Alumni News—February 5, 2015

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgQuisk electronic payment system to launch in Jamaica. Come see Quisk at FinovateEurope next week.
  • AM560 interviews Lendio CEO Brock Blake on alternative lending.
  • On Finovate.com: “Funding for E.U.-based Finovate Alums Totals $377 Million in 2014″
  • European Commission’s Promoting Enterprise blog spotlights Nuno Da Cruz Sebastiao of Feedzai.
  • Argent Credit Union hires Insuritas to open and manage turnkey insurance agency.
  • Coinbase to support Google Now notifications.
  • CoinJar launches iOS bitcoin payments app, CoinJar Touch, ahead of its FinovateEurope 2015 debut next week.
  • SixThirty Accelerator deadline extended to February 6.
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.

FinovateEurope 2015: Come for the Demos, Stay for the Networking

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We got the word on Monday: FinovateEurope 2015 will be the largest Finovate conference in Europe to date.

This is a great way to start the year. And we’re hoping you’ll join us in London on February 10 and 11 to enjoy our first event of 2015. We’re headed toward a sold-out show, so get your tickets before they’re gone. 

Live demos are Finovate’s stock-in-trade. But the high-quality networking opportunities are not to be overlooked. And with 500 minutes of demos and an equal amount of time dedicated to high-quality networking, we think we’ve got the balance just right.
Here’s a look at the kind of folks you’ll be rubbing elbows with at FinovateEurope 2015 this year.
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FinovateEurope tends to have a particularly international flavor. And this year’s conference is no exception. Below is a map that shows where each of our 70 presenters is headquartered (click to enlarge). 
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Find out more about this year’s presenting companies here, or check out our Sneak Peek Preview series below.

FinovateEurope 2015 is sponsored by The Bancorp, iBe, Financial Technology Partners, KPMG LLP, Life.SREDA.

Alumni News– February 4, 2015

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgIntelligentHQ features TransferWise and CurrencyFair in its look at the “currency transfer revolution.”
  • ayondo hires Peg Reed as Senior Vice President of Business Development.
  • School of Bookkeeping reviews Kashoo Simple Cloud Accounting.
  • Fintech Monthly focuses on recent fintech fundraising including recent investment in TransferWise.
  • ProfitStars adds billpay, invoice management, and mobile banking functionality to its ICBA Preferred Service Provider program.
  • Temenos teams up with Polytech Ventures to launch the first Swiss fintech incubator.
  • Expensify adds 4,000 new customers in 2014, including  the BBB, ZenDesk, and Yahoo!  
  • Forbes features Currency Cloud’s cross border payment API.
  • Kony’s partners now offering apps on its business mobile app marketplace.
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.

FinovateEurope 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 7

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FinovateEurope is less than a week away, and we’ve already surpassed last year’s record-breaking attendance. Soon, we’ll be sitting inOld Billingsgate Market Hall in London, enjoying tea while enjoying the first day of live demos at FinovateEurope.

Want to be a part of the largest FinovateEurope crowd ever? Get your ticket soon before it’s sold out.

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In this final post of our Sneak Peek series, we’re featuring Aire, Akamai Technologies, LifePay, MoneyHub, mydesq, Onlinepay.comSedicii, and Taulia. You can see all the posts here:


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Aire is an alternate credit score for people. Our mission is to help thin-file customers who qualify for essential financial products via this new score.

Features

    • Rescore credit rejections to lend to 15%+ more customers
    • Improve overall cost of acquisition
    • Minimal change to existing risk profile

Why it’s great
Aire can help turn a No to a Yes.

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Presenters

Aneesh Varma, Co-founder
Varma is a serial entrepreneur with a prior startup in enterprise retail tech, he started off in consumer finance at JPMorgan. He’s an engineer with a background in predictive algorithms quantitative finance.
LinkedIn

 

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Jon Bundy, Co-founder
With 14 years across financial technology, Bundy has been building risk and data products with an additional expertise in fraud detection and AML as well. He was previously at RBS, Searchspace and Symbian.
LinkedIn

 


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Akamai Technologies is a leading provider of cloud security services, helping banks provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere.

Features

    • Focus on the source of the request
    • Determine the extent to which that source has sent malicious requests in the past
    • Make predictions regarding how much that source can be trusted in the future

Why it’s great
The Akamai Client Reputation service provides financial institutions the ability to forecast intent and protect applications against web attacks.

Presenters

Ory Segal, Director of Threat Research
LinkedIn

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Nick Coleman (pictured), Web Security Specialist

 

 


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LifePay is an mPOS EMV chip-and-pin solution, allowing SMEs to accept payments by plastic cards via smartphones, and get LifePay Stand and overall sales analytics.

