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Rippleshot Earns Spot in SixThirty Accelerator’s Incoming Cohort

By David Penn Posted on September 30, 2015
Categories: Rippleshot

Chicago-based cybersecurity specialist Rippleshot will join the Fall 2015 cohort of the SixThirty accelerator program.

For its participation in the accelerator, Rippleshot will pick up a negotiated equity investment of up to $100,000, as well as training, mentoring, and networking with professionals from financial services companies from across the country. The program runs from 14 September through 11 December, and is based in downtown St. Louis. This will be Rippleshot’s second time through the SixThirty program.

SixThirty Managing Partner Atul Kamra said that they had received a record number of applications for the fall cohort. “The application pool was truly global and, of the 150-plus startups that applied, a third were from outside the U.S.”

Also participating in the fall 2015 cohort are:

Bandura
Brigade Society
Ensygnia
Fluent
Investment POD

Founded in June 2013, Rippleshot demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2014 in New York City. Canh Tran is CEO and co-founder. The company has won accolades for its technology that helps detect card-payment fraud, earning finalist spots at the BBVA Open Talent Competition in August, and the MRC METAwards in March 2015.

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Demo Videos from FinovateFall Now Available

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 30, 2015
Categories: FinovateFall 2015

If you had a case of “Fintech FOMO” last week because you were stuck in the office while everyone else was at FinovateFall, today is your day!

We’re releasing all demo videos from this year’s event in our video archives. Feel free to watch them 7 minutes at a time or binge watch all 70. Either way, you’ll find a variety of new technology.

To get started, check out the eight Best of Show winners:

Blockstack.io

Dyme

https://finovate.wistia.com/medias/gzco94t0yr

Thanks once again to those who braved the Finovate stage, and for all who attended—we couldn’t do this without you. We’ll see you at FinovateFall 2016!

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 30, 2015
Categories: Algomi, Bitbond, Cloud Lending, eWise, Feedzai, iSignthis, Lendio, Matchi, Misys, MX, Rippleshot, Xero

On Finovate.com

“Demo Videos from FinovateFall Now Available“

“Rippleshot Earns Spot in SixThirty Accelerator’s Incoming Cohort”

“Check out this week’s FinDEVr APIntelligence”

“Cloud Lending Solutions Raises $8 Million in Series A”

“MX Lands $4 Million from CheckFree Founder Pete Kight”

Around the web

iSignthis to provide KYC services to Coinify, Europe’s leading bitcoin-payment service provider.

Feedzai’s algorithms poised to analyze $800 million in purchases in real time each day.

Bitbond launches bitcoin affiliate program to allow users to earn money online simply by placing a link.

Matchi launches first innovation challenge for insurance company.

Lendio funds more than 500 small businesses in one month.

Xero surpasses milestone of 100,000 subscribers in the United Kingdom.

Algomi announces expansion, opening new office in New York.

Misys wins Customer Focus Award, named “National Champion for the U.K.” by the European Business Awards.

Let’s Talk Payments profiles PFM and account-aggregation solution provider, eWise.

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.

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FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 Presenters All Mapped Out

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 29, 2015
Categories: FinDEVr 2015, FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco

FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 is less than a week away, and we’re excited to host 64 companies as they spend 20 minutes onstage showing off their latest tools, APIs, and platforms.

While 21 of the presenters are based in the Bay Area, companies are heading in from all across the globe; in fact, Japan-based BankGuard faces the longest commute to the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, where the event will be held.

With more than 600 builders expected to show up 6/7 October, the presenters are ready to bring their best to the stage. For more information on the presentations, check out the schedule. To be a part of the action, pick up your ticket here.

If you have any questions, check out the FAQ section of the FinDEVr homepage, or contact [email protected].

FinDEVr is sponsored by Yodlee Interactive, MX, Credit Karma, and The Bancorp. Our event partners are the Bank Innovators Council, BankersHub, BayPay Forum, bobsguide, California Bankers Association, Celent, The CoinTelegraph, Mercator Advisory Group, and SF Fintech.

