, renting, escrow, deposits, homes
Source: Crunchbase

GoldBean
Helping consumers get started in investing
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: New York City, New York
Tags: Consumer, investing, personal finance, spending, PFM, AXA (investor)
Source: FT Partners

Payable
Contractor payables solution
Latest round: Not disclosed
Total raised: $2.1 million
HQ: Sunnyvale, California
Tags: SMB, payments, invoicing, billing, billpay, accounts payable, payroll
Source: FT Partners

——–
Image licensed from 123rf.com

 

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2015 Holiday Marketing Efforts from the Top-20 U.S. Banks

2015 Holiday Marketing Efforts from the Top-20 U.S. Banks
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, BMO Harris Bank, Citibank, Comerica Bank, Fifth Third Bancorp, Holiday promotions, Key Bank, PNC Bank, Regions Bank, TD Bank, Union Bank

The end of the year provides a unique challenge to banks. Customers are busy buying gifts, finishing year-end projects at work, and preparing for holiday travel, meal prep and/or extended family time. There isn’t an abundance of deep thought about long-term financial plans, other than how to pay down inflated December credit card bills.

For banks, it’s a good time to run a few simple messages:

  1. Thank customers for a great year
  2. Wish them happy holidays and/or a wonderful new year
  3. Help customers deal with holiday overspending and planning for the new year
  4. Provide last-minute gift assistance via prepaid MasterCard/Visa cards
  5. Detail holiday branch hours and service options (extra credit for an online/mobile banking plug)

This is not a tall order, yet only 9 of the 20 largest banks managed to do even 1 of the above 5 during the week leading up to Christmas. While that may not seem like a great performance, it was more than double the measly four last year. And it’s back in line with historical norms of 9 banks 2013; 8 in 2012; and 10 in 2011. It looks like 2014 was an anomaly.

Congrats to PNC Bank, which once again, proved it was the holiday champ thanks to its long-running 12 Days of Christmas Index, earning a full 5 bulbs on our 1-to-5 light bulb scale. Runner-up Key Bank moved up to an impressive 4-bulb performance with four holiday promos. And we had three 3-bulbers (Fifth Third, BMO Harris, Union Bank) who posted impressive holiday graphics.

The scrooge list: Top-20 banks with no holiday promotions or graphics on 23 Dec 2015:
Bank of America; Bank of the West (BNP Paribas); BB&T; Capital One & Capital One 360 (formerly ING Direct); Chase (note 2); Citizens (RBS); HSBC; SunTrust; US Bank; Wells Fargo; Zions Bank.

Following is a quick overview of the promotions, including a 1- to 5-bulb rating.

Previous year-end holiday posts: 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 (big banks), 2011(CUs/community banks), 2009 part 1, 2009 part 2, 2007, 2006, 2006, 2004.

_____________________________________________________________________

Large U.S. banks show holiday spirit

PNC Bank

Score: imageimageimageimageimage

Homepage (23 Dec 2015):

pnc_holiday2015
PNC Christmas Price Index page:

pnc_holiday_2015_2

———–

Key Bank

  • Checking account promo with holiday imagery (1 of 3 rotating promos)
  • Security tips related to holiday spending (2 of 3 rotating promos)
  • Rewards promo with holiday image (lower left on homepage)
  • Credit card promo with holiday copy (lower right on homepage)

Score: imageimageimageimage

Homepage promo #1 (23 Dec 2015):

key_holiday2015
Homepage promo #2:

key_holiday2015_2

———-

Fifth Third Bank

  • Page-dominating “wishes”

Score: imageimageimage

Homepage (23 Dec 2015):

53_holiday2015

———-

BMO Harris

  • Community service announcing a Milwaukee holiday display (#2 of 3 rotating promos)
  • Security message related to holidays and its new chip card (#3 of 3 rotating promos)