Features

    • LifePay-mPOS chip & pin is a start-point of LifePay ecosystem
    • LifePay offers the LifePay Stand solution with a portable printer and cashbox as a next-gen cash register.
    • Merchant’s portal

Why it’s great
LifePay – inspiring Asia


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MoneyHub puts the user at the center of their financial universe and helps them visualize their future. MoneyHub’s Ecosystem will empower people to connect, share data and collaborate with their financial advisers and institutions like never before.

Why it’s great
Your customers are already using MoneyHub, why not see how you can use it with them?

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Presenters

Toby Hughes, CEO MoneyHub
Hughes, Founder and CEO of MoneyHub, is an entrepreneur with more than 10 years of digital marketing and technological innovation experience in financial services.
LinkedIn

 

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Dave Tonge, CTO
Tonge, CTO at MoneyHub, has a strong technical skill-set and entrepreneurial instincts. Dave specializes in innovative business strategy and agile software architecture.
LinkedIn

 


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mydesq is an iPad-based workbench which combines products, clients, accounts and analytics providing wealth managers the information advantage to work smarter.

Features

    • Work from anywhere, anytime
    • Simplify work
    • Increase Sales & Service

Why it’s great
It revolutionizes and simplifies the way wealth managers work.

Presenter

Milan Vora, CEO & Founder
LinkedIn


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onlinepay.com is a mobile wallet for students. Share, buy and top up!

Features

    • Share your money with your friends
    • Make purchases directly from your mobile phone
    • Top up your gaming accounts  

Why it’s great
onlinepay.com is a mobile wallet, designed for fun and sharing money, convenient mobile shopping and top up of gaming and trading accounts.

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Presenters

Vladimir Kovalevskiy, Director
Kovalevskiy has in-depth experience in the payment and e-commerce fields in Russia and abroad, including projects related to mobile payments.
LinkedIn

 

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Anfisa Chernaya, Marketing Manager
Chernaya is working in marketing field for last 5 years.
LinkedIn

 


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Sedicii eliminates the exposure (storage and transmission) of private data required to authenticate.

Features

    • Sedicii Payments Card Authentication
    • Sedicii Mobile Authentication
    • Sedicii Contact Centre Authentication

Why it’s great
It is innovative technology for more secure authentication and identity verification.

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Presenters

Rob Leslie, CEO
Leslie’s track record includes part of the original management team to establish/grow Dell Japan to $300M TO in 4 years. Leslie also co-founded PTS Japan, sold in 2000, having achieved $33M valuation in 5 years.
LinkedIn

 

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Richard Coady, Commercial Director
Coady has held senior positions with BT, WBT Systems, Prometric. He will work towards the implementation of the International Sales strategy for the Sedicii portfolio of authentication applications.
LinkedIn

 


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Taulia transforms supply chains, enabling organizations to create a healthy relationship between suppliers and buyers.

Features

    • Sets up a SaaS network between a buyer and all its suppliers with eInvoicing
    • Uses network to offer all suppliers an opportunity to get paid early using third-party finance
    • Preserves buyer capital

Why it’s great
Taulia solves the buyer/supplier payment dilemma.

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Presenters

Matthew Stammers, European Marketing Director
Member of the European management team with responsibility for launching Taulia in Europe. Previously worked for Bottomline Technologies and Capita and holds a Henley MBA.
LinkedIn

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Christophe Juvanon, European Solutions Consulting Director
Key member of Taulia’s European team responsible for understanding customer’s requirements and solution fit. Previously employed by OpenText and DHL. Holds a post-grad degree from Napier University.
LinkedIn


 

That concludes our Sneak Peek series. You can catch all 70+ companies as they demo live at FinovateEurope on February 10 and 11. Pick up your ticket here.

Questions? Check out our FAQ.

Fintech Accounted for 10% of Companies Funded Online via Angel List in 2014

angellist-logo.pngIt’s no secret that the fintech sector is hot. We have tracked $6 billion in new investments during the past 6 months alone (see note 1). Most of those dollars are from big VC deals, such as last week’s $58 million to Transferwise and $30 million to Ripple Labs.

But what about smaller fintech seed rounds? While it’s hard to get solid data across all industries, online fundraising through Angel List’s platform provides a few clues.
In 2014, Angel List reported that 243 startups across all tech sectors raised $104 million through its online platform. While the size of the deals aren’t known, we can see that 23 of the companies fit into a broad definition of “financial technology.” That’s just under 10% of the startups funded through Angel List’s new online funding option.
Here’s a listing of the startups funded, including close date of the angel round:
Q1, 2014
—-
RealCrowd (19 Feb)
LedgerX (22 Feb)
Estimize (14 March)
Q2, 2014
—-
Equidate (24 April)
Abacus (30 April)
PayByGroup (13 May)
RealtyShares (21 May)
ZipZap (22 May)
Q3, 2014
—-
True Link Financial (22 July)
Lenda (22 Aug)
MakeLeaps (26 Aug)
Splitwise (11 Sep)
Blockstream (18 Sep)
Cleartax (18 Sep)
OneName (26 Sep)
Q4, 2014
—-
Coinsetter (1 Oct)
Koinfy (2 Oct)
ChartIQ (4 Nov)
Neighbor.ly (4 Dec)
Elsen (22 Dec)
ExpenseBot (26 Dec)
Close date unknown
—————————
OpenDoor
Vouch Financial
——
Note:
1. Includes more than $1 billion raised in IPOs from Lending Club, OnDeck and Yodlee.

Micronotes Receives $910k in Funding

MicronotesLogo4.jpgCross-selling is an effective tool in financial services, helping banks market everything from mortgages to new savings accounts. MicronotesCross-Sell helps banks take the sales conversation from the branch to the online channel.

According to an SEC filing, this week, the Massachusetts-based company announced it pulled in $910,000 in funding, bringing its total to $4.8 million. It plans to use the funding to drive the business to profitability.
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Micronotes’ Cross-Sell technology enables consumers to lead themselves through the sales process by answering questions about their status and interests. Aside from helping banks generate leads and learn more about customers, it also offers the opportunity to educate customers about products and services.

Alumni News– February 3, 2015

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgProfitStars adds Banno Mobile solutions to the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) Preferred Service Provider program.
  • Lending Club to serve as exclusive POS financing for Alibaba.com’s U.S. business buyers.
  • Visa CEO selects NBCUniversal’s Vasant M. Prabhu as CFO.
  • On Finovate.com: “Fidelity Investments Acquires eMoney Advisor for Reported $250 Million”
  • The Philippine National Bank deploys core banking solution and EFT switching solution from FIS.
  • ABC2 News in Baltimore talks with Robb Gaynor of Malauzai Software about mobile banking apps.
  • Thinking Bigger profiles Blooom and its new way to 401(k).
  • The Costa Rica Star features Azimo, a money-transfer service.
  • Financial Advisor’s look at assets managed by roboadvisors highlights Wealthfront, Financial Guard, Personal Capital, and Betterment.
  • Jumio enhances capturing technology for its ID card-scanning service, Netverify.
  • Discussion of the “positive powers” of fintech in The Guardian features ACI Worldwide, Azimo, TransferWise, Ripple, and Blockchain.
  • Check out our final Sneak Peek before we launch into a record-breaking FinovateEurope.
  • CSO Online features Nymi, Myris, and EyeVerify.
  • Kabbage funding More Than $3 Million per Day.
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.

Fidelity Investments Acquires eMoney Advisor for Reported $250 Million

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Congratulations to our latest “one and done alum,” eMoney Advisor. The wealth management technology company that made its Finovate debut last September has been acquired by Fidelity Investments.

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed; however, Philly.com is reporting that Fidelity paid more than $250 million for the company.

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eMoney Advisor’s leadership will remain intact, including founder Edmond Walters who will continue as CEO. The company will also keep its offices in California and Pennsylvania where Walters promises to “hire a lot more Philadelphia people.”
Walters highlighted eMoney Advisor’s history with Fidelity’s advisor clients as one of the main synergies contributing to the deal, as well as Fidelity’s “multi-million-dollar commitment to technology.” Michael Wilens, president of Fidelity Enterprise Services, underscored the point, saying, “We apply design-thinking in our labs, incubate new companies and work with some of the brightest minds in the country—all for the benefit of our clients.”
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Above (left to right): Chad Porche, User Interface Designer, and Kyle Wharton, Business Development, at FinovateFall 2014.
eMoney Advisor will be used to help Fidelity build out its data management, office, and collaborative tools for investors and advisors. Fidelity’s Institutional clients who work with registered investment advisors, broker-dealers, and banks will be the first to take advantage of the technology.
Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, eMoney Advisor’s platform helps financial professionals serve the investment and wealth management needs of their clients. eMoney has 25,000 registered investment reps and 46 out of the top 50 broker dealers using its technology, which tracks more than $1 trillion in client assets. EMX, the company’s “rebranded” platform, was previewed at FinovateFall 2014 and released in December.
If you missed it last fall, check out our Finovate Debuts feature on e-Money Advisor.

Alumni News—February 2, 2015

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgThe Telegraph features SigFig and Motif Investing in its list of the 10 best apps for new investors.
  • PostConnect to deploy customer communications management technology from GMC Software Technology.
  • Heckyl Technologies chooses Gurpreet Sidana for President-Sales.
  • Tom’s Guide column on identity theft quotes Adam Levin of IDTheft911.
  • American Banker reports: Green Dot to start offering credit lines to its customers.
  • TechVibes: “Trulioo Launches $100,000 Developer Fund to Support Financial Inclusion Efforts”
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.

Bolstr Raises $1.7 Million in Seed Funding

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Since its launch in 2011 Bolstr has been on a mission to offer a simple way for small businesses to get financing quickly. It began lending in 2013 and since then, the 1,000+ investors on its platform have delivered $1 million to more than 12 companies.

The Chicago-based startup pulled in its first round of funding yesterday. The $1.7 million comes from Montage Ventures, Kapor Capital, DRW Trading Group, Merrick Ventures, and Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati.

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Bolstr will use the funding to add to its six-person team and scale the platform. It aims to host 15 to 20 deals per month by the end of this year (it did not disclose its current volume).

On the Bolstr platform, accredited investors contribute to small business’ funding campaigns, which range from $25,000 to $500,000. The businesses have 30 days to reach their target amount, but since launch, every campaign has reached its goal within five days.

Businesses retain full ownership and pay investors back over 12 to 36 months, depending on the agreed-upon revenue share. So far, there have been zero defaults.

Bolstr debuted its platform at FinovateFall 2012 in New York.

Fintech Fundings: 16 Companies Raise $150 Million Last Week of January

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January went out with a bang, with another $150 million invested into 16 fintech companies. Finovate alums secured two-thirds of the cash with four companies taking in $90 million: Transferwise ($58 million), Ripple Labs ($30 million), Bolstr ($1.7 million) and Spreedly ($150,000).

In January, a total of $772 million was raised, $565 million in equity and $200 million in debt. That’s an annual run rate of more than $9 billion, or about $7 billion only considering the equity investments. 
The deals from Jan 24 through Jan 30 in order of size:

International money transfers
Latest round: $58 million
Total raised: $90.4 million
Tags: Remittance, international transfers, FX, payments, SMB, London, UK, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Open source payment network 
Latest round: $30 million
Total raised: $39 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, virtual payments, San Francisco, California, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Digital lender
Latest round: $17 million
Total raised: $32 million
Tags: Credit, lending, personal loans, student loans, refi, San Francisco, California 
Source: Crunchbase
Builds trust between business & trading partners
Latest round: $12.5 million
Total raised: $12.5 million
Tags: B2B, SMB, enterprise, payments, identification, security, McLean, Virginia 
Source: Crunchbase
High-tech and high-touch bookkeeping services
Latest round: $7.0 million
Total raised: $10 million
Tags: Accounting, SMB, bookkeeping, Techstars, Vancouver, Canada
Source: Crunchbase
Solutions to automate accounts payables
Latest round: $6.0 million
Total raised: $10.2 million
Tags: Invoicing, billing, SMB, B2B, accounts payables, billpay, payments, Beaverton, Oregon
Source: Crunchbase
Helping consumers manage health care savings accounts 
Latest round: $5.1 million
Total raised: $5.1 million
Tags: Healthcare, payments, HSA, FSA, health insurance, Hunt Valley, Maryland 
Source: Crunchbase

Personal financial mangagement
Latest round: $3.7 million
Total raised: $7.8 million
Tags: Personal finance, money management, consumer, aggregation, PFM, online, mobile banking, Edinburg, Scotland, UK
Source: Crunchbase
Remittances that directly pay for goods & services
Latest round: $2.8 million
Total raised: $3.6 million
Tags: Remittances, payments, P2P transfers, Africa, Paris, France
Source: Crunchbase
Blockchain technology
Latest round: $2.5 million
Total raised: $2.5 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, blockchain, bitcoin
Source: Crunchbase
Crowdlending for small businesses
Latest round: $1.7 million
Total raised: $1.7 million
Tags: Lending, underwriting, SMB, investing, Carthage, Illinois, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate
Japanese Bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $2.9 million
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, Japan
Source: Crunchbase
Social lending platform
Latest round: $1.0 million
Total raised: $1.0 million
Tags: Lending, underwriting, social networks, P2P, peer-to-peer, New York City
Source: Crunchbase
Credit card with highly customