Nearex Closes Series B Funding

Nearex Closes Series B Funding
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Nearex

NearexHomepage

Singapore-based Nearex, a proximity-transaction solutions company, received an undisclosed amount of funding in a Series B round today. This marks the second round of funding Nearex has received from a group of investors, led by Tata Capital Growth Fund LP. Existing investors also contributed to the new round, including Japan-based BEENOS Asia and Xinvesco.

The company, which specializes in contactless micro payments, debuted Xip at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose. Xip’s micropayments solution offers merchants a tiny mobile point-of-sale terminal, called a XipPOS, that communicates with the consumer’s Mobile Money account via a personalized NFC sticker, XipTAG, to initiate a contactless payment.

The hardware integrates with existing mobile wallets. Nearex’s target clients include financial institutions and other mobile money service providers.

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A Dash of Good Karma: Karmic Labs Raises $5 Million

A Dash of Good Karma: Karmic Labs Raises $5 Million
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Karmic Labs

KarmicLabsHomepage

Was it good karma? San Francisco-based Karmic Labs, a company whose APIs offer payment and SaaS solutions to enterprises, pulled in $5 million in a Series A funding round today.

The funds come from Greycroft Partners, who led the round, with participation from Trusted Ventures, Accelerator Ventures, Pipeline VC, Correlation Ventures and individual investor Iqram Magdon-Ismail. The new amount tops the company’s 2013 Seed round, in which it garnered $2.7 million from Draper Associates. Karmic Labs’ funding now totals $7.7 million.

The comDashCardsMobilepany debuted its Dash Prepaid MasterCard at FinovateSpring 2015 (watch the live demo below). Dash is a business-expense-management platform that supplies employees with MasterCard prepaid cards, and enables managers to view, approve and control employee spending via a mobile app. The all-in-one system facilitates budgeting and accounting by simplifying the expense-reporting process.

The company is working with FIS as a distribution partner for Dash and plans to use the $5 million to advance Dash and create product awareness.

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FinDEVr APIntelligence

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinDEVr APIntelligence

Are you building new financial technology? Be sure to register now for the only event exclusively for fintech developers, FinDEVr 2015, 6/7 October in San Francisco. Super Early-Bird tickets are on sale through this Friday, 10 July.

FinDEVr2015-SF-Logo-Stackedwdate

Before diving into company news, check out American Banker’s thoughts on why U.S. banks are opening up APIs to outsiders. It’s worth the read.

The latest from FinDEVr 2015 presenters

  • “12 New FinDEVr 2015 Presenters Announced“
  • “PayPal’s Early Valuation Tops $44 Billion”
  • PYMNTS.com takes a look at PayPal CEO Dan Schulman’s conversation with the Financial Times.
  • Rise in tech investment in the U.K. credited to companies such as Currency Cloud in London’s fintech sector.

Alumni updates

  • Xero releases payroll availability for Nevada and Illinois.
  • Dwolla’s Jordan Lampe pens American Banker article that focuses on Open Bank Project’s use of open sourced APIs.
  • Monitise to emphasize API, on-site solutions in recent strategy shift.
  • Xero to offer foreign invoice payments via new partnership with Midpoint Holdings.

Stay up to date on daily developments by following FinDEVr on Twitter.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BillGuard, Cardlytics, Karmic Labs, ThreatMetrix, Xero

On Finovate.com

  • “12 New FinDEVr 2015 Presenters Announced“
  • “A Dash of Good Karma: Karmic Labs Raises $5 Million”

Around the web

  • Cardlytics wins 2 Silver Stevies at 2015 American Business Awards.
  • Xero adds payroll availability in Nevada and Illinois.
  • ThreatMetrix wins Gold, Silver and Bronze awards in three categories at Network Products Guide 2015 Hot Companies and Best Products Awards.

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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12 New FinDEVr 2015 Presenters Announced

12 New FinDEVr 2015 Presenters Announced
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinDEVr 2015 San Francisco

FinDEVrPresentation

If you haven’t been paying attention to our conference for developers, now’s a good time to start. FinDEVr is only three months away and we’ve just added 12 new speakers to an impressive roster of firms delivering 20-minute, TED-style presentations on their latest tools, APIs, platforms, techniques and case studies.