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Blooom Wins Grant from LaunchKC

By David Penn Posted on September 29, 2015
Categories: blooom

In fintech, some blossoms make their biggest blooms in the fall.

401(k) retirement-planning platform, Blooom announced this week it is one of 10 companies to earn a grant from LaunchKC. In addition to a cash award of $50,000, Blooom will get 12 months of free office space downtown in Kansas City, and the opportunity to work with both a specific mentor-team as well as local industry leaders and entrepreneurs from the area.

From left: Blooom co-founder and CEO Chris Costello and CTO Randy AufDerHeide demonstrated their technology at FinovateFall 2014 in New York.

The grant recipients were announced during Techweek Kansas City, and were chosen from a pool of 500 applicants from 17 states and eight countries. The group was winnowed down to 20 startups that were invited to make their pitch as part of the Techweek event. Judges awarded grants to nine startups, and a tenth startup was chosen as a “People’s Choice” winner by event attendees.

The rest of the inaugural LaunchKC 2015 grant recipients are below:

HealthID
Integrated Roadways
KC Drone Company
Nodal Security
Pycno
PopBookings
SquareOffs
Vertisense
Video Fizz

An initiative of the Downtown Council of Kansas City, LaunchKC was launched in January 2015 to help build and support entrepreneurs and technologists in the local area. Bill Dietrich, chief administrative officer of LaunchKC and president and CEO of the Downtown Council, called the initiative “a nonprofit civic engine and accelerator in the Kansas City tech scene.”

Mike Downing, director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, says the investment “will assist in attracting talent and ideas to the state as well as add to the abundant resources and supportive infrastructure that fosters growth in the entrepreneurial community.”

Blooom also reported that its co-founder and CEO, Chris Costello, was named to Wealth Management’s “Ten to Watch 2016” roster last month. Costello, like the other two members of his executive team, CTO Randy AufDerHeide and COO Kevin Conard, is from the local area and is a graduate of the University of Kansas.

Founded in February 2013 and headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, Blooom made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014 in New York City. With more than 1,000 clients in 48 states and more than $100 million under management, the company was recognized by InvestorJunkie as one of its top 15 robo-advisers in September.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 29, 2015
Categories: Aerospike, American Express, blooom, Insuritas, Klarna, Kony, On Deck Capital, Stratos, SumUp, Tradeshift

On Finovate.com

“Blooom Wins Grant from LaunchKC”

“FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 Presenters All Mapped Out“

Around the web

SumUp launches mobile payments service in Sweden.

Stratos launches EMV Chip Connected Payment Cards in Q4 2015.

Ferguson Federal, $57 million in assets, hires Insuritas to launch insurance agency.

Kony helps ORNL FCU deliver customized mobile app experiences to its members.

OnDeck partners with Association for Enterprise Opportunity to facilitate up to $10 million in small-business loans.

Tradeshift unveils new e-procurement solution, Tradeshift Buy.

Aerospike releases version 3.6 of its NoSQL operational database. See Aerospike’s presentation at FinDEVr next week.

TechCrunch: Klarna adds American Express as a partner. Come watch American Express’ presentation at FinDEVr.

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.

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Mobile Monday: Helping Customers Understand EMV & Mobil Payments

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 28, 2015
Categories: Apple, Capital One, Mobile Payments, Service

This week’s EMV “liability shift” in the United States is expected to be a boon for mobile payments. We are undergoing a massive expansion in number of NFC-enabled terminals, at a time when Apple and Android Pay are not only measurably faster than the more time-consuming “chip dip”, but also more secure. That’s a HUGE change in the “relative UX” between the two options.

Savvy issuers should seize on the negative publicity and confusion around EMV plastic cards and push NFC options, both within the native app and on desktop and mobile websites.

But from what I saw today during a tour of several dozen major bank and credit union mobile sites (using iPhone 6), very little is discussed about this change. In fact, none of the 25 largest banks address it on their mobile homepages. I finally found one mid-sized credit union that addressed EMV (First Tech Federal Credit Union) and another that mentioned Apple Pay, albeit a few screens down (Stanford Federal Credit Union), but neither of them addressed both issues (see screenshots below). Both CUs have responsive homepages, so the messaging was the same on both the desktop and mobile web.