Score: imageimageimage

Homepage promo #1 (23 Dec 2015):

bmoharris_holiday2015

Homepage promo #2:

bmoharris_holdiday2015_2

———

Union Bank

  • Rose Bowl parade float (#1 of 4 promos)
  • Billpay offer with charity tie-in (#2 of 4 promos)

Score: imageimageimage

Homepage promo #1 (23 Dec 2015):unionbank_holiday2015
Homepage promo #2:unionbank_holiday2015_2

———–

Comerica

  • Gift card promo integrated into main image (promo 2 of 3 rotating)

Score: imageimageimage (2.5)

Homepage (23 Dec 2015):

comerica_holiday2015

———-

Regions Bank

  • Loan discount with holiday copy (well below the fold)

Score: imageimage

Homepage with loan offer (23 Dec 2015):

regions_holiday_2015
Landing page for loan offer:

regions_holiday2015_2

——–

TD Bank

  • Checking account promo with holiday imagery and Samsung giveaway (main promo)

Score: imageimage

Homepage with checking promo (23 Dec 2015):

tdbank_holiday2015

———-

Citibank

  • Year-end home-equity promo with winter imagery

Score: image

citi_holiday_2015

 

————————-

Notes:
1. Observations taken between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Wed, 23 Dec 2015, from a Florida IP address, running Mac Chrome browser with cookies cleared.
2. Chase is running a series of newish articles/posts below the fold, one of which covered holiday budgeting. But it wasn’t prominent enough to move them off the scrooge list.
3. Animation from
http://www.millan.net/anims/christmas.html#

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Fintech Fundings: 23 Companies Raise $685 Million Week Ending 18 Dec 2015

Fintech Fundings: 23 Companies Raise $685 Million Week Ending 18 Dec 2015
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

holidaymoneyThere may be a bubble in tech investing. But if there’s one in the fintech sector, the dozens of investors in these 23 companies didn’t get the memo.

In the last full non-holiday week of the year, $685 million poured into fintech companies worldwide. The vast majority went into alt-lending, including NYC-based Pave, $300 million; Australian P2P platform MoneyPlace, $60 million from Auswide Bank; and Chinese lenders Fengjr.com, $80 million, and Dashu Finance, $77 million.

Three Finovate alums banked a total of $65 million:

With just two holiday-shortened weeks remaining in the year, the total invested in private fintech companies YTD now stands at $18.8 billion.

Here are the deals by size from 12 Dec to 18 Dec 2015:

Pave
Person-to-person lender
Latest round: $300 million Private Equity
Total raised: $300 million
HQ: New York City, New York
Tags: Consumer, lending, youth market, alt-credit, underwriting, sub-prime, loans, P2P, investing
Source: Crunchbase, WSJ

Fengjr.com (aka Phoenix Finance)
Alt-lender to consumers
Latest round: $80 million
Total raised: $80 million
HQ: Beijing, China
Tags: Consumer, lending, underwriting, loans, credit
Source: FT Partners

Dashu Finance
Consumer alt-lender
Latest round: $77 million Series B
Total raised: $93 million
HQ: Shenzen, China
Tags: Consumer, lending, P2P, underwriting, loans
Source: Crunchbase

MoneyPlace
P2P lender
Latest round: $60 million; $300 million valuation
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Australia
Tags: Consumer, lending, credit, loans, person-to-person, peer-to-peer, Auswide Bank (investor)
Source: Lets Talk Payments

Gusto (fka ZenPayroll)
Payroll services
Latest round: $50 million Series C
Total raised: $136.1 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: SMB, payroll, payments, HR, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

CloverHealth
Health insurance
Latest round: $35 million Series B
Total raised: $135 million
HQ: San Francisco, California
Tags: Consumer, insurance, healthcare, payments
Source: Crunchbase

NextCapital
Investing and portfolio management
Latest round: $16 million Series B
Total raised: $22.3 million
HQ: Chicago, Illinois
Tags: Consumer, investing, wealth management, 401(k), aggregation, portfolio management
Source: Crunchbase

