MoneyStream Launches to Public, Receives $3.2 Million in Funding

MoneyStream Launches to Public, Receives $3.2 Million in Funding

MoneyStreamHomepage

iPhoneUpcomingMoneyStream not only launched its bill pay-focused PFM platform in the U.S. today, but also received its first round of funding.

The $3.2 million round was led by 60-year-old H&R Block, and marks only the second time the tax and accounting company has invested in a startup. H&R Block’s first investment was in 2011 when it furnished an undisclosed amount to Wipit, which demonstrated its Boost Mobile Wallet at FinovateSpring last year.

Bruno Bowden and Kim Polese also contributed to MoneyStream’s Series A round.

MoneyStream helps consumers avoid late payments and overdraft fees by providing cash- and bill-management tools enabling them to look ahead and make financial predictions. The startup analyzes historical account activity to predict their future balance and alert them if they could come up short. In addition to offering a single place to view all bills, the free service also enables users to pay bills directly from MoneyStream’s platform.

Founded in 2012, the company debuted at FinovateFall 2014 in New York. Mike Bertrand is CEO.

Finovate Debuts: Xsolla Leverages its Billing Platform to Build a Better Payment System

Finovate Debuts: Xsolla Leverages its Billing Platform to Build a Better Payment System

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Xsolla is taking its expertise in providing billing services for gaming platforms into the world of payments and commerce. At FinovateEurope 2015, Xsolla demonstrated its white-label, customizable billing platform for financial institutions. Aiman Seksembaeva, Xsolla’s manager of business development, said, “We believe our solution has been perfected and molded by millions of daily transactions that can actually help reinvent e-commerce.”

The stats:

  • Founded in 2006
  • Headquartered in Sherman Oaks, California
  • Maintains workforce of 170
  • Alexander Agapitov is CEO

The story

Xsolla’s payment-gateway comes with advanced analytics and reporting tools, as well as advanced antifraud and chargeback management. The technology can be used by online merchants looking to make it easier for consumers to make transactions in the manner and currency of their choice. Xsolla believes this flexibility is critical, pointing out that enabling consumers to transact in local currencies increases engagement which can lead to higher revenues for both small businesses and their bank partners.

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Users choose a country and coverage, or have them selected automatically. Some advanced users of the platform may transact in one set of currencies, yet want payouts in an entirely different set of currencies. Seksembaeva points out that this kind of functionality within larger payment gateways has been available for years, and now with Xsolla, these options are available to small and medium-sized merchants as well.

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Banks and clients alike have access to the platform’s analytic and reporting dashboard, a 24/7 analytics suite that helps merchants monitor and manage the “flow and health of their business.” Users can see all transactions made on the platform, the volume of sales, taxes if applicable, payout amounts and types, and review fees, courtesy of detailed reports on each payment method.

The bank workspace, Semsekbaeva points out, is not just a “big-data analytics solution capable of producing customized reports” but a resource that allows FIs to communicate directly with clients. It can be used for cross-selling; marketing credit lines for SMEs; as well as handling complex offers from merchants and other vendors.

The future

Xsolla has been busy making friends in the weeks and months since its Finovate debut in London in February. The company announced partnerships with Ubisoft and CipSoft in April, following a string of successful deals from late 2014. Teaming up with other platforms in the spring has led to sales increases of more than 30% and significant gains in conversion rates from PayPal, credit cards, and other payment methods.

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Above: Xsolla Business Development Manager Aiman Seksembaeva presented at FinovateEurope 2015.

The key will be convincing FIs that Xsolla, which already has a strong presence in the world of online gaming, is making a real commitment to helping banks provide a range of options for their small business clients looking for variety in payment options.

“We’ve been experiencing a lot of demand from businesses for a solution like ours,” Seksembaeva said of the company technology. “But we truly believe this is not Xsolla’s place to be. This is a bank’s business.”

OnFinance’s “50 Companies to Watch” Features Finovate, FinDEVr Alums

OnFinance’s “50 Companies to Watch” Features Finovate, FinDEVr Alums

OnFinance_50toWatch

Alumni from both Finovate and FinDEVr are featured in AlwaysOn’s OnFinance “50 Companies to Watch” roster released this week.

