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Finovate Debuts: Pirean’s “Access: One” Keeps Access Management Simple

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on April 6, 2015
Categories: Pirean, Security

Pirean is an identity- and access-management as-a-service company. It addresses both employee and end-user needs, offering access to online banking apps in a secure environment. The company helps banks improve security practices in a low-cost way.

Pirean facts:

55 employees
Privately held
Self-funded
Founded 2002
Headquartered in London

At FinovateEurope 2015, Pirean debuted Access: One, its flagship product. With Access: One, financial institutions offer a platform that matches their branding and makes interaction easy for both employees and customers.

Financial institution employees

The employee portal (pictured below) offers access to a variety of management functions and enables the administrator to generate and customize users’ application dashboards. The administrator can also create and edit identity access-management (IAM) workflows and view security performance data.

Access: One enables the administrator to determine the level of security required for each user-facing app. For example, if they would like a trading account to be more secure, they can require two-factor authentication. Pirean offers the option to use either Google Authenticator or SMS as the second-factor challenge.

This screenshot below shows how the administrator adds, edits and removes banking applications from an application dashboard.

In this example, the administrator is adding a cash account, a trading account, and a user-identity application that allows users to change their password, set preferences, and reset security questions.

The easy-to-edit nature helps banks quickly adapt to changing business needs and customer relationships.

End customers

While the example below shows a customer’s view of bank applications on the Access: One dashboard, Pirean also offers banks the option to integrate Access: One APIs directly with their website.

To create a unified banking experience, banks customize the user-facing platform to match their brand and promote special offers. The clean interface provides access to cash and trading accounts, as well as account settings, user information, and links to partner services.

What’s next

Pirean will have two major partners going live in the next couple of months.

Pirean debuted Access: One at FinovateEurope 2015 in London.

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Fintech Four: Santandar, Robo-Advisors, Crowdfunding, Apple Watches

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 6, 2015
Categories: Fintech

Here are four developments making headlines last week:

1. According to Massolution, a research company that tracks crowdfunding volume, the total amount of debt and/or equity raised through so-called peer-to-peer platforms in 2014 was $12.2 billion:

Debt crowdfunding is up 3.2x year over year:
2014 = $11.1 billion; 2013 = $3.4 billion
Equity crowdfunding up 2.8x year over year:
2014 = $1.1 billion; 2013 = $390 million
—–
Combined total up 3.2x:
2014 = $12.2 billion; 2013 = $3.8 billion

Source: Massolution, 31 March 2014

2. Financial apps for the Apple Watch are slowly rolling out in advance of the 24 April 2015 launch. So far we have only four released but there are certain to be hundreds by year-end. We’ll definitely have a few Apple Watch demos at next month’s FinovateSpring15. According to Bank Innovations, the following financial institutions have iWatch apps available three weeks in advance of its introduction:

Citibank
Mint
Desjardins (Canadian Credit Union coalition)
Tangerine unit of ScotiaBank

Source: Bank Innovations, 31 March 2015

3. Santander goes all-in on mobile meal-pay. The amount of money flowing into the fintech sector is staggering, amounting to more than $3 billion so far this year. But investments from banks are still relatively rare; however, this week Spanish giant Santander made a bold bet on the mobile-payments space, investing $5 million into MyCheck’s Series B round. MyCheck offers a payments platform to restaurant chains such as Busaba and Prezzo in the U.K., and Blockheads and Aroma in the U.S. We are so looking forward to the uber-experience when dining out. I wonder if it will eventually put an end to discretionary tipping?

Source: TechCrunch, 29 March 2015

4. Robo-advisers are taking over the world, or at least that’s what it seems after watching hundreds of millions in venture capital (VC) money flow to the simplified investment platforms (case in point, VentureBeat is reporting that Acorns has attracted another $10 million to its service which invests your spare change). I had a great conversation this week with Herbert Moore, founder of WiseBanyan, an ETF-based asset-allocation service in the same vein as Betterment, FutureAdvisor, Wealthfront and others. But WiseBanyan has completely eliminated the asset-management fees, a bold move that is getting it plenty of attention. (My WiseBanyan beta-invite arrived as I was writing this, so am looking forward to giving it a spin).

