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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 1, 2015
Categories: Arxan Technologies, Betterment, FutureAdvisor, iSignthis, MasterCard, MaxMyInterest, Motif Investing, PaySimple, Place2Give, Taulia, Vanguard, Wealthfront, Xero

Around the web

Xero’s new feature helps businesses manage their data with a new dashboard that displays a variety of benchmarking metrics.

Pymnts talks with Eric Remer, founder and CEO of PaySimple, about its holistic payments solution.

Taulia launches mentorship program for women.

iSignthis inks agreement with SolidTrustPay to provide identity and authentication services.

MasterCard acquires Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) for $600 million.

Business Solutions profiles security specialist, Arxan Technologies.

The Economist features MaxMyInterest, a solution for “yield-hungry savers.”

Nasdaq’s Street Authority contrasts Vanguard with “robo-advisers” including Betterment, FutureAdvisor, Motif Investing, and Wealthfront. Join Vanguard in San Jose in May for FinovateSpring 2015.

Place2Give launches Nepal Relief Fund.

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: 15 Companies Raise $125 Million Week Ending May 1

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 30, 2015
Categories: Funding

money_tree While it wasn’t a unicorn week, 15 companies raised $125 million for a respectable annual run-rate of $6.5 billion. There were two jumbo rounds: $50 million to cryptocurrency startup Circle and $30 million to multiple Finovate Best of Show winner MX (formerly Money Desktop).

Here are the deals listed by size from 25 to 30 April 2015:

Circle
Digital currency provider
HQ: Boston, Massachusetts
Latest round: $50 million Series C (at $200 million valuation)
Total raised: $76 million
Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, block chain, Goldman Sachs (investor)
Source: Crunchbase

MX (formerly MoneyDesktop)
Digital banking platform for financial institutions
HQ: Provo, Utah
Latest round: $30 million Series A
Total raised: $61.7 million
Tags: Online banking, mobile banking, money management, PFM, personal finance, USAA (investor), Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Loop Commerce
Electronic gift card platform
HQ: Palo Alto, California
Latest round: $16 million Series B
Total raised: $29.2 million
Tags: Mobile commerce, e-gifting, payments, ecommerce, SMB, retailers
Source: FT Partners

CoverFox
Online auto insurance-comparison site
HQ: Mumbai, India
Latest round: $12 million Series B
Total raised: $12+ million
Tags: Automobile insurance, marketplace, lead gen
Source: Crunchbase

2C2P
Online and mobile payment solutions in Southeast Asia
HQ: Singapore
Latest round: $7 million Series C
Total raised: $10 million
Tags: Online banking, mobile banking, money management, PFM, Finovate alum
Source: Crunchbase

Payzer
Digital payment platform aimed at construction industry
HQ: Charlotte, North Carolina
Latest round: $4.2 million Series A
Total raised: $4.2 million
Tags: Payments, mobile, SMB, Route 66 (investor)
Source: FT Partners

DoPay
Payroll and payment solutions for the underbanked
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $2 million Seed
Total raised: $3.4 million
Tags: Payroll, unbanked, Egypt (initial market), Barclays (holds funds), debit cards, Visa, payments
Source: TechCrunch

Hedgy
Blockchain derivatives
HQ: San Mateo, California
Latest round: $1.2 million Seed
Total raised: $1.2 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, bitcoin, virtual currency, payments
Source: VentureBeat

BrickVest
Online real estate investment platform
HQ: London, United Kingdom
Latest round: $1 million Seed
Total raised: $1 million
Tags: Lending, mortgage, peer-to-peer, P2P, investing
Source: Crunchbase

Benefit
Prepaid mobile wallet for fundraising
HQ: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Latest round: $900,000 Seed
Total raised: $1.5 million
Tags: Prepaid, gift card, nonprofits, mobile
Source: Xconomy

Uanbai
Payments via social media
HQ: Santiago, Chile
Latest round:$100,000 Accelerator
Total raised: $140,000
Tags: Payments, mobile, social, Facebook, Startup Chile (investor)
Source: TechCrunch

DriveWealth
Investing platform enabling international investors to trade U.S. equities
HQ: Chatham, New Jersey
Latest round: Undisclosed Series A
Total raised: $4 million (prior to latest round)
Tags: Investing, trading, Route 66 Ventures (investor), FinovateSpring presenter (12/13 May 2015)
Source: Crunchbase