Trulioo
Online identify verification
Latest round: $15 million
Total raised: $23.3 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Enterprise, security, authentication, security, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Oration
Tools for self-insured businesses
Latest round: $11.2 million Series A
Total raised: $12.2 million
HQ: Foster City, California
Tags: Enterprise, SMB, insurance, healthcare, payments
Source: Crunchbase

FinTech Group
Diversified financial technology provider
Latest round: $11 million Post-IPO equity
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Frankfurt, Germany
Tags: Enterprise, payments, IT solutions, trading, investing management
Source: FT Partners

Bench
High-tech and high-touch bookkeeping services
Latest round: $6.1 million
Total raised: $16.1 million
HQ: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Tags: Accounting, SMB, bookkeeping, Techstars, Vancouver, Canada
Source: Crunchbase

CardLab
Residential and commercial property search
Latest round: $6.0 million Series A
Total raised: $6.0 million
HQ: Herlev, Denmark
Tags: Enterprise, credit/debit cards, hardware, card manufacturing
Source: Crunchbase

DealCloud
Workflow tool for investment bankers
Latest round: $5.3 million Series A
Total raised: $5.57 million
HQ: Charlotte, North Carolina
Tags: Enterprise, investing, trading, deals, investment banking
Source: Crunchbase

Gastrofix
Point-of-sale system for restaurants and hotels
Latest round: $4 million Series A
Total raised: $4 million
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Tags: SMB, payments, POS, ePOS, mPOS, credit/debit card acquiring, merchants
Source: Crunchbase

TransferGo
Remittance service
Latest round: $2.5 million Seed
Total raised: $2.5 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, payments, remittances, fx, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Factom
Blockchain technology for businesses
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $3.04 million
HQ: Austin, Texas
Tags: B2B, SMB, blockchain, bitcoin, cryptocurrency
Source: Crunchbase

Indexa Capital
Low-cost investment portfolio management
Latest round: $1.2 million
Total raised: $1.2 million
HQ: Madrid, Spain
Tags: Consumer, investing, mutual funds, wealth management
Source: FT Partners

Bewa7er
Secondary market for private company shares
Latest round: $1 million Seed
Total raised: $1.24 million
HQ: Bilbao, Spain
Tags: SMB, consumer, trading, equity, investing
Source: Crunchbase

PayJoy
Consumer point-of-sale financing
Latest round: $1 million Debt
Total raised: $2.3 million
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Tags: Consumer, lending, point-of-sale financing, payments, loans, lending, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

Capcito
Receivables financing
Latest round: $600,000
Total raised: $600,000
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Tags: SMB, factoring, financing, commercial lending, underwriting
Source: Crunchbase

Nous Global Markets
Crowdsourcing financial market predictions
Latest round: $290,000
Total raised: $1.9 million
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Tags: Consumer, trading, investing, gamification Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

DotDashPay
Payments for the internet of things
Latest round: $250,000 Award
Total raised: $250,000
HQ: Oakland, California
Tags: B2B, SMB, IoT, payments, API, developers
Source: Crunchbase

VentureCrowd
Platform for investing in startups
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
HQ: Sydney, Australia
Tags: SMB, investing, crowdfunding, equity, P2P
Source: Crunchbase

 

 

 

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Lending Club Raises Average Rate 0.25%

Lending Club Raises Average Rate 0.25%
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Lending Club

LendingClubHomepage

After the Fed raised interest rates earlier this month, I received a lot of questions about what effect the move will have on the fintech industry. Peer-to-peer lending platform Lending Club [NYSE: LC] yesterday offered one answer.

Lending Club, which went public late last year, announced Tuesday it will raise interest rates on new loans by an average of 0.25%.