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ZenPayroll Raises $60 Million in Round Led by Google Capital

By David Penn Posted on April 6, 2015
Categories: ZenPayroll

Forget about presidents and painters. The next face I want on my paper currency is that of the ever-smiling ZenPayroll CEO Joshua Reeves, whose startup just raised $60 million in a round led by Google Capital.

Also participating in the Series B were Emergence Capital Partners, General Catalyst, Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, and Ribbit Capital. The investment round takes ZenPayroll’s total funding to more than $85 million and, according to TechCrunch, values the company at more $550 million.

Coverage in the New York Times noted that round-leader Google Capital typically specializes in funding “older companies with more established businesses.” Google Capital partner Laela Sturdy pointed to the way ZenPayroll “changed payroll from an impersonal transaction into a meaningful connection between employers and employees.” And beyond ZenPayroll’s capacity to “solve every business owner’s biggest headache”—as another observer put it—Sturdy had high praise for the company’s human capital, as well. “We’re big believers in Josh and his team, and big believers in where they can take this company.”

Above: ZenPayroll co-founder and CEO Joshua Reeves presented at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

ZenPayroll offers all of its features: direct deposit; unlimited payroll runs; year-end W-2s and 1099s for $29 per month plus $4 per employee. There is no longer-term contract, and nothing to download. The online platform is accessible 24-7 from any web-enabled device. ZenPayroll is currently promoting a 2-month, free trial.

We last reported on ZenPayroll in September when the company opened up its API. The company processes billions of dollars in annual payroll for more than 10,000 SMEs in 47 states and the District of Columbia. With the additional funding, ZenPayroll anticipates going nationwide by the end of the month.

ZenPayroll made its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose, Calif. Founded in October 2011 by Reeves, Tomer London (CPO), and Edward Kim (CTO), the company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

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FinovateFall 2015: Ladies and Gentlemen, Launch Your Applications!

By David Penn Posted on April 6, 2015
Categories: FinovateFall 2015

Spring may have sprung, but for many here on the Finovate team, the fall season is already on our minds.

Why? Because the application-window for companies looking to demo their latest fintech innovations at FinovateFall 2015 in New York is now open! And that’s a big deal for fintech players of all shapes and sizes. For example:

Startups ready to show new technology in front of an audience of banking executives, press and industry analysts, fellow fintech firms and venture capitalists.
Industry veterans eager to show the world that they’ve still got more than a few innovations to showcase.
International firms looking to launch, or make serious inroads, into North America.
Direct-to-consumer financial firms with a digital value-proposition new to the industry.

If this describes you and your technology, then FinovateFall 2015 may be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for!

FinovateFall 2015 returns to the New York Hilton Midtown for two days of technological innovation and intense networking. The conference will be held on 16/17 Sept 2015, featuring our signature 7-minute live demos focused on the “special sauce” of true innovation in fields ranging from authentication and digital investing to mobile payments and P2P lending.

Watch last year’s presenters in the FinovateFall archives. For a refresher on last year’s Best of Show winners, read our FinovateFall 2014 Best of Show review.

For attendees: Be a part of the live audience at FinovateFall 2015. Register today and take advantage of special pre-sales savings!

For presenters: Demo your technology on stage at FinovateFall 2015 before an audience of nearly 1,500 financial professionals. Email us at fall@finovate.com for information on how to apply. The application window for FinovateFall 2015 opens today and applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible.

Other questions? Send us an email at fall@finovate.com or contact Finovate Event Director, Greg Palmer, 1-800-418-0980.

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Finovate Debuts: LockByMobile Lets Cardholders Lock Out Fraud

By David Penn Posted on April 6, 2015
Categories: LockByMobile, Smart e-Money

The concept behind LockByMobile is simple: use mobile devices to give cardholders an added level of security against credit and ATM card breaches. For Smart e-Money, the company behind LockByMobile, the strategy was to leverage and deploy the award-winning technology it had already patented and deployed in another context.

“What if you could be one step ahead of fraud?” said Smart e-Money VP of Innovation Angelito Villanueva from the Finovate stage in February. “What if you could add a hard lock that only your customers could lock and unlock, just with a swipe of their finger using their smart phone?”

