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Fintech Fundings: 11 Companies Raise $85 Million Week Ending 7 August 2015

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 7, 2015
Categories: Uncategorized

money_scrabble Following one of the biggest weeks ever ($580 million), new fundings to the fintech sector cooled to under $100 million this week. More than half (55%) of the funds went to companies outside the United States including India’s mPOS provider Ezetap ($23.5 million) and Germany’s deposit brokerage SavingsGlobal ($21.8 million).

In total, 11 companies raised $85 million ($2.7 million was debt) including three Finovate alums: CashStar ($15 million); Socure ($2.5 million); AnchorID ($200,000).

Here are fundings from 1 Aug through 7 Aug 2015 by size:

Ezetap
Mobile point-of-sale system
HQ: Bangalore, India
Latest round: $23.5 million Series C
Total raised: $35 million
Tags: Payments, POS, acquiring, credit/debit cards, mobile, merchants, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

SavingsGlobal
European deposit brokerage
HQ: Berlin, Germany
Latest round: $21.8 million Series B
Total raised: $32 million
Tags: Deposits, investing, savings accounts, brokerage
Source: Crunchbase

CashStar
Prepaid solutions for retailers and restaurants
HQ: Portland, Maine
Latest round: $15 million Series D
Total raised: $50 million
Tags: Payments, prepaid, gift cards, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Driveway
Smartphone telematics software
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $10 million
Total raised: $11.6 million
Tags: Insurance, automobile, auto loans
Source: FT Partners

Beat the Q
Mobile ordering and payments platform
HQ: Surrey Hills, Australia
Latest round: $5 million Series A
Total raised: $5 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, point of sale, POS, merchants, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

BankFacil
Consumer loan site
HQ: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Latest round: $3 million Series A
Total raised: $4.4 million
Tags: Loans, credit, lead generation, consumer
Source: Crunchbase

Socure
Social biometrics solutions
HQ: New York City, New York
Latest round: $2.5 million Debt
Total raised: $7.2 million ($4.7 million equity, $2.5 million debt)
Tags: Security, authentication, account opening, ID verification, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Payable
Contractor payments platform
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $2.1 million Seed
Total raised: $2.1 million
Tags: Payments, accounts payable, human resources, payroll, contractors
Source: Crunchbase

Nest Wealth
Canadian online wealth manager
HQ: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Latest round: $1.5 million
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Investing, wealth management, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

GREX
Equity marketplace
HQ: Pune, India
Latest round: $625,000 Series A
Total raised: $625,000
Tags: Investing, startups, equity, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer
Source: Crunchbase

AnchorID
Mobile authentication solution
HQ: Kingston, New York
Latest round: $200,000 Convertible Note
Total raised: $800,000
Tags: Security, biometrics, authentication, account opening, credit score, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on August 7, 2015
Categories: Avoka, Azimo, EyeVerify, Wallaby Financial

On Finovate.com

“Finovate, FinDEVr Alums Win Finalist Spots in BBVA Open Talent Competition”

Around the web

CIO magazine features Wallaby Financial in a look at the end of passwords.

Waters Technology interviews Derek Corcoran, chief experience officer at Avoka.

Planet Biometrics looks at the updated version of the EyeVerify SDK.

BDaily talks with Azimo CEO Michael Kent.

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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Xero Launches its New Android Touch App

By David Penn Posted on August 6, 2015
Categories: Xero

Xero calls the new look of its Android Touch app “the biggest release since the native version.” In an announcement at the Xero blog, we learn that the new app adheres to Google’s design guidelines: “Every pixel of the dated Android 4.x ‘Holo’ look is gone!” Xero Project Manager Luke Gumbley writes: “We’ve revisited every single screen with an eye on consistency and beautiful design.”

What’s new in the update? For one, the receipt entry process is now optimized for single line items. Also the new app has moved less frequently used fields into an overflow menu. Invoicing has been simplified, and the interface has been redesigned to be more straightforward and less crowded.

Download the free app here.

Xero’s Android Touch app lets business owners manage many of their business affairs on the go. The app provides automatic bank reconciliation, the ability to generate and send invoices, track expenses and more – all from your mobile device. The app features a “Try It For Free” option that lets new users try the app without having a Xero account.

Xero has had a busy summer. The company updated its Tracked Inventory feature last month; announced the availability of its Payroll in Xero service in Nevada and Illinois; and partnered with Midpoint Holdings to make it easier for small businesses doing business internationally. Xero reached the 500,000 customer milestone in June, the same month Expensify announced it had upgraded its integration with Xero’s platform. Forbes ranked Xero #1 in its list of the 100 most innovative growth companies for 2015 in May.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, Xero is a veteran of both Finovate and FinDEVr conferences. The company demoed its Business Identification technology at FinovateSpring 2011, and discussed how Xero is building an API-driven ecosystem for small businesses at FinDEVr 2014 San Francisco.