Since many credit card issuers increased rates by the same amount, the company is not concerned it will push away borrowers. Lending Club CEO, Renaud Laplanche, expressed that higher rates for borrowers will not slow down the platform’s growth. In a statement in the Wall Street Journal, Laplanche said:

There has been noise about competition for borrowers, but that’s been the case for smaller platforms competing hard in obvious channels. We’ve had better marketing efficiency every single quarter since we went public.

While there’s no word yet if other alternative lenders will follow Lending Club’s lead on raising rates, Laplanche plans to move Lending Club’s policy “in lockstep” with the Fed’s rate changes.

Earlier this fall, Lending Club extended multi-draw lines of credit to its small-business borrowers, enabling them to withdraw funds only as needed, instead of one lump sum. At BAI’s Global Banking Innovation Awards, the company won accolades for Most Innovative Non-Bank Financial Services Organization.

The company went public in December 2014. The market cap is at $4.32 billion. Lending Club debuted at the first Finovate in 2007.

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Wipro Inks Agreement to Acquire Viteos Group

Wipro Inks Agreement to Acquire Viteos Group
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Mergers & Acquisitions, wipro

Wipro_homepage_Dec2015

In a bid to grow its fund accounting and business process services and capabilities, Bangalore-based IT consultancy Wipro has agreed to acquire Viteos Group. The Times of India reports a purchase price of $130 million.

Viteos Group provides a proprietary platform built for cross-border, any asset class, any currency, post-trade operations for the U.S. alternative investment-management industry. The company has offices in New York, New Jersey, London, and the Cayman Islands.

Nagendra Bandaru, SVP and head of business process services for Wipro, says Viteos “brings with it experienced leadership, domain expertise, and unique BPaaS capability.” Speaking for Viteos, company founder and CEO Shankar Iyer referred to the acquisition as the “culmination” of his company’s “search for a global partner.”

Wipro_stage_FEU2015

From left: Wipro General Manager Mukund Kalmanker, Wipro general manager, and Sudhakar Babu Tamminedi, Wipro practice head, demonstrated ngGenie myAdvisor at FinovateEurope 2015 in London.

Terms of the acquisition were not immediately available, and the deal is still subject to regulatory review. The acquisition is scheduled to be complete by the end of March 2016.

The deal combines Viteos Group’s buy-side expertise with Wipro’s sell-side credentials in areas such as reconciliation, settlements, and KYC, among others. President of Wipro, CEO Shaji Farooq explained that the trend of IT services moving toward the “as-a-service” model made a deal like this one with Viteos a priority. “Our strategy is to invest in industry vertical platforms which will provide platform-based services to our clients in a transaction/outcome-based pricing model,” Farooq explained. “Viteos will further our strategy in the capital markets domain.”

Viteos Group is Wipro’s second acquisition of the month. The company announced plans to acquire IT consultancy Cellent AG for €73.5 million early in December and, in June, Wipro launched its e-KYC solution which leverages its AI platform, Wipro HOLMES. The company began the year with a major, multiyear, IT outsourcing contract with Allied Irish Banks (AIB).

Founded in 1945 as Western India Palm Refined Oils Limited, Wipro is headquartered in Bangalore, India. A multinational IT consulting and systems-integration firm, Wipro demonstrated its Wipro ngGenie myAdvisor technology at FinovateEurope 2015.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Betterment, EverSafe, Hedgeable, Lending Club, Lighter Capital, Personal Capital, Toshl, Tradier, Wealthfront, wipro

On Finovate.com

  • “Lending Club Raises Average Rate 0.25%”
  • “Wipro Inks Agreement to Acquire Viteos Group”

Around the web

  • VentureBeat takes a look at the latest update to Toshl’s PFM app.
  • Insurance NewsNet features Wealthfront, Personal Capital, Hedgeable, and Betterment in a survey of robo-advisers.
  • WooTrader enables direct trading from its platform courtesy of a new integration with Tradier and its brokerage API.
  • GeekWire interviews CEO BJ Lackland of Lighter Capital.
  • Fidelity Clearing & Custody to offer clients protection from EverSafe at a reduced rate.