Most issuers address basic EMV questions when sending new chip-cards to customers. But I’m guessing that:

number of cardholders who read the EMV instructions
x
the number that understood it
x
the number that remember it
=
zero

This is a good opportunity to get your cardholders on board with Apple Pay and Android Pay. And don’t forgot to help them understand how to make your card the default in the Apple Wallet (previously called Passbook). Refer to Capital One’s email explanation sent to cardholders after adding their card (screenshot below).

———–

Mobile website homepages from Stanford Federal Credit Union (left) and First Tech FCU (right)
As seen on iPhone 6 at noon, 28 Sep 2015

———-

Capital One email sent to cardholder minutes after adding card to Apple Pay and authorizing through Capital One mobile app (28 Sep 2015)

——–

We will be addressing issues in EMV, mobile payments, and much more at Finovate’s second annual developers’ event, FinDEVr, 6/7 October in San Francisco.

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Ellevest Pulls in $10 Million from Morningstar

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 28, 2015
Categories: Ellevest, Funding

Ellevest, a digital investment platform for women—co-founded by Finovate alum Charlie Kroll—raised $10 million this week in a Series A round led by Morningstar.

Other investors in the New York-based startup include:

Ajay Banga, president and CEO of Mastercard
Robert Druskin, executive chairman of the DTCC, former COO of Citigroup, and former chairman of E*Trade
Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz and the former CEO of PIMCO
Karen Finerman, co-founder of Metropolitan Capital Advisers and panelist on CNBC’s Fast Money
Brian Finn, former chairman and CEO of Asset Management Finance Corp. and former president of Credit Suisse First Boston
Andrea Jung, CEO of Grameen America and former CEO of Avon
Jeff Schwarz, co-founder of Metropolitan Capital Advisors
Contour Venture Partners

Ellevest is focused on helping women bridge the investment gap, and seeks to transform investing into a women-specific experience.

The Ellevest investment platform, slated to launch in early 2016, was founded by Sallie Krawcheck (CEO) and Charlie Kroll (COO). Kroll is former CEO of Andera, which debuted its FortiFI solution at FinovateFall 2011. In October of 2011, Andera purchased oFlows, which demoed oFlows for Everyone at FinovateFall 2011. In May 2014, Andera was acquired by Bottomline Technologies.

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Kreditech Raises €82 Million in Series C Investment Led by J.C. Flowers

By David Penn Posted on September 28, 2015
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Kreditech

German consumer-finance technology company Kreditech today announced that it has raised €82.5 million in a Series C round led by J.C. Flowers—and more funding could be on the way. The investment includes a bridge loan from Peter Thiel and Amadeus Capital Partners (Amadeus) from earlier this year that has been converted into equity, as well as word that Kreditech hopes the round ultimately will raise more than €100 million.

Also participating in the round were existing investors Värde Partners, HPE Growth Capital, and Blumberg Capital.

The more than €80 million raised so far boosts the company’s total funding to more than €300 million in debt and equity. Kreditech CFO Rene Griemens noted that more than half of the company’s total funding are unused debt facilities—a revolving credit arrangement—that can be loaned out to help fuel growth.

Kreditech CEO and co-founder Sebastian Diemer demonstrated Kredito24 at FinovateSpring 2014 in New York.

Loren Felsman, managing director at J.C. Flowers who will be joining the Kreditech board as part of the investment, praised the company’s “sophisticated approach to real-time consumer banking,” especially as it relates to the underbanked. “Most lenders, including those built on modern technology, may not crack these markets for years,” Felsman said.

Kreditech leverages big data to create better credit-scoring technology for consumer-borrowers with poor or no credit histories. Kreditech focuses on the current financial health of the borrower, analyzing more than 20,000 data-points to establish potential creditworthiness.

These data-points encompass a wide range of information typically overlooked when analyzing a borrower’s likelihood of repaying debt, and include everything from a borrower’s Facebook friends to semantic analysis, i.e., the writing tone in email messages or social media posts. The goal, as Deimer explained from the stage last year at FinovateFall 2014, was both a more accurate credit rating, better pricing and more personalized lending options for the borrower.