AlwaysOn’s OnFinance “50 Companies to Watch” highlights “early to mid-stage startups focused on honing fintech innovation” that are effectively taking their technologies to market. This ability to “capitalize on enormous market opportunities” is what AlwaysOn uses to distinguish its “50 Companies to Watch” from its “Top 100” list published earlier this month.

“(The 50) are positioned at the inflection point of growth and are quickly emerging as contenders that are earning global recognition,” write the editors.

See for yourself. The full list is here. Below are the nine Finovate and FinDEVr alums that made the cut, along with a link to their most recent appearance on stage.

AlphaPoint_hires_logo_boxFinovateEurope 2015

 

Betterment_logo FinovateFall 2011

 

CardFlight_logo FinovateSpring 2014

 

DraftLogo

See them at FinovateSpring 2015

 

 

 

jumio_logo_cmyk FinovateEurope 2015

 

 

Kensho_logo FinovateEurope 2014

 

Plaid_logo FinDEVR San Francisco 2014

 

Tradier_logo FinDEVR San Francisco 2014

 

 

Zumigo_logo FinovateSpring 2014

 

Interactions Raises More than $9 Million in New Funding

Interactions Raises More than $9 Million in New Funding

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The rumors are true: Interactions has raised $9.5 million in new funding.

We reached out to Interactions for confirmation, and they were generous enough to reply with a quote from Interactions CEO Mike Iacobucci:

“This new round of funding further supports our momentum in the market and represents an investment in Interactions’ expansion strategy following the recent acquisition of the AT&T Watson research and technology program.”

“We’re happy to have the continued support of our investors, who share Interactions’ vision of a highly accurate, multimodel interface for any application, device, or service.”

The new investment takes Interactions’ total capital to more than $100 million. Participants in this latest venture round were not disclosed. But previous investors in the company have included Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, North Hill Ventures, and Sigma Partners, all of which participated in funding rounds for the company in 2011 and 2013.

Interactions_DFox_FS2014_stage

Above: Dan Fox, marketing manager for Interactions, demoed at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

Interactions’ technology is used by several Fortune 100 companies looking to leverage natural language understanding technology to make customer interactions both more efficient and more engaging. For banks and financial institutions, this includes providing a wide range of services—replacing lost or stolen cards, transferring money between balances, locating nearby ATMs—without the intervention of a live human agent. Interactions’ platform provides conversational solutions for customers in spoken language (including Spanish), as well as being able to respond by text, and email.

Recent headlines for Interactions include the company’s performance at the 19th MITX Awards this month, earning finalist honors in both the “Best Work Productivity Technology” and “Best Consumer Tech that Makes Life Easier” categories. The company’s virtual assistance technology was also recognized by TMC as a CUSTOMER Contact Center Technology Award winner for 2014.

The company’s acquisition of AT&T’s Watson speech-recognition and natural language understanding platform in December was a major coup that, according to Iacobucci, “will enable the development of highly intuitive interfaces for virtually any device or service and deliver on our vision for the ‘Interface of Things.'”

Interactions was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Franklin, Massachusetts. A multiple Finovate alum, and two-time Best of Show winner, the company last demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Meet the Presenters: Check out FinovateSpring 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 4
  • MoneyStream Launches to Public, Receives $3.2 Million in Funding
  • CurrencyFair Springs $10.7 Million More in Funding

Around the Web

  • Thomson Reuters unveils ASKTRPS to help fixed-income professionals meet reporting requirements.
  • MasterCard to sponsor Smart City App Hack.
  • Alabama Teachers Credit Union and Greater TEXAS Federal Credit Union to launch SmartwearApps for the Apple Watch courtesy of Malauzai Software. See Malauzai at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose next month.
  • Former Salesforce chief architect Scott Hansma joins Lending Club as senior vice president of technology.
  • MasterCard partners with Alliance for Financial Inclusion to support AFI’s Public-Private Dialogue Platform.
  • American Banker’s highlights from Prosper and Lending Club at this week’s LendIt conference.
  • News.com.au’s Investing highlights SocietyOne’s role in “dude-to-dude” 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.