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Lending Club Reports Growth in Revenues, Originations for Q2 2015

By David Penn Posted on August 6, 2015
Categories: Lending Club

Lending Club provided investors with plenty to think about in its Q2 2015 earnings conference call this week. Here are a few of the highlights from a second quarter that saw Lending Club reach $11.2 billion in total originations.

Financial stats:

Revenue gains of 98% year-over-year ($96.1 million this year compared to $48.6 million last year in the same period)
Cash, cash equivalents, and securities available for sale totaling $888 million; no outstanding debt
Originations increased by 90% year over year ($1.9 billion compared to $1 billion last year in the same period)

Milestones:

Opened to investors in Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, and Oklahoma; now available to investors in 33 states
Opened to borrowers in Nebraska and North Dakota; now available to borrowers in 47 states
Partnered with Ingram Micro to provide term loans and unsecured lines of credit for Ingram Micro’s valued-added resellers in the U.S.

Lending Club said it anticipates Q3 2015 operating revenues of between $106 million and $108 million, and total revenues for fiscal 2015 between $405 million and $409 million.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, LendingClub demonstrated its platform at the first Finovate in 2007. Renaud Laplanche is CEO.

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CashStar Raises Capital: New Investment Boosts Total to $50 Million

By David Penn Posted on August 6, 2015
Categories: CashStar, Funding

A $15 million Series D round led by FTV Capital has boosted to $50 million the total capital of prepaid solutions provider CashStar. New investor Mosaik Partners and current investors, Passport Capital, Intel Capital, and North Hill Ventures also participated. The additional capital will help CashStar invest in product innovation, sales, and “client success.”

Founder of Mosaik Partners, Miles Kilburn pointed to CashStar’s “exceptional growth potential” as one reason for his firm’s decision to support the company. “CashStar is reinventing the prepaid industry for retailers with innovative digital and mobile solutions that drive business growth,” said Kilburn, who will be joining the CashStar board of directors.

CashStar President and CEO Ben Kaplan saw the investment as part of a larger wave of momentum the company has enjoyed in recent months. The company made two executive appointments this year: Martin Hood as vice president of channel partnerships in May, and Matt Kerper as vice president of strategic business development in July. May was also the month CashStar moved into new offices in Portland, Maine, and announced that Studio Movie Grill would be launching CashStar-powered digital gift cards. In July, CashStar was named to the AlwaysOn Global 250 for the second year in a row; in March, CashStar won a 2015 PYMNTS Innovator Award in the Best Prepaid Innovator category.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Portland, Maine, CashStar demonstrated its Digital Gifting and Incentives Platform as part of FinovateFall 2011 in New York.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on August 6, 2015
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Azimo, blooom, CashStar, Currency Cloud, CurrencyFair, Dragon Wealth, FinanceIt, Lending Club, LendUp, peerTransfer, Ripple, TransferWise, Twilio, Xero, Yodlee

On Finovate.com

“Xero Launches its New Android Touch App”

“Lending Club Reports Growth in Revenues, Originations for Q2 2015″

“CashStar Raises Captal: New Investment Boosts Total to $50 Million”

Around the web

Star Tribune column on robo-advisors features blooom.

ACI Worldwide and Computop partner to provide payments and anti-fraud solution.

Yodlee adds four companies to its International Acceleration Program. Join Yodlee at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco in October.

BankNXT’s look at fintech in Singapore features Dragon Wealth.

Let’s Talk Payments highlights Azimo, Currency Cloud, peerTransfer, TransferWise, and Ripple in its list of “remittance startups to watch for.”

CurrencyFair signs on with global payment network, Earthport.

LendUp deploys TaskRouter from Twilio to improve its call-center customer service. See Twilio at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco.

The Globe and Mail highlights Financeit in a look at financing options for small businesses.

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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Five Finovate Alums Named 2015 Technology Pioneers by World Economic Forum

By David Penn Posted on August 5, 2015
Categories: Ayasdi, FutureAdvisor, Ripple, Sedicii, TransferWise

According to the World Economic Forum, whatever it takes to be a Technology Pioneer in 2015, a quintet of Finovate alums has got it.

Ayasdi, FutureAdvisor, Ripple Labs, Sedicii Innovations, and TransferWise were named as 2015 Technology Pioneers in the World Economic Forum’s Information Technology category.

The Technology Pioneers program was launched in 2000 to give recognition to early stage companies developing new technologies that will have a “significant impact on business and society.” Previous winners have included AirBnB, Google, Next, SoundCloud, and Twitter.