“Wish it could be done? Well, this solution already exists, and we call it LockByMobile.”

LockByMobile stats:

Founded in 2000
Headquartered in Manila, Philippines
Operates as a subsidiary of Smart Communications
Serves more than 72 million subscribers
Has more than 200 employees

The story

The key technology that makes LockByMobile work has been around since 2007 when it was first developed by Smart e-Money as a security tool for its prepaid wallets. The technology won an award in 2009 for “Best Mobile Security Feature” at GSMA in Barcelona, Spain, but it is the enhancement and deployment of the technology as a way to make cardholders more secure that brought the company to London for FinovateEurope 2015.

To get started with LockByMobile, users download the app, register, and then sign in with their mobile number and a PIN. Users will be able to see their various card accounts on file with the participating issuing banks. Locking and unlocking cards is as easy as a swipe of a finger, and a bright-red highlighting makes it easy for users to see at a glance which of their cards are locked and which are not.

If a transaction is attempted on a locked card, the cardholder will get an SMS notification to their mobile device. And real-time functionality means that even in the case of an accidental locking, there is no friction or inconvenience when it comes to unlocking the card on the spot.

There are a variety of ways LockByMobile is helpful to cardholders. Consumers who lose their cards or have their cards stolen can use the mobile app to lock their cards to prevent use. But LockByMobile points out, even though cards are only used once or twice a day on average, “your card is potentially exposed to fraud all the time.” In other words, even with your card “safely” in your pocket or purse, locking the card using LockByMobile’s technology provides valuable anti-fraud protection.

In addition, the platform’s spending controls can be used to manage supplemental cards given to children or be used by caregivers helping seniors avoid financial exploitation. LockByMobile allows transactions to be limited by channel, amount, location, type of merchant, and type of currency.

The future

LockByMobile caught the attention of more than one observer at FinovateEurope 2015. Let’s Talk Payments praised the company as an added layer of security for ATM and credit-card users. Data monitor’s profile of LockByMobile’s Finovate debut led to a 4 out of 5 rating, including high marks for being a potentially “game-changing” opportunity for banks.

Going forward, the company plans to launch LockByMobile in “several financial institutions across different countries” in 2015, as well as build relationships with a number of potential partners.

“We are constantly improving our offer and enhancing the platform with new functionalities,” said Villanueva from the Finovate stage. Added Guillaume Danielou: “We are currently developing a version for Corporate Cards where the business owner can control the limits and usage for his employees’ business cards, as well as benefiting from the Lock/Unlock feature to protect the cards against fraud.”

Watch LockByMobile’s live demo at FinovateEurope 2015.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on April 6, 2015
Categories: Global Debt Registry, GMC Software Technology, LockByMobile, Pirean, Ripple, TrueAccord, Trulioo, Uncategorized, ZenPayroll

On Finovate.com

Finovate Debuts: LockByMobile Lets Cardholders Lock Out Fraud

ZenPayroll Raises $60 Million in Round Led by Google Capital

FinovateFall 2015: Ladies and Gentlemen, Launch Your Applications!

Finovate Debuts: Pirean’s “Access: One” Keeps Access Management Simple

Around the web

Feature on automation in debt collection highlights Global Debt Registry and True Accord. See True Accord at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose.

Ripple adds dropdown customizations to its price charts.

Huffington Post: Trulioo, Making Trust Online an Option.

Callcredit Information Group partners with Trulioo. Check out Trulioo at FinovateSpring 2015.

GMC Software Technology Named SIIA Software CODiE Award Finalist.

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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CAN Capital Locks in $650 Million Credit Facility

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on April 3, 2015
Categories: CAN Capital, Small Business

Alternative small business loan provider CAN Capital announced this week that it secured a $650 million credit facility from twelve banks. Seven are first-time participants:

Wells Fargo Capital Finance
Morgan Stanley
Barclays
UBS
J.P. Morgan
SunTrust Bank
First Tennessee Bank

Five existing banks recommitted funds:

Fifth Third Bank*
Regions Bank*
AloStar Bank of Commerce*
CapitalSource (a division of Pacific Western Bank)
Amalgamated Bank

*increased commitments

CAN Capital provides loans and merchant cash-advances to small- and medium-sized businesses. Since launching in 1998, the company has extended a total of 150,000 finance transactions to small businesses, providing access to $5 billion.