FinovateSpring 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 4

FinovateSpring 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 4

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FinovateSpring is less than one month away. Our annual spring conference returns to the City National Civic building near the campus of San Jose State University for a first look at the financial technologies of 2015. If you’ve been thinking about joining us the 12/13 of March for two days of live demos and professional networking, now is a great time to pick up your ticket and save your spot.

Today’s Sneak Peek preview brings you another handful of companies that will be presenting their technologies live on stage at FinovateSpring 2015 next month. In this edition, we introduce you to:

Check out the previous three installments of our Sneak Peek series below. And stayed tuned for Sneak Peek #5 next week.


CurrencyCloud_logo_FS15Transform the way your business makes international payments with Currency Cloud’s Payment Engine featuring an enhanced API for maximum efficiency.

Features:

  • Reach new customers
  • Benefit from real-time wholesale rates
  • Leverage a fast, secure payment network

Why it’s great
Powering global payments—Currency Cloud has built a technology-based payment engine that simplifies international payments and offers an easy integration for businesses of all sizes.

Presenters

CurrencyCloud_TLatham_crop2Todd Latham, Vice President of Marketing

Latham has extensive experience in the technology and financial service sectors, and he is fascinated at how technology is transforming people’s lives for the better.
LinkedIn

 

CurrencyCloud_RNienaber_cropRachel Nienaber, Vice President of Engineering

Nienaber is fluent in Ruby and Java, carrying 10+ years of experience in bespoke development projects. She is also responsible for ongoing technology development.
LinkedIn

 


DreamPayments_logo_FS15Accepting payments just got easier. Introducing Dream Payments, a next-generation mobile payment platform accepting all forms of payment.

Features:

  • Sell anywhere; accept all payments
  • Save time; grow your business
  • Create customer experiences
  • Safe and secure transactions

Why it’s great
Sell anywhere, anytime, in any format. Dream Payments enables merchants to accept payments anywhere, anytime, using mobile commerce solutions. Dream Payments are the future of mobile commerce.

Presenters

DreamPayments_CAli_cropChristian Ali, Vice President, Business Development

Ali has been a trusted advisor to the North American payments industry for nearly 20 years and currently serves as vice president of business development at Dream Payments.
LinkedIn

 

DreamPayments_ATailor_cropAnant Tailor, COO

Tailor is the chief operating officer at Dream Payments where he is responsible for the daily operations of the company including product management; go to market strategy; and all customer engagements.
LinkedIn

 


HipPocket_logo_FS15Hip Pocket engages your mobile and website visitors by using social influence and personalized consultation to generate new, qualified mortgage leads.

Features:

  • Unique peer-group comparisons
  • Real-time integration and personalization savings estimates
  • Results and call-to-action are customized to each user’s situation

Why it’s great
Hip Pocket allows your institution to provide an engaging, intuitive user experience that marries the emotional and logical decision-making processes.

Presenters

HipPocket_MZmarzly_cropMark Zmarzly, Founder, CEO

Zmarzly is a passionate innovator and thought-leader in the financial industry. He has delivered multiple TEDx talks and has presented for the ABA; BAI; and for JD Power & Associates.
LinkedIn

 

HipPocket_TCramer_cropTodd Cramer, Head of Digital Experience and Design

Cramer holds an MBA and has more than five years of experience in branding, user experience and eCommerce for a $5B bank enterprise.
LinkedIn

 


Inetco_logoThe INETCO analytics software application provides financial institutions with the game-changing knowledge of where, when, and how customers interact with their channels.

Features:

  • View transaction data on-demand, across all banking channels
  • Reduce failed customer interactions and resolve issues faster
  • Adopt data-driven strategies that improve customer engagement

Why it’s great
INETCO Analytics will accelerate your omnichannel strategy with powerful, on-demand insights into customer behavior.