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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2015: A Year in Finovate Alumni Mergers and Acquisitions

2015: A Year in Finovate Alumni Mergers and Acquisitions
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Akimbo Financial, Aurora Financial Systems, Authentify, Blockstack.io, eMoney Advisor, Finicity, FIS, Funding, Fundings, FutureAdvisor, GoNow, Guide Financial, Kofax, Kontomatik, Kreditech, LearnVest, Mergers & Acquisitions, Q2, ReadyForZero, Red Zebra, Social Money, Stratos, Toopher, Urban FT, Wipit, Yodlee

Handshake_graphic

2015 was another big year for mergers and acquisitions in the fintech industry. And whether they were the acquirer or the acquired, Finovate alums were very much a part of the M&A action.

Because terms of many deals were undisclosed, it is difficult to get a precise number on how much money was spent acquiring some of fintech’s most promising startups this year. But looking just at those acquisitions for which figures were available, we can see that 2015 was a banner year in M&A (more than $7 billion) — and that’s just counting alums.

So from the $5 billion deal between FIS and Sungard to the “alum-acquires-alum” mergers of September 2015, let’s take a closer look at some of the major unions of the year that featured Finovate alums.

December

October

September

August

July

May

April

March

February

January

If you’re a Finovate alum whose merger we’ve missed or acquisition we’ve overlooked, let us know. Send us an email at [email protected].

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Ciright One Purchases Stratos Card

Ciright One Purchases Stratos Card
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Acquisition, Stratos

StratosHomepage

While we were reading yesterday’s news that Bluetooth-connected payment card startup Stratos had been forced to shut down because a recent round of funding fell through, another plan for the company’s future was in the works.

This morning we learned Stratos signed an agreement to sell to Ciright One; terms of the deal were not disclosed.

OneCard

Stratos co-founder Thiago Olson told TechCrunch that Stratos will continue to function as normal and plans to reinstate customer support in the next few weeks.

The Stratos card consolidates payment and membership cards into a single card with a rewrite-able magstripe. Users select one of three buttons on the card to transact with their top three cards, and access additional cards by activating a Bluetooth connection between the card and their smartphone. At FinovateSpring 2015, Stratos debuted a Digital Card Issuance platform that digitizes the card-fulfillment system by enabling users to download and use a virtual credit card within minutes of being approved.

Pennsylvania-based Ciright One is an active acquirer of Finovate alums. The company purchased GoNow Technologies (FinovateSpring 2013 demo) in September 2015 and last week launched The One, a smart card similar to the Stratos card.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Backbase, BankersLab, Credit Karma, Holvi, MoneyStream, Motif Investing, Nostrum Group, Personal Capital, Stratos, Vantiv, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • “2015: A Year in Finovate Alumni Mergers and Acquisitions”

Around the web

  • TechTarget interviews Vantiv CSO Kim Jones on “creating a culture of security.”
  • Moneystream announces plans to close its doors in February 2016.
  • Nostrum Group earns a spot in Deloitte 2015 Technology Fast 500 for the EMEA region.
  • Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana explains why 2016 will be the year P2P lending hits the mainstream.
  • Holvi is featured in this look at the top 10 startups in Finland.
  • TopFunded interviews BankersLab CEO Michelle Katics. See BankersLab at FinovateEurope 2016 in London in February 2016.
  • Credit Karma wins a spot on Fast Company’s 2015 Silicon Valley “Nice” list.
  • Emerging Prairie looks at how a local RIA is integrating Motif Investing into his business.
  • SwipeStox launches new features. Check out SwipeStox at FinovateEurope 2016.
  • Personal Capital Debuts First eBook: A Better Financial Life.
  • Backbase awarded accolades in Gartner report, Critical Capabilities for Horizontal Portals. Backbase will demo at FinovateEurope 2016.

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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