The New York-based company is best known for its Daily Remittance Platform. The underwriting technology evaluates business risk based on recent performance, which generally enables it to approve financing for more businesses.

CAN Capital debuted its Mobile Funder on the FinovateFall 2013 stage in New York.

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EZBOB Raises £3 Million in Private Equity Investment

By David Penn Posted on April 3, 2015
Categories: EZBOB

U.K.-based SME lender EZBOB has raised £3 million in new capital courtesy of a private equity investment.

The investment takes the company’s total capital to more than £16 million (more than $23 million USD), including a £7 million debt-financing round in February 2014.

EZBOB made headlines this spring with its partnership with online Chinese marketplace Alibaba. A loan guarantee agreement with the European Investment Fund (EIF) in March enabled EZBOB to increase its loan volumes by up to £40 million over the next two years. EZBOB acquired Everline, Wonga’s small business financing unit, in February.

A two-time Finovate alum, EZBOB last appeared on the Finovate stage as part of FinovateEurope 2014 conference. The company was founded in November 2011 by Tomer Guriel, CEO, and Sharone Perlstein, business development, and is headquartered in London.

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PayPal Pays $280 Million for Paydiant

By David Penn Posted on April 3, 2015
Categories: Paydiant, PayPal

Mobile payments innovator Paydiant has been acquired by PayPal in a deal believed to be worth $280 million. The acquisition, announced in March, closed today.

A specialist in white-label, cloud-based mobile payment, cardless ATM access, and offer-redemption and -loyalty solutions, Paydiant gives merchants, FIs, and processors the ability to provide and run their own mobile solutions under their own brands.

Welcoming Paydiant to the PayPal family in the company blog, PayPal President and CEO Designee Dan Schulman highlighted the role Paydiant played in helping businesses like Capital One and Subway launch mobile payments and rewards programs. Schulman also reminded readers that Paydiant provides the white-label, mobile platform for MCX’s CurrentC mobile wallet, which is supported by many of the largest retailers in the world, including CVS, Exxon, and Walmart.

According to Schulman, the goal of the acquisition is to offer merchants the opportunity to build their own branded wallets. He explained that this “will accelerate mobile-in-store payments … and drive consumer engagement through loyalty, offers, and the prioritization of preferred payment types, such as store-branded credit cards and gift cards.”

Paydiant was founded in 2010 by Chris Gardner and Kevin Laracey. Headquartered in Wellesley, Massachusetts, the company made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2013 in a joint demonstration with FIS.

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Finovate Debuts: Telenor Banka’s Synergy of Telco and Banking Brings Financial Innovation to Serbia

By David Penn Posted on April 3, 2015
Categories: Telenor banka, Uncategorized

Telenor has leveraged its success as a telecommunications company to build the first fully online and mobile-direct bank in Serbia, Telenor Banka. For its Finovate debut, the company teamed up with Asseco SEE to demonstrate its Automated Online Handset Loan powered by ASEB Multichannel Solution.

The solution enables customers to easily apply for a loan to purchase a new mobile device. Using a combination of banking and telecommunications transaction data, offers are customized, relevant, and likelier to be used.

Telenor Banka facts:

Opened in September 2014
Has 130 employees
Part of the Telenor Group with 186 million mobile subscriptions in 13 markets

The story

The “Tele” in Telenor stands for Telco, which is a large part of what Telenor Banka brings to the table. The bank was founded in 1996 as ALCO bank, but changed its name and ownership to Telenor Banka in 2014, when it became a member of Telenor Group. The goal was to provide the citizens of Serbia with modern and innovative mobile and online financial services through Telenor Banka.

At left: Martin Navratil, chairman of the executive committee for Telenor banka, presented at FinovateEurope 2015.

The presented innovation platform enables Telenor Banka’s customers in Serbia to get customized offers by two industries in one place— telecommunications and banking. The demo version of the solution is an example of a fully automated and personalized online offer of purchase loans for smart devices, personalized to the customers’ needs in real time.