Presenters

INETCO_MBorbas_cropMarc Borbas, VP Product Marketing

With 12+ years of experience working with financial technology startups, Borbas drives the product strategy for INETCO’s real-time transaction-monitoring and customer-analytics solutions.
LinkedIn

 


LoanNow_logoAs a responsible lender, LoanNow’s motivational lending platform helps deep subprime borrowers secure affordable credit, then actively reduce APR within the loan term.

Features:

  • Repayment-motivation algorithm incentivizes good financial behavior
  • Active reduction in APR during loan for positive behaviors
  • LoanNow to debut new features to lower the cost of credit

Why it’s great
LoanNow allows people to be more than a credit score and to actively reduce their cost of credit through positive financial behavior and loan management.

Presenters

LoanNow_HLangenberg_cropHarry Langenberg, CEO, Co-founder

Since graduating from the Wharton Business School, Langenberg has been a pioneer in bringing innovation to consumer finance. He’s founded Optima Tax Relief, SuperMoney, and Debtmerica.
LinkedIn

 

LoanNow_MLulic_cropMiron Lulic, President, COO, Co-Founder

Lulic has spent his entire career at high-growth technology-driven companies. At LoanNow, Lulic leads product management, design, and marketing while also overseeing all other operations.
LinkedIn

 

LoanNow_ZPeracha_cropZahur Peracha, CTO

After more than a decade of building and launching new products for Silicon Valley startups and Amazon.com, Zahur now leads all technology at LoanNow.
LinkedIn

 


WealthForge_logo_FS15_200pxWealthForge has launched the Invest Button, transforming the way private capital is raised by making the entire process faster, cheaper, and more compliant than ever before.

Features:

  • Simple, turnkey technology
  • Straight-through processing
  • Reduced transaction risk

Why it’s great
The WealthForge solution makes private placement transactions more efficient. The entire process has been reduced from months to weeks, costing nickels on the dollar, from risky to fully compliant.

Presenters

Wealthforge_AWeissman_cropArthur Weissman, Head of Sales and Marketing

Weissman is an industry expert in helping to lead the move of private investing from offline to online. Weissman heads sales and marketing helping to make raising private capital faster and more efficient.
LinkedIn

 

WealthForge_MDellorso_cropMat Dellorso, Co-Founder, President

Dellorso is a leading innovator in venture finance and has worked directly with FINRA and the SEC to establish regulations for online private investing.
LinkedIn

 


Yodlee_logo_FS15A global financial technology leader, Yodlee’s cloud-based platform powers dynamic innovation and solutions for digital financial services.

Features:

  • Provides actionable financial advice
  • Makes personalized recommendations
  • Leverages Yodlee’s advanced data network

Why it’s great
Yodlee capitalizes on its unique data network and key data-driven insights to fundamentally change the digital banking experience.

Presenters

Yodlee_JBird_cropJohn Bird, VP, Product Marketing and Alliances

Bird, as VP of product marketing and alliances at Yodlee, is responsible for the marketing of the Yodlee platform to financial institutions and startup financial technology companies.
LinkedIn

 

Yodlee_KGibson_cropKaty Gibson, VP Product Applications

Gibson, as VP of product applications at Yodlee, is responsible for the creation and execution of product strategy for Yodlee’s suite of financial management applications.
LinkedIn

CurrencyFair Springs $10.7 Million More in Funding

CurrencyFair Springs $10.7 Million More in Funding

CurrencyFairHomepage

Q: Why is Ireland a great place to invest?
A: Because their capital is always Dublin’

Jokes aside, currency-exchange marketplace CurrencyFair received its recent $10.7 million (€10 million) in funding for a deeper reason than its Irish roots. Octopus Investments led the round and previous investor, Frontline Ventures, also contributed.

The Series A installment comes after five angel rounds, a venture round, and a seed round, and brings the company’s total funding to $15.4 million. The company plans to use the funding to expand with the growing market and broaden its focus beyond the European and Asia Pacific regions in which it already operates.

Founded in 2009, CurrencyFair functions on a P2P exchange model, whereby consumers negotiate their own exchange rate with others who seek the opposite exchange. CurrencyFair’s exchange platform occasionally beats the interbank exchange rate, since the P2P model insulates consumers from currency-exchange fees.