Kreditech has deployed its technology with subsidiaries operating in nine markets: Germany, Poland, Spain, Peru, Mexico, Australia, the Dominican Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Czech Republic. “These are markets with very low or no credit-bureau infrastructure at all,” Deimer pointed out. This was key to both maximizing margins and keeping customer-acquisition costs low.” The company is also “ramping up” operations in Brazil and Romania.

Deimer was named to the Hot Topic 100 list of the most influential people in fintech in August. In May, Inc.com added Kreditech to its roster of the “22 Financial Technology Startups You Need to Know.” This spring, Kreditech announced the hiring of Oliver Prill as its new COO. Prill was previously the CEO of a boutique small-business and consumer-debt-reconciliation firm, Optanus, and before that was the founder and CEO of C&A Bank in Germany.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, Kreditech demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2014 in New York.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on September 28, 2015
Categories: Aire, blooom, Coinbase, HelloWallet, Hyperwallet, Kony, Kreditech, PayPal, Ripple, Temenos, Venmo

On Finovate.com

“Kreditech Raises 82 Million in Series C Investment Led by J.C. Flowers”

“Ellevest Pulls in $10 Million from Morningstar”

Around the web

Ripple Labs and Coinbase are highlighted in this infographic on how banks are using blockchain technology.

Let’s Talk Payments takes a look at Aire and its alternative approach to credit scoring.

Venmo is featured along with nine other top bill-sharing apps.

Emerging Payments Awards selects Hyperwallet as a finalist for the Best Corporate/Government Payments Program award for 2015.

Kony to offer enterprise mobility cloud solutions to Etisalat.

Forbes: Nordea selects Temenos and Accenture to undertake the first major comprehensive European core-banking replacement in years.

ChicagoInno features Morningstar’s HelloWallet’s Best of Show win at FinovateFall.

PayPal unveils its chip-card reader in the U.S.

Hyperwallet counts down to next week’s FinDEVr developer conference. Come see Hyperwallet at FinDEVr, 6/7 Oct in San Francisco.

COO Connect calls Blooom, the future of retail savings.

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.

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Fintech Fundings: 17 Companies Raise $235 Million Week Ending 25 Sep 2015

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 25, 2015
Categories: Uncategorized

Funding to the fintech sector maintained pace this week with another quarter-billion ($234.3 million) added to the bank accounts of 17 startups worldwide. The biggest pure-equity round went to Finovate-alum CoverHound, an insurance portal gaining favor with the VC community.

There were several interesting acquisitions including French bank Credit Mutual Arkea paying a reported $56 million for a majority stake (86%) in payment processor Leetchi, aka MangoPay. But the big news in the Finovate office was the acquisition of crowd-favorite BillGuard by one of our inaugural presenters, and double-unicorn, Prosper.

So far this year, fintech companies have raised $13.2 billion.

Here are the deals announced from 19 Sep to 25 Sep 2015, by size:

Harmoney
Consumer marketplace lender
HQ: Auckland, New Zealand
Latest round: $127 million (debt and equity)
Total raised: $135 million
Tags: Consumer, p2p, lending, credit, loans, investing
Source: P2P-Banking

CoverHound
Insurance portal
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $33.3 million; $100 million valuation
Total raised: $53 million
Tags: Consumer, insurance, lead gen, quotes, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

DriverUp
Auto lending marketplace lender
HQ: Austin, Texas
Latest round: $20 million
Total raised: $70 million
Tags: Consumer, automobiles, auto loans, P2P lending, credit, investing
Source: Crunchbase

G-Banker
Gold trading platform
HQ: Bejing, China
Latest round: $16.8 million Series B
Total raised: $16.8+ million
Tags: Gold, investing, wealth management, trading, online-to-offline
Source: Crunchbase

Leetchi
Payment processor, aka MangoPay
HQ: France
Latest round: $11.1 million; $65 million valuation
Total raised: $56 million
Tags: Consumer, peer-to-peer payments, P2P, group payments, Credit Mutual Arkea (investor, majority owner)
Source: FT Partners, TechCrunch

Steller
Public infrastructure for money
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $7 million
Total raised: $10 million
Tags: Payments, blockchain, open source, developers, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, Stripe (investor), nonprofit
Source: FT Partners

PeerNova
Distributed financial platform
HQ: San Jose, California
Latest round: $6 million
Total raised: $19 million
Tags: Blockchain, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, enterprise
Source: WhoGotFunded

Ancoa
Risk management
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Latest round: $4.7 million Series A
Total raised: $6.3 million
Tags: Enterprise, security, regulations, compliance, fraud protection
Source: FT Partners

BestDealFinance
Financial services comparison portal
HQ: India
Latest round: $3 million Series A
Total raised: $3 million
Tags: Consumer, banking, loans, insurance, credit, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

ModernAdvisor
Online investment advisory
HQ: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Latest round: $2.2 million
Total raised: $2.2 million
Tags: Consumer, wealth management, investing, asset management
Source: Crunchbase

Novicap
Online invoice marketplace
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Latest round: $1.7 million
Total raised: $3.4 million
Tags: SMB, accounts receivables financing, factoring, trade finance
Source: Crunchbase

Ledge
Mobile P2P lending platform
HQ: Santa Monica, California
Latest round: $900,000 Seed
Total raised: $900,000
Tags: Consumer, loans, peer-to-peer, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

PaySur
Funds-transfer platform
HQ: Leon, Mexico
Latest round: $250,000
Total raised: $275,000
Tags: Consumer, payments, remittances, electronic transfers
Source: Crunchbase

Neotrade Analytics
Trading data provider
HQ: Bangalore, India
Latest round: $230,000
Total raised: $230,000
Tags: Trading, investing, enterprise, securities, data, analytics
Source: FT Partners

Crowdway (stealth website)
Financial markets analysis
HQ: Milan, Italy
Latest round: $170,000 Seed
Total raised: $170,000
Tags: Investing, information, trading, analytics, investors, wealth management
Source: Crunchbase

ConnectAbank
Financial services comparison portal
HQ: Mumbai, India
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Consumer, banking, loans, insurance, credit, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

Stockbit
Financial markets analysis
HQ: Jakarta, Indonesia
Latest round: Unknown
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Investing, information, trading, analytics, investors, wealth management
Source: Crunchbase

StockRadar
Mobile stock trading information
HQ: Bejing, China
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Consumer, trading, investing, stocks, analytics, Microsoft (investor)
Source: Crunchbase

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Munich-based Fidor Bank Launches in U.K.

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 25, 2015
Categories: Fidor Bank

Adding to the 215+ banks that call Britain home, Fidor Bank launched in the U.K. last week after applying for a banking license in January 2015. This makes Fidor the country’s first new retail bank in five years.

The Germany-based bank, which was founded in 2009, has set itself apart from traditional banks in multiple facets:

Was among the first banks to enable its customers to buy and sell bitcoin on its platform (with partnerships such as Ripple).
Has a community page that serves as an open forum, where users and bank representatives discuss bank products.

Is heavily involved in Facebook and Twitter, offering increased interest paid on savings accounts if users Like or Tweet certain content.

Has an open platform it developed in-house, which enables developers to access 25 different services through a set of open APIs.

Fidor’s U.K.-based bank is off to a somewhat more cautious start. It doesn’t offer bitcoin services, although it is exploring interest among the U.K. community. Similarly, it has not opened up its U.K. system to developers, although Fidor’s existing Euro APIs can be used until the bank launches a wider integration.

Fidor is currently focused on developing a current account and savings-bond service, and will soon launch additional features, such as a debit card and mobile app. Additionally, the bank soon plans to roll out other fintech partnerships.

Fidor is among the 60+ companies that will present at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 on 6/7 October. Fidor’s presentation will focus on teaching developers how to leverage its APIs and European banking license to set up their own digital banking services. There’s still time to register for the event, which will be held at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco.

iBroker AG, a subsidiary of Fidor Bank, demonstrated StockBattle, a social platform that enables users to bet on stocks or capital market indices, at FinovateEurope 2012.

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