While the company anticipates adding other service providers to this centralized dashboard, the current technology already offers customers conveniences such as a bill pay solution called “Bills on Click”; P2P payments to a phone number or email; and, launched in Dec 2014, the interest-free loans for purchasing smart devices from Telenor.

And in partnering with Asseco SEE, Telenor Banka has extended this service a step further with its Automated Handset Online Loan. The access to banking and telecommunications data alerts the platform that a bank customer may be in the market for a new smartphone. Moreover, the platform can extend a loan to the bank customer that not only offers rates and terms that are compatible with the customer’s financial situation, but also personalized telecommunications services and products that would make the most sense given the customer’s history.

Moving back and forth between the Telco and the banking functions of the platform is seamless for both the customer on the front end and the bank on the back end. Credit scoring, AML and KYC all take place on the platform, and relevant agreements and contracts from both the telecom and the bank are generated immediately for the consumer.

The future

Telenor Banka followed up its Finovate debut with a major milestone: the company celebrated its 50,000th account opened, making Telenor Banka one of the fastest-growing banks in the CEE region. According to Martin Navratil, chairman of the executive board and managing director, Telenor Banka is “focused on providing easy-to-use financial services and shifting from traditional banking to innovative, customer-oriented mobile solutions.” The technology demonstrated in February is scheduled to be available in the second half of 2015.

Seven months after its launch, the company has enjoyed growth of more than 50% a month, and sees its future very much focused on continuing to serve the Serbian market. “We will probably see examples of other services expanding to a smartphone user-interface as well,” Navratil said. “The more players joining the arena, the faster the market will develop and move forward.”

Read our Finovate Debut feature of Telenor Banka’s FinovateEurope 2015 partner, Asseco SEE.

See Telenor banka’s live demonstration from FinovateEurope 2015.

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on April 3, 2015
Categories: Asseco, ayondo, BioCatch, blooom, CAN Capital, Dream Payments, EZBOB, PayPal, Rippleshot, Striata, Tradier, TransferWise

On Finovate

Dream Payments Raises $6 Million in Funding for mPOS Technology

Finovate Debuts: Asseco SEE Brings Real-Time Big Data to Processing to Multichannel Banking

EZBOB Raises 3 Million in Private Equity Investment

Finovate Debuts: Telenor Banka’s Synergy of Telco and Banking Brings Financial Innovation to Serbia

CAN Capital Locks in $650 Million Credit Facility

Finovate alums land almost 50% ($63 million) of the $133 million total headed to the fintech sector this week

Around the web

Striata acquires Mass Transmit for undisclosed amount.

PayPal closes acquisition of Paydiant.

Blooom participates in InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum.

ayondo wins “Best Social Trading Program” honors at ADVFN International Financial Awards 2015.

Francepertise reviews TransferWise.

BioCatch and RippleShot earn 2015 METAwards from the Merchant Risk Council.

Tradier sees 35 million+ API calls in March. That’s 47k transactions per hour.

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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Dream Payments Raises $6 Million in Funding for mPOS Technology

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on April 3, 2015
Categories: Dream Payments

Toronto-based Dream Payments pulled in its first round of funding late last month. The $6 million comes from Canada’s early stage fintech venture capital and private equity firms, as well as institutional investors Blue Sky Capital, Real Ventures, and Rouge River Capital.

With Dream Payments, merchants use the Dream mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) terminal that works with iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. It can also integrate with a retailer’s traditional POS terminal. The startup aims to help merchants adapt to new payment acceptance methods, such as EMV and Apple Pay, and accommodates magstripe debit and credit card payments.

In addition to the payments capability, the company offers merchants a dashboard with sales and inventory metrics, customer insights, and business analytics. The solution is available for both merchants and merchant acquirers.

Dream Payments CEO, Brent Ho-Young stated that the startup will use the funding to launch the business and roll out its solutions to merchants across North America.

The startup also announced it will open its SDK to third-party developers.

Dream Payments will be demoing live on the FinovateSpring stage in San Jose on 12/13 May 2015. The early bird ticket deadline is this Friday, so be sure to pick up your ticket before then.

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