The World Economic Forum chooses approximately 30 companies each year out of a pool of “hundreds” of applicants. The field is winnowed by a selection committee consisting of top technology experts, academics, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists who review the applications and submit a recommendation to the World Economic Forum. Since the program began, 600 companies from five continents have been represented in the Technology Pioneer program.

Companies interested in the 2016 program should apply before February 5, 2016. Applicants will be notified by mid-July 2016. More information about the program is available here.

Ayasdi made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014 in New York. The company raised $55 million in funding this spring, taking its total to more than $100 million. FutureAdvisor recently unveiled its FutureGift solution, to make it easier for friends and family to make contributions to a child’s college savings plan. The San Francisco-based company demoed its platform at FinovateFall 2013, and has total capital of more than $20 million.

Ripple Labs picked up a $28 million investment and hired former Yahoo exec Brad Garlinghouse as its new chief operating officer in April. Irish startup Sedicii demoed its authentication solution at FinovateEurope 2015, and TransferWise, making its Finovate appearance at FinovateEurope 2013, began 2015 with a $58 million fundraising led by Andreessen Horowitz that boosted the company’s total capital to more than $90 million.

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Friday is the Final Day to Save Big on FinovateFall 2015 Tickets

By David Penn Posted on August 5, 2015
Categories: FinovateFall 2015

At Finovate, the Early Bird gets the hundred-dollar discount.

This Friday is the final day of Early Bird ticket sales for FinovateFall 2015. Our fall conference returns to New York City, 16/17 September for two days of live fintech demonstrations and high-caliber networking. The show will take place at the New York Hilton Midtown on the Avenue of the Americas. Find out more about the venue and local hotels here.

We hope you’ll join us. And we really hope you’ll take advantage of our early bird discount and save $100 off the ticket price by registering before the end of the week.

We began introducing the companies that will be presenting at FinovateFall 2015 last month. Over the next few weeks, we’ll share more information, background, and insights into the entrepreneurs and innovations that will be on stage next month in New York City. Take a peek at the current roster below, and look for the full list of presenters the first few days of September.

With 10 hours of live fintech demonstrations and another eight hours dedicated to networking among attendees, presenters, sponsors, and partners, FinovateFall 2015 is a unique opportunity to meet with some of the biggest problem-solvers and solution-builders in fintech. Come for the live demos. Stay for the Best of Show voting and celebration. And enjoy a sneak peek at what some of our industry’s most innovative entrepreneurs and organizations have to offer.

Time is running out, so we’ll let you take it from here. Early bird savings on tickets to our fall conference end on Friday. Stop by our FinovateFall 2015 page and register today.

FinovateFall is sponsored by The Bancorp, CapitalSource, Envestment, Financial Technology Partners, Hudson Cook, KPMG, and Zions SBIC.

FinovateFall is partners with Aite, American Bankers Association, Bank Innovators Council,BankersHub, bobsguide, Breaking Banks, California Bankers Association, Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, Celent, CoinTelegraph, Crowdfund Beat, Ebanking News, Hotwire, IDC Financial Insights, Javelin,Let’s Talk Payments, Mapa Research, Mercator Advisory Group, MergerMarket, The New Economy, NYPAY, The Paypers, SME Finance Forum, and World Finance.

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Finovate Debuts: Money Amigo Puts the Blockchain to Work for the Underbanked

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 5, 2015
Categories: Finovate Debuts, Money Amigo

Money Amigo’s mobile banking platform delivers traditional banking products in a nontraditional way. Its clean interface targets underserved markets by delivering simple-to-use services with a transparent fee structure.

Company facts:

$300,000 raised
7 employees
Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada

Money Amigo, which is primarily targeted toward Hispanics and students, prides itself on bringing financial services to previously ignored market segments. Its core feature is international remittances.

Cross-border remittances are expensive and time-consuming. To keep the cost low and the transfer-speed high, Money Amigo moves money using the blockchain. Because digital currencies intimidate most users, the startup insulates all players from cryptocurrency elements. The currency-transfer process runs completely and securely in the background: The sender, recipient, and back-end operational players interact only with Money Amigo’s simple user interface, unaware they are using digital currency.

When I asked the Money Amigo team for specifics on how the startup is using the blockchain, they would admit only to doing some “very very cool things” that they “just can’t talk about right now.”

What’s next for Money Amigo? With so many players interested, the team tells me that Money Amigo is considering selling its remittance solution as a separate white-label option.

This post would not be complete without mentioning Mr. Amigo. The furry green mascot is a crucial part of the user experience. The friendly guy greets users at multiple points to walk them through the user experience. Financial services can be quite complex, and Mr. Amigo helps make managing money more approachable.