CurrencyFair competitor, TransferWise, has raised just over $58 million and recently announced a partnership with cloud-based accounting company Xero.

Brett Meyers is CEO and co-founder of CurrencyFair. The company debuted its iPhone app at FinovateEurope 2013 in London.

Ripple Labs Taps Former Yahoo Executive Brad Garlinghouse as New COO

Ripple Labs Taps Former Yahoo Executive Brad Garlinghouse as New COO

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The latest news in digital currencies is a major personnel pickup for Ripple Labs. Brad Garlinghouse, a former executive at both Yahoo! and AOL, will join Ripple Labs as its new COO.

Ripple Labs CEO and co-founder Chris Larsen said Garlinghouse will help the company as it transitions “from building a strong pipeline to execution and exceptional growth.” Garlinghouse was president of applications and commerce at AOL, and spent six years at Yahoo! He was also CEO of Hightail (formerly YouSendIt), and sits on the board of Ancestry.com.

BGarlinghouse_RippleLabs_cropGarlinghouse (pictured) echoes one of Larsen’s favorite themes—the “Internet of Value”—in talking about Ripple’s unique contribution to financial technology. “The opportunity to define the actual framework for the Internet of Value is an order of magnitude bigger than anything else underway in payments today,” he said.

Ripple Labs developed and supports Ripple, a settlement protocol that enables financial networks to securely transfer funds in any currency in real-time. The technology has been integrated and deployed by financial institutions like Fidor Bank AG, currency-exchange businesses like Saldo.mx, and market makers like GSR Markets.

For more on Larsen and the Internet of Value, check out our review of his presentation at the Bank Innovation Conference earlier this year.

Ripple recently made headlines with news of a $30 million investment that put the company’s valuation at more than $100 million. The company opened up its developer portal in March, and lent its technology to the new accelerator for digital currencies launched by CrossCoin Ventures.

Ripple Labs made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2013 (as OpenCoin). The company was founded in September 2012, and is headquartered in San Francisco.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Xero and ZenPayroll Win Honors at CPA Practice Advisor 2015 Reader’s Choice Awards
  • Finovate Debuts: Using Financial Media Solutions’ MAPPS to Create Videographics

Around the Web

  • MasterQueue, powered by Intellaegis, partners with Whitepages Pro.
  • Bitpost lists Coinbase and Blockchain as 2 of the top 5 bitcoin wallets on Android.
  • EVO Payments partners with Boomtown to simplify tech support for POS developers and merchants.
  • Fintech Today reports: With Paydiant, PayPal Will Be a Huge Hit with Merchants.
  • Blackhawk to integrate Kofax Mobile Capture SDK into its digital services platform.
  • Team One CU to pilot MShift’s AnyWhereMobile payment-network with a locally owned restaurant in Michigan.
  • SecondMarket’s Bitcoin Desk Relaunches as Genesis Trading.
  • Taulia named by AlwaysOn as a 2015 OnFinance Top 100 Company.
  • According to Gartner, Check Point Software Technologies lead the worldwide market share for firewall equipment in Q4 2014 and FY 2014.

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.

 

Finovate Debuts: Using Financial Media Solutions’ MAPPS to Create Videographics

Finovate Debuts: Using Financial Media Solutions’ MAPPS to Create Videographics

FMSHomepage

Financial Media Solutions’ MAPPS videographic production tool enables advisers to create short videos that present financial information to their clients. Videographics are a logical shift from PDF documents, since many clients are shifting to the mobile channel and find it difficult to gain information by reading a PDF on their smartphone.

Using video to convey financial information is a good alternative, but is generally expensive. With MAPPS, advisers have an inexpensive way to create compelling videographics for their clients.

Facts:

  • Based in Switzerland
  • Founded in 2011
  • Self-financed, less than $100,000
  • 6 employees
  • 2 clients

When synced with the adviser’s audio commentary, the videographics capture and maintain the client’s attention. This ultimately helps clients understand and retain information about their portfolios.