HomeSlice
Household bill-management solution
HQ: San Luis Obispo, California
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Home management, bills, billpay, expense sharing, payments, mobile
Source: Crunchbase

Kxter
Crowdfunding
HQ: Las Vegas, Nevada
Latest round: Undisclosed (Seed round at $3.6 million pre-money valuation)
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Peer-to-peer, P2P, lending, investing
Source: FT Partners

OrbitRemit
Discount mobile remittance service
HQ: Wellington, New Zealand
Latest round: Undisclosed
Total raised: Unknown
Tags: Payments, international transfers, remittances
Source: FT Partners

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MX Raises $30 Million in Series A Investment

By David Penn Posted on April 30, 2015
Categories: MX

Five-time Best of Show award winner, MX, has boosted its total capital to more than $50 million with this week’s raise of $30 million. The Series A round was led by USAA (via a subsidiary), and featured participation from existing investor Commerce Ventures and new investor Digital Garage, based out of Tokyo.

TechCrunch’s coverage of the fundraising cites Pitchbook’s valuation of the company formerly known as “MoneyDesktop” at more than $270 million after this week’s investment.

The strategic implications of the investment in MX include the opportunity to bring its personal/digital finance management technology to the more than 10 million customers of USAA. Vic Pascucci, head of corporate development at USAA, said, “We see an opportunity for MX’s technologies to benefit our members, and our investment is one way we plan to explore that opportunity.”

With Digital Garage onboard, MX will leverage the firm’s experience in helping companies like Twitter expand overseas to do some international expansion of its own. President and Group CEO Kaoru Hayashi called MX “a dominant force in the U.S.” and referred to financial institutions in Japan as being “hungry for (the) full-stack solutions” that MX can provide.

Headquartered in Provo, Utah (“the heart of Utah’s Silicon Slopes”), MX specializes in helping banks and financial institutions provide omnichannel, “customer-centric” banking experiences. MX was founded in 2010 by Ryan Caldwell (CEO), and partners with more than 500 FIs and 30 online banking, core, and payment network providers. Providing a “truly cross-platform” experience—the company’s last demo at FinovateFall 2014 featured the platform running on more than eight different devices—MX is better able to ensure that their technology will integrate seamlessly with an FI’s current system and processes.

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FinovateSpring 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 8

By David Penn Posted on April 30, 2015
Categories: Finaeos, Finicity, FinovateSpring 2015, FinovateSpring 2015 Sneak Peek, Money Amigo, Ondot Systems, Onovative, Outski, Prairie Cloudware, Slice, SmartAsset, Token, Top Image Systems, Vanguard, Vouch, Whodini

Today marks our final Sneak Peek preview. We hope you’ve enjoyed the opportunity to get to know a little about the companies that will be taking the stage at FinovateSpring 2015.

Register today to see and meet these innovators in person on 12/13 May at our upcoming conference in San Jose, California.

If you’ve missed an edition, our complete Sneak Peek series for FinovateSpring 2015 is below:

And now let us introduce you to the final fourteen companies of FinovateSpring 2015. See you in San Jose!

Finaeos automates the back office and capital-raising compliance.

Why it’s great
Serves the demand for new ways to invest, save, and generate income by investors across the globe.

Founded: 2015
HQ: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Finicity helps developers build powerful apps to drive financial software innovation.

Why it’s great
TXPUSH Interface to the Finicity API Platform.

Founded: 1999
HQ: Salt Lake City, Utah

Money Amigo is a social money interaction platform that solves the lack of simple and clustered services for the unbanked and underbanked.

Why it’s great
Money Amigo makes managing money fast, fair, and friendly.

Founded: 2015
HQ: Las Vegas, Nevada

Ondot Systems builds white-label solutions that enable financial institutions to provide security and convenience for their customers.

Why it’s great
Our platform brings innovation to mobile card services.

Founded: 2011
HQ: San Jose, California

Onovative’s powerfully simple marketing automation software helps financial institutions meet the challenge of cross-selling current customers.

Why it’s great
Onovative provides banks and credit unions with modern APIs and a simple UI to help them grow.

Founded: 2013
HQ: Jeffersonville, Indiana

Outski’s platform improves employee health and wellness, increases productivity, and reduces job-related stress.