FinDEVr2015LogoV2DateSo join our audience at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco on 6/7 October 2015. We’re projecting attendance will exceed 600 fintech developers, CTOs and other builders. With ticket prices at their lowest, now is the time to pick up yours. Super Early-Bird tickets are on sale through this Friday, 10 July.

Below is a list of the presenting companies so far; we’ll reveal the full roster later this summer:

Interested in following news from these companies, along with last year’s presenting companies? Follow FinDEVr on Twitter and keep an eye out for our weekly FinDEVr APIntelligence blog posted every Wednesday.

FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 is partnered with BankersHub, BayPay Forum, California Bankers Association, Celent, CoinTelegraph, Mercator Advisory Group, and SF Fintech.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BioCatch, Open Bank Project, Ripple

Around the web

  • American Banker focuses on how Open Bank Project uses open-source APIs.
  • TechCrunch looks at BioCatch’s newest patent on user’s interaction with phone’s accelerometer and touch screen.
  • “Ripple Labs Elected to Fed Steering Committee for Faster Payments”

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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Monitise to Emphasize API, On-site Solutions in Strategy Shift

Monitise to Emphasize API, On-site Solutions in Strategy Shift
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Monitise

Monitise_homepage_July2015

Amid the revenue and profitability metrics in the recent trading update from U.K. mobile-banking innovator Monitise was news that the company would shift strategy from “purpose-built” platforms to standardized, cloud-based APIs in a bid to cut costs.

“We have been delighted with the API’s technical capability and the reception received from clients, which gives us donfidence for the future,” said Monitise CEO Elizabether Buse. Monitise launched its new API this spring.

The company’s trading update revealed that Monitise expects 2015 revenues to be between £88-90 million (below the £90-100 estimated back in the spring); reiterated its fiscal 2016 profitability targets with regards to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization); and noted that a “material reduction … in cash outflows” from the second half to the first half of the fiscal year suggests that the company will have the necessary “balance sheet strength” to bring Monitise to “break-even and beyond.”

Monitise has had a busy first half of 2015. The company announced partnerships with MoneyPass in January; with Turk Economy Bankasi (TEB) in April; and with IBM and Société Générale in May. This month, Monitise and Banco Santander announced their plan to launch a “fintech venture builder” program in the second half of 2015. Both companies have pledged up to 10 million pounds of capital to the project over the next two years.

A long-time Finovate alum, Monitise demoed its technology at the inaugural Finovate in 2007. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in London, U.K., Monitise trades on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “MONI” and has a market capitalization of more than £200 million.

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PayPal’s Early Valuation Tops $44 Billion

PayPal’s Early Valuation Tops $44 Billion
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: PayPal

PayPalHomepage

Ahead of its pending split from parent company, eBay, PayPal began trading on Nasdaq this morning on a “when issued” basis under the symbol PYPLV. So far, trades have settled around $36.50 per share, with a high of $39.75 per share.

Here are the details from the Wall Street Journal:

PYPLV

According to the Financial Times, this means that PayPal accounts for 60% of eBay’s market capitalization, which currently is sitting around $75 billion.

eBay shares are available in two separate forms, without PayPal rights (EBAY) and with PayPal rights (EBAYV), in which eBay shareholders will be given a PayPal share for each of their eBay shares. At noon eastern time, full eBay shares were trading at $61.40, and ex-PayPal eBay were trading at $25.10.

PayPal will officially split from eBay on July 20.

PayPal’s Braintree showed off at FinDEVr 2014 in San Francisco (video below) and will appear on the FinDEVr stage on 6/7 October 2015.

http://finovate.wistia.com/medias/y5r0p6kn2b?embedType=iframe&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

The company’s last Finovate demo was at FinovateEurope 2012 in London.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Azimo, Better ATM Services, BillGuard, Bitbond, blooom, Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, Currency Cloud, Dwolla, FamZoo, Global Debt Registry, Hedgeable, Hip Pocket, Lighter Capital, Loop, Monitise, PayPal, PsychSignal, Realty Mogul, Top Image Systems, Xero, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • “PayPal’s Early Valuation Tops $44 Billion”
  • “Monitise to Emphasize API, On-Site Solutions in Strategy Shift”