Unlike traditional video production, MAPPS is affordable and does not require specialized skills. It enables advisers to create a videographic in five steps:

1) Create a sequence
Upload data from Excel to create a chart. If the adviser frequently follows the same sequence in many of their videos, they can create and store templates for future use.

2) Add analysis to the sequence
Add text, images, and animations to explain a concept or analyze the information in the chart.

3) Write, record, and edit commentary
The adviser records in his or her own voice, and uploads the recording.

4) Set and synchronize timing
Place charts, words, and graphics to pace with the commentary flow

5) Preview and publish
Once the video is finalized, advisers can add it into their mobile app and/or send it directly to their clients.

The result is a video similar to the following:

The ideal video length is 90 seconds or less. According to MAPPS, 80% of consumers watch videos until 90 seconds, after which 40% of people quit watching.

Benefits to Mapps

1) Brings communication to the mobile channel, where many customers prefer to receive information
2) Does not require significant funds, time, or skill to create videos
3) Tailors content to each client and personalizes the connection with the adviser’s voice

The first firm to take MAPPS live experienced a 50%+ response rate from clients, which was 40x greater than received previously.

Financial Media Solutions demonstrated MAPPS at FinovateEurope 2015 in London.

Xero and ZenPayroll Win Honors at CPA Practice Advisor 2015 Reader’s Choice Awards

Xero and ZenPayroll Win Honors at CPA Practice Advisor 2015 Reader’s Choice Awards

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Two Finovate alums, Xero and ZenPayroll, have won first place in their respective categories at the CPA Practice Advisor 2015 Reader’s Choice Awards.

According to CPA Practice Advisor, more than 5,000 readers participated in the 11th edition of the awards. The goal is to give accounting firms a “professional-to-professional” opinion as to which systems are “most beneficial” for those working in the tax and public accounting industry.

ZenPayrollLogoZenPayroll won the payroll category, beating out competing technologies from QuickBooks, AMS, PayChex, and ADP. Xero won best “Online Invoicing/Bill Payment Solutions” in a category that included solutions from Intuit, Bill.com, and FreshBooks.

We recently featured ZenPayroll and the company’s $60 million funding in a round led by Google Capital. The company opened up its API to small-business technology providers last September 2014.

An alum of FinovateSpring 2014, ZenPayroll is headquartered in San Francisco, and was founded in October 2011 by Joshua Reeves (CEO), Tomer London (CPO), and Edward Kim (CTO).

Xero_logo_hi-resXero participated in FinDEVr San Francisco 2014, and is an alum of Finovate conferences, as well, most recently FinovateSpring 2011 in San Francisco. Earlier this week, we reported on Xero’s partnership with TransferWise to help small and medium-sized businesses save on international currency-transfer fees.

Xero was founded in July 2006, is headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, and has offices in Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, Denver, and San Francisco, where the company’s U.S. headquarters is located. With more than 400,000 customers in more than 100 countries, Xero has raised more than $250 million in funding, and is led by CEO and Executive Director, Rod Drury.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Xero & TransferWise Team Up to Save SMBs on Foreign Currency Exchange Fees

Around the Web

  • Bloomberg interviews LendingTree founder and CEO Doug Lebda.
  • Nashville Business Journal features iQuantifi and its recent study on millennials and their money.
  • Safeco grants Insuritas “Premier Partner” status.
  • Fenergo appoints former Adobe Systems executive Colm Heffernan to chief operating officer.
  • Mitek launches DoubleNet Pay financial app to help workers pay bills and fund savings. See the technology live at FinovateSpring in San Jose.
  • PYMNTS.com looks at the status of Prosper as tech’s latest “unicorn.”
  • Realty Mogul launches commercial offering.
  • BBVA acquires leading user experience firm Spring Studio.
  • Toshl Finance launches new features with WalletGear 2.0.
  • New York Tech Journal profiles Qapital.
  • InComm Partners with KUBRA to Simplify Cash Payments for Customers.
  • Tuition.io launches flex395.com, an employee-benefits product that enables employers to contribute directly to their employees’ student loans.
  • Air France-KLM to use Tradeshift for global e-invoicing.

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.