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FinDEVr APIntelligence

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 5, 2015
Categories: Backbase, BehavioSec, Evo Snap*, FinDEVr APIntelligence, InComm, On Deck Capital, PayNearMe, PayPal, PayStand, Personal Capital, SimplyTapp, Tradier, Wallaby Financial, Yodlee

Are you building new financial technology? Be sure to register soon for the only event exclusively for fintech developers, FinDEVr 2015, 6/7 Oct, in San Francisco.

Industry news

Expensify launches new fintech investment fund.

Yodlee hosts webinar on how to build financial apps to meet evolving customer expectations.

The Full FinDEVr: “A Look at the Final Line-up for FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco”

TechCrunch: “To Expedite Innovation, Give Away Your Code”

The latest from upcoming FinDEVr 2015 presenters

Wallaby Upgrades Credit Card Optimization Solution with Spend Monitor.

Backbase-powered Touch Bank goes live in Russia.

PayPal hires new CFO John Rainey, a former United Airlines executive.

EVO Snap* to fast track EMV migration for software vendors and retailers; partners with Handpoint.

NerdWallet looks at Personal Capital in feature on how automation is disrupting investing.

BehavioSec mentioned as one “wild invention of the future” that the Pentagon is behind.

OnDeck rolls out mobile app for account management on-the-go.

PYMNTS looks at how PayPal’s Paydiant is powering Subway’s mobile payments app.

Alumni updates

Market Visual integrates with Tradier’s API to enable investors to manage stock portfolios and trade on a single platform.

Tradier announces 75+ investor platforms and advisers now integrate with its API.

Let’s Talk Payments interviews CEO Jeremy Almond of PayStand.

In its latest podcast, Payments Views talks with Doug Yeager, HCE inventor and CEO of SimplyTapp.

Mobile Payments Today looks at InComm’s drive to bring open-loop prepaid to mobile wallets.

PayNearMe partners with The California Department of Child Support Services to offer a new payment option for cash-paying customers.

Stay current on daily developments by following FinDEVr on Twitter.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on August 5, 2015
Categories: Ayasdi, Corezoid.com, Dragon Wealth, EverSafe, Flint Mobile, FutureAdvisor, Global Debt Registry, MaxMyInterest, PayNearMe, Q2, Qapital, Socure, Tradier, Xignite

On Finovate.com

“Friday is the Final Day to Save Big on FinovateFall 2015 Tickets”

“Socure Secures $2.5 Million in Debt Financing”

“Five Finovate Alums Named 2015 Technology Pioneers by World Economic Forum”

Around the web

Let’s Talk Payments interviews Stephane Dubois, Xignite CEO and founder. See Xignite at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco in October.

Flint Mobile upgrades its iOS mobile app to improve compatibility with Apple Wallet.

Cloud OS Corezoid is now available via the Amazon Marketplace (in Russian).

Forbes notes MaxMyInterest, Dragon Wealth, and EverSafe in a feature on the global growth of fintech accelerators.

Market Visual integrates with the Tradier API to enable investors to manage stock portfolios and trade on a single platform.

Q2 Holdings acquires Centrix Solutions for $20 million.

Ayasdi named a 2015 Technology Pioneer by World Economic Forum.

Delaware Business Times profiles Global Debt Registry.

RateFuel asks if Qapital represents the “future of banking.”

PayNearMe partners with The California Department of Child Support Services to offer a new payment option for cash-paying customers.

FutureAdvisor launches FutureGift to help friends and family easily contribute to kids’ college funds.

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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Wallaby Upgrades Credit Card Optimization Solution with Spend Monitor

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 4, 2015
Categories: Wallaby Financial

Wallaby Financial launched Spend Monitor, along with an updated dashboard and customizable widgets. The improvements to its credit card rewards maximization service give users a more complete view of their daily finances.

Spend Monitor provides a quick view of credit-card spending, making it easy to track finances and identify changes in spending behavior. It does this with three key actions:

Pinpoints increased or unusual activity in a specific category via spending alerts
Identifies suspicious activity, such as double charges and potential fraud
Depicts where and how users could have earned more rewards

The updated dashboard screen (pictured below) offers users a quick glance of their rewards, upcoming bills, and overall spending.

These upgrades are part of version 4.0 of Wallaby’s iOS mobile app, which also includes widgets such as bill-pay alerts, and a tool (pictured below) to identify the best credit card to use for each purchase.

The new Wallaby 4.0 mobile app is available for iOS devices, including the Apple Watch.

Wallaby’s most recent Finovate appearance was at FinovateSpring 2013 where it debuted Wallaby Wallet Boost (demo video below). The California-based company is slated to present at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 this October, where it will make a specialized pitch for developers.

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