Around the web

  • Xero to offer foreign invoice payments via new partnership with Midpoint Holdings.
  • Loop featured in profile of Samsung Pay.
  • PYMNTS.com takes a look at PayPal CEO Dan Schulman’s conversation with the Financial Times.
  • Gulf News Banking highlights Zopa in its review of the rise of P2P business lending.
  • Ferratum Group selects Mambu to Power SME Lending.
  • Top Image Systems to deploy an automated multichannel and mobile data-capture project for online financing company that provides funds to India-based SMBs.
  • Lighter Capital closes 100 deals.
  • CDApress recommends FamZoo to help kids understand personal finance skills.
  • Credit.com blog lists Global Debt Registry as a tool to help get rid of an old debt.
  • Better ATM Services CEO Todd Nuttall quoted in Australian Times column on how technology delivers a growing share of bank services.
  • The Bitcoin News interviews the new online marketing manager for Bitbond, Chris Grundy.
  • Wall Street Journal features PsychSignal in a review of stock market sentiment and social media.
  • Inc. feature on Silicon Prairie highlights Blooom, Hip Pocket, and Dwolla.
  • Rise in tech investment in the United Kingdom credited to companies like Azimo and Currency Cloud in London’s fintech sector.
  • Forbes column on investing for millennials features Hedgeable.
  • Realty Mogul adds two new vice presidents of commercial real estate.

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: 18 Companies Raise $400 Million Week Ending July 3

Fintech Fundings: 18 Companies Raise $400 Million Week Ending July 3
By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Funding

money_waveAs folks in the U.S. headed for the beach, investors in the rest of the world unleashed a tsunami of cash into the fintech sector. Depending on the size of the undisclosed A round to Alibaba’s Ant Financial—a valuation rumored to be $45 to $50 billion—it was probably a record week. Even without counting Ant’s funding, $400 million was raised, meaning we almost certainly had our third unicorn week in the past 12 months.

Finovate alum, BankBazaar received one of the big raises, bringing in $60 million for its Indian financial services portal, lead by none other than Amazon.

In total this week, 18 companies raised $393 million. Only three of those—worth $107 million—were in the United States. At the halfway point of 2015, we’ve tracked $8.3 billion in new fintech investments, not including the Ant round.

Here are the deals from 27 June to 3 July ranked by size:

Ant Financial
Alibaba financial services spin out: Alipay, MyBank, Sesame Credit, Y’ue Bao)
HQ: Hangzhou, China
Latest round: Undisclosed Series A ($45 billion valuation)
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Alibaba (parent), payments, credit scoring, investments, digital banking, lending
Source: Techcrunch

GFG Group
Consumer payment services
HQ: Auckland, New Zealand
Latest round: $167 million
Total raised: $180 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, telecom
Source: Crunchbase

Chrome River Technologies
Expense reporting and invoice management
HQ: Los Angeles, California
Latest round: $100 million Series D
Total raised: $120 million
Tags: Accounting, accounts payables, SMB, enterprise
Source: Crunchbase

BankBazaar
Online marketplace for financial services
HQ: Chennai, India
Latest round: $60 million Series C
Total raised: $79 million
Tags: Personal finance shopping, loans, credit cards, insurance, lead generation, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Pret d’Union
P2P lending
HQ: Paris, France
Latest round: $34 million
Total raised: $52.4 million
Tags: Lending, consumer, crowdfunding, lending, investing, peer-to-peer
Source: Crunchbase

Velocity
Mobile payments and rewards systems for hospitality industry
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Latest round: $12 million
Total raised: $12.4 million
Tags: Mobile payments, POS, point-of-sale, tablet, order entry, SMB
Source: Crunchbase

SimplyInsured
Health insurance for small businesses
HQ: San Francisco, California
Latest round: $5.9 million Series A
Total raised: $7.7 million
Tags: Insurance, health care, SMB, Y-Combinator
Source: Crunchbase

InvoiNet
Invoice-based financing marketplace in Latin America
HQ: Argentina
Latest round: $4 million
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: SMB, accounting, payables, receivables, billing, billpay, enterprise, IFC (investor)
Source: The Paypers

Mondo
U.K. neo-bank startup
HQ: London, England, United Kingdom
Latest round: $3.1 million Seed
Total raised: $3.1 million
Tags: Consumer, personal finance, PFM, debit card, mobile, digital banking
Source: Crunchbase