Why it’s great
Outski helps companies improve margins and reduce costs by focusing on the health and well-being of their employees.

Founded: 2013
HQ: Tucson, Arizona

Prairie Cloudware provides a comprehensive set of omnichannel, digital payment services to solve the need for more security, convenience, and control when purchasing goods and services online and in-store.

Why it’s great
We are a cloud-based, open platform that allows consumers to access and use their preferred payment mechanisms and accounts via the financial institution’s digital channels.

Founded: 2012
HQ: Omaha, Nebraska

Slice’s technology provides item-level purchase-data across the largest base of online consumers (two million and counting).

Why it’s great
Slice’s one-of-a-kind Purchase Graph technology.

Founded: 2010
HQ: Palo Alto, California

SmartAsset provides a tools-and-content platform to give consumers personalized and actionable advice.

Why it’s great
Leverage our Automated Financial Modeling technology to make significant personal finance decisions.

Founded: 2011
HQ: New York City, New York

Token is a new payment rail that solves the “faster payments” problem for banks, businesses, and consumers.

Why it’s great
A new open bank API, an unbreakable identity system, developer tools, and a wallet app for business and consumers.

Founded: 2015
HQ: Los Altos Hills, California

Top Image Systems introduces the eFLOW mortgage, which eliminates the manual, time-consuming and expensive mortgage-origination process.

Why it’s great
Top Image Systems’ IQA (Image Quality Analysis) provides unparalleled accuracy, security, and ease of use.

Founded: 1991
HQ: Tel Aviv, Israel

Vanguard introduces the Funds Visualizer to rid investors of suboptimal portfolio construction.

Why it’s great
Our interactive, 3-D, data visualizations of diversification provide unique insights when it comes to building portfolios.

Founded: 1975
HQ: Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Vouch is the first social network for credit, enabling consumers to connect and share creditworthiness so they get the financial products they deserve.

Why it’s great
Vouch is for anyone who believes they are more than their credit score.

Founded: 2013
HQ: San Francisco, California

Whodini helps merchants engage customers using social media marketing, reaching loyal customers with targeted offers.

Why it’s great
At Whodini, we help local businesses know their customers better.

Founded: 2004
HQ: Westport, Connecticut

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on April 30, 2015
Categories: Coinbase, Currency Cloud, Encap, Green Dot, InComm, IP Commerce, MX, Open Bank Project, PayPal, Ripple, Stratos, Temenos, Top Image Systems

On Finovate.com

Check out the final installment of our Sneak Peek preview, FinovateSpring 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 8

MX Raises $30 Million in Series A Investment

Around the web

Encap Security to support Samsung fingerprint scanner as part of version 3.0 of its Smarter Authentication technology. See Encap at FinovateSpring 2015 next month in San Jose.

Dutch banking group ABN AMRO to deploy wealth-management solution, WealthSuite, from Temenos.

Top Image Systems wins recognition at 2015 IT Innovation Awards (IT Innovationspreis) for MobiPAY.

PayPal partners with Tillster, an online ordering platform.

Green Dot names MasterCard its exclusive transaction processor and network gateway.

American Banker: New Moves by Coinbase, Ripple Advance Digital Money Tech.

Currency Cloud appoints former Deutsche Bank CIO, Mitchel Lenson, as a non-executive director.

IP Commerce launches new version of Commerce Sync to automatically transfer sales info from a POS system or e-commerce solution into accounting software on a daily basis.

InComm partners with Russian internet giant Mail.Ru Group.

Stratos now shipping its all-in-one smart credit card. Come see Stratos at FinovateSpring in San Jose.

Open Source Project.com features Open Bank Project.

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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Tuesday Tactic: Communicating via Mobile Updates

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 29, 2015
Categories: Mobile Banking

Here’s an unintended consequence of mobile banking.

I learn more about my bank by reading the description of the changes in its latest mobile (iOS) update than all other channels combined. And since I’ve downloaded about 100 banking and financial apps (and manually update them all), I read a LOT of mobile updates.

Very few financial service apps use that space to communicate creatively. Often, it will just be something terse like, “fixing bugs.” Now, I like succinct copy, but at the time of a mobile update, you have the undivided attention of your customer, if only for a few seconds. Use it! (though don’t abuse it).

While a number of web companies do a good job (Yelp, Redfin come to mind), the best financial services communicator on my phone is BillGuard (see inset). BillGuard not only spells out changes being made now, but also recaps prior major improvements, and reinforces their brand with a friendly sentence or two of often unrelated information. They also sign off each update with a real person and Twitter handle. Credit Karma and USAA have also recently posted interesting update information (see below); Citibank, not so much (last screenshot)

Bottom line: I know it takes extra time to get approvals for the “marketing copy” on an app update, but this is a great chance to improve user perceptions. And you can recycle that approved copy into other media as well (blog posts, email newsletters, employee training, etc).

——-

Mobile update examples:

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FinovateSpring 2015: Meet the People in Your Fintech Neighborhood

By David Penn Posted on April 29, 2015
Categories: FinovateSpring 2015

Who will you meet at FinovateSpring 2015?

From the moment you arrive at a Finovate conference, one thing is clear: Fintech is a people business.

In fact, while some of the best connections you’ll make at Finovate will be with our presenters at their booths, many of your best conversations are likely to be with the man or woman sitting next to you in the audience or across the table from you at lunch.

Why so? Take a look at the titles of the more than 1,000 fintech professionals who have already signed on to join us at FinovateSpring this May.

Senior vice presidents and software engineers, managing partners and marketing directors, chief executives and chief evangelists. This year’s attendee-title word-cloud suggests the question is not “Who is going to FinovateSpring 2015 this year?” It’s “Who isn’t?”

The show starts 12 March, Tuesday, and concludes with our Best of Show awards presentation after a second day of live demos on Wednesday. So be sure to visit our registration page today and reserve your seat as Finovate returns to San Jose next month for our annual spring event.

Find out more about FinovateSpring 2015 at our FAQ page.

FinovateSpring 2015 is sponsored by The Bancorp, CapitalSource, City National Bank, Envestnet, Financial Technology Partners, Hudson Cook LLP, KPMG, Kyriba, Life.SREDA, and Zions DirectTV.

FinovateSpring 2015 is partners with Aite Group, American Banker’s Association (ABA), Bank Innovators Council, Bankers Hub, BayPay Forum, bob’s guide, Breaking Banks, California Bankers Association, Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, Celent, ebankingnews, Filene Research Institute, fin-tech.org, HotWire, Javelin Strategy & Research, Mercator Advisory Group, The Paypers, SME Finance Forum, and Western Independent Bankers.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on April 29, 2015
Categories: Advanced Merchant Payments, Coinbase, Currency Cloud, Digital Insight, Expensify, Fiserv, MasterCard, Ripple, SocietyOne

On Finovate.com

FinovateSpring 2015: Meet the People in Your Fintech Neighborhood

Around the web

Digital Insight to provide Touch ID functionality in mobile banking apps.

Coinbase unveils its bitcoin exchange and wallet service in the U.K.

The Currency Cloud appoints former Deutsche Bank CIO, Mitchel Lenson, to non-executive director.

Green Dot Bank chooses MasterCard as its transaction processor and network gateway.

Columbia Bank picks Fiserv DNA for its account-processing platform.

The Finanser interviews CEO and co-founder of Ripple Labs, Chris Larsen.

AMP Credit Tech launches Amplifi Capital to directly finance unsecured loans to under-served small businesses in the U.K.

Expensify debuts new automatic statement-reporting feature.

ComputerWorld: SocietyOne makes case for peer-to-peer lending.

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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FinovateSpring 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 7

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on April 28, 2015
Categories: FinovateSpring 2015, FinovateSpring 2015 Sneak Peek

It’s hard to believe FinovateSpring 2015 is just two weeks away. We’re getting excited about greeting familiar faces in the fintech community and eager to see the wide variety of fintech to be demoed 12/13 May. Register here to join us.

Today’s Sneak Peek introduces 15 more presenters.

Here’s a catalogue of the entire Sneak Peek series:

Avoka’s frictionless digital engagement platform eases the pain of online transactions for financial organizations.

Why it’s great
Avoka gets real-world results.

Founded: 2002
HQ: Broomfield, CO

CBW Bank will show Yantra’s ONE Card platform that provides a secure and convenient alternative to traditional bank accounts for financial institutions, program managers and corporate clients.

Why it’s great
Yantra rebuilds plumbing, standardizes and normalizes data across channels, and embeds compliance.

Founded: 1892
HQ: Weir, Kansas

Cloud Lending Solutions‘ CL Exchange increases the volume of loans for all non-bank lenders.

Why it’s great
Cloud Lending Solutions uses an auction marketplace to bring borrowers and lenders together.

Founded: 2012
HQ: San Mateo, CA

Context Relevant’s automated behavioral predictive analytics software is solving Wall Street’s most daunting challenges for large financial institutions.

Why it’s great
Context Relevant works in real time.

Founded: 2012
HQ: Seattle, WA

Dealstruck’s web and mobile managed-asset-based line of credit offers flexible capital to small businesses.

Why it’s great
Dealstruck uses intuitive interfaces, advanced integration with existing technologies, strategic financial institution partnerships and easy-to-understand functionality.

Founded: 2013
HQ: Carlsbad, California

DriveWealth’s Brokerage-as-a-Service offers mass retail investors low cost access to the world’s most desired asset class.

Why it’s great
DriveWealth offers a full-stack investing platform.

Founded: 2012
HQ: Chatham, New Jersey

Dwolla’s platform of innovation, authentication and directory tools offer government, businesses, and consumers the ability to disseminate personal information when sending or receiving payments.

Why it’s great
Dwolla charges just $0.25 per transaction or is free for transactions $10 or less.

Founded: 2008
HQ: Des Moines, Iowa

Dynamics produces and manufactures intelligent, powered payment cards.

Why it’s great
Dynamics’ intelligent payment cards enable users to earn exclusive rewards faster than traditional cards.

Founded 2007
HQ: Cheswick, Pennsylvania

Encap Security ‘s strong authentication solution powers user verification and transaction security.

Why it’s great
Encap Security works with any and every access point of any bank.

Founded: 2013
HQ: Palo Alto, California

EyeBuy’s TV and video monetization platform enables consumers to purchase products on impulse that they see on TV.

Why it’s great
EyeBuy’s technology recognizes products on TV and video.

Founded: 2014
HQ: Rancho Murieta, California

FIS Mobile’s mobile banking feature solves the mobile innovation gap for financial institutions.

Why it’s great
FIS Mobile enables banks to expand their card services to consumers’ mobile devices.

Founded: 2006
HQ: Jacksonville, Florida

Kabbage’s Kabbage Card offers access to working capital for small businesses.

Why it’s great
Kabbage gives small businesses immediate access to their funds.

Founded: 2009
HQ: Atlanta, Georgia

Knox Payments is a payment processing platform that uses customers’ bank account credentials, not their credit card.

Why it’s great
Knox enables merchants to process payments across all platforms for just $0.18.

Founded: 2014
HQ: Richmond, Virginia

LendingTree is an intelligent personal finance platform that simplifies the complexities in loan shopping to save borrowers money.

Why it’s great
LendingTree uses brand equity, proprietary technology and complex algorithms.

Founded: 1996
HQ: Charlotte, North Carolina

LendKey is an online lending technology platform for consumers and financial institutions.

Why it’s great
LendKey offers a transparent loan shopping experience.

Founded: 2007
HQ: New York City, New York

Stay tuned on Thursday when we’ll introduce the remaining presenters.

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The Evolution of Mobile Weather Apps (and what it means for banking)

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 28, 2015
Categories: Mobile Banking, UX

In 2007, I’d never used an Apple product. But I was one of the first to get an iPhone that year. I wanted to see for myself what the much-touted device meant for the future of financial services. While there was no banking in v1.0, I found myself enthralled with the weather button, my first taste of the elegance of a native app experience.

Fast forward (almost) 8 years, and the weather button(s) is still my most-used app (as you can see on my home screen at right with four weather choices). But in the face of fierce competition, even weather apps have evolved from being completely static to having a useful alerting functions. The Dark Sky app (screenshot below, note 1) hits me with a popup notification and jingle 10 minutes before it’s about to rain, which comes in very handy in Seattle.

Look at the schematic of the Dark Sky weather app below. Five years ago weather apps gave us the a simple probability of rain some time during the whole day. Now it predicts precisely the exact minute rain will start in my neighborhood. That’s a massive functional improvement.

Relevance to bankers
The evolution in mobile weather demonstrates the importance of transitioning from static information retrieval to active alerting. A good passive experience was fine for the first wave of mobile information (2008 to 2013/2014), but the best apps now go way beyond that now.

Let’s switch gears to money management. Your preferred banking/PFM app knows how much you’ve spent compared to previous periods, it knows how much you make and what bills are due before the next paycheck. So your money app can alert you, in real time, when you are bumping up to the last of your discretionary spending each pay period.

And while that’s a pragmatic use case, it’s also a negative one since the app keeps reminding users how strapped they are. A more entertaining use revolves around purchase recommendations. My money manager (Mint in this case, but it could be my bank/card issuer), knows I’m a coffee shop addict. The app could give me a heads-up when I was in the vicinity of a high-rated coffee shop. Of course, the recommendations would have to be highly relevant and focused, or I would just ignore (or turn off) the alerts.

Bottom line: It’s time for banking/PFM apps to be as smart about your money as Dark Sky is about the rain. I forecast a bright future for FIs that get it right.

——–

Note:
1. Dark Sky is so good, they actually can charge $4 for it in face of dozens of free apps (including the one that comes bundled on all iPhones).

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on April 28, 2015
Categories: Authentify, Credit Karma, Kony Solutions, Lighter Capital, On Deck Capital, PayPal, peerTransfer, Prosper, Tradier, Trunomi

On Finovate.com

FinovateSpring 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 7

Around the web

After being acquired by Prosper in January, American Healthcare Lending has changed its name to Prosper Healthcare Lending.

Early Warning’s Authentify xFA wins Gold for Authentication Product of the Year at Info Security’s 2015 Global Excellence Awards.

Lighter Capital closes twice as many deals in Q1 of 2015 than it did in all of 2014.

On Deck expands small business lending in Canada.

Trunomi adds new chief architect, Kartik Venkatesh.

Tradier teams up with Apex Clearing Corporation to bring brokerage solutions to digital RIAs.

peerTransfer adds 56 new schools to its client base in Q1 2015, bringing its total to 650+ educational providers worldwide.

VentureBeat: PayPal brings its One Touch payments to the web.

Credit Karma wins gold medal in the Financial Services/Banking division at the 2015 Edison Awards.

UST Global and Kony launch new mobile app for Blue Cross of Idaho members.

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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Riding the Uber Wave: Capital One Rebates 20% for 1 Year

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 27, 2015
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Capital One, Credit/Debit Cards

Last week, Capital One launched a national marketing promotion with Uber that provides a 20% rebate on rides for one year. And unlike many (most?) card offers, it’s good for both new and existing Capital One customers. However, the ride-rebate applies only to the bank’s Quicksilver cash-back card, so I’m out of luck with my Capital One Venture card.

But they did throw us non-Quicksilver customers a bone yesterday, with an email (see below) offering two free Uber rides (up to $30 each). For me, that’s probably about the same as the 20% rebate, so I was ready to fire up the app and swap out my Bank of America card. But wait, there’s that pesky fine print again. It turns out the free rides are only for new Uber customers. Out of luck again.

Analysis
Overall, this is a great promotion. The bank gets both new cardholders plus a pile of Capital One cards stored in Uber’s app, a great retention tool (the primary goal?) along with a long-term revenue stream (albeit, not enough to recoup the cost of the 20% rebates, unless Uber is picking up a big chunk of the rebate).

The only thing I don’t like is the disingenuous email to non-Quicksilver customers. Capital One alludes to the fact that the free rides are for new Uber users (see highlighted body copy in screenshot below). But that statement is easy to overlook or misinterpret. It’s only when you get to the tiny type below, which is further hidden in a gray background (see highlighted fine print below), that the “new Uber customer” requirement is explicitly stated.

Why not just come out and say it clearly in the body of the email (or even in the subject line)? Existing Uber customers are going to find it anyway when they try to redeem. Just be clear up front and save everyone the hassle! Better yet, don’t send the email to cardholders who are already using Uber (that could have been determined with an email match for me).

Final thought. Why not provide all cardholders an incentive to enter any Capital One card into the Uber app? Remind rewards cardholders that Uber rides can be paid with points (e.g., Purchase Eraser). Or how about a sweeps? For example, one out of every 100 rides (or 1,000) are free to Capital One cardholders until May 30, 2015. That could be funded through interchange alone.

——-

Capital One email to its Venture cardholders (23 April 2015)
Note: Highlighting mine

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