Tagcash
Micropayments platform
HQ: Manila, Philippines
Latest round: $3 million Angel
Total raised: $3 million
Tags: Mobile payments
Source: Crunchbase

myCFO
Accounting and small-business financial management services
HQ:Mumbai, India
Latest round: $1.5 million Seed
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Accounting, enterprise, advising, payables, receivables, cash management
Source: Crunchbase

Mobeam
Mobile reward redemption at the point-of-sale
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $28 million
Tags: Mobile payments, rewards, card-linked offers, gift cards, POS, SMB, retailers, brick-and-mortar
Source: Crunchbase

Bayzat
Financial services comparison site
HQ: Dubai, UAE
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Personal finance comparison, lead generation, consumer, insurance, loans, cards
Source: FT Partners

Payever
Ecommerce and payments platform
HQ: Hamburg, Germany
Latest round: $550,000
Total raised: $810,000
Tags: Payments, ecommerce
Source: Crunchbase

Tibdit
Online tipping and micropayments
HQ: Southwark, United Kingdom
Latest round: $190,000
Total raised: $300,000
Tags: Payments, micropayment, tips, publishing
Source: Crunchbase

Prometei
Predictive analytics for financial markets analysis
Latest round: $100,000 Seed
Total raised: $100,000
Tags: BI, enterprise, investing, financial advisers
Source: Crunchbase

LoanSolutions
Consumer loan discovery
HQ: Cebu, Philippines
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Lending, lead generation, consumer
Source: Crunchbase

Moneytis
Digital platform for money exchange and remittances
HQ: Paris, France
Latest round: Undisclosed Angel
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: FX, remittances, transfers, payments, international remittances, blockchain
Source: Crunchbase

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BankBazaar Scores $60 Million in Funding Led by Amazon

BankBazaar Scores $60 Million in Funding Led by Amazon
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: BankBazaar, Funding

BankBazaarHomepage3

BankBazaar, an India-based company that sells financial service products on behalf of third parties, raised $60 million in Series C funding today.

The round was led by Amazon, which holds a minority stake, and marks the ecommerce giant’s second investment in BankBazaar. New investors include Fidelity Growth Partners and Mousse Partners. Existing investors Sequoia Capital and Walden International also contributed.

BankBazaar’s funding now totals $79 million, but there’s no word on a current valuation for the company.

BankBazaar has big plans for the funds. It will use the large sum to boost its technology integration, strengthen partner relationships, create an end-to-end customer experience, and expand its marketing efforts to reach a broader customer base.

The company’s technology is available to consumers on Android and iOS apps, and it currently has 23 bank partners to offer a wide portfolio of solutions to consumers.

BankBazaar demoed at FinovateAsia 2012 in Singapore.

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i-exceed Teams Up with Kris FinSoftware to Promote the Mobile Internet in the Philippines

i-exceed Teams Up with Kris FinSoftware to Promote the Mobile Internet in the Philippines
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: i-exceed

i-exceed_homepage_new

i-exceed, makers of the Appzillion mobile app development platform, have teamed up with Kris FinSoftware to speed mobile internet adoption in the Philippines.

i-exceed made the announcement during the Philippine Bank Symposium in Manila earlier this month.

“With mobile internet dominating a huge portion of internet traffic, the role of mobility in reshaping the digital world and how it affects businesses is one that cannot be taken lightly anymore,” i-exceed wrote in a statement issued after the event.

Kris FinSoftware specializes in providing core banking, private banking, risk, and loan-origination software. Based in Singapore and the Philippines, Kris FinSoftware’s client list includes eight of the leading financial services companies in the Philippines.

i-exceed_PhilippineBankSymposium_smaller

i-exceed’s Sandeep Mahapatra presented “Mobility in Digital Banking” at the Philippine Bank Symposium.

i-exceed deployed its mobile-banking solution at Exim Bank, Comoros in Tanzania in March, shortly after releasing version 3.0 of its Appzillon platform. The company started off the year with news that Indonesia’s Telkomsigma would be deploying Appzillon to create its own platform-independent mobile apps.

Founded in May 2011 and headquartered in Bangalore, India, i-exceed demonstrated its Appzillon platform at FinovateAsia 2013. Joseph John is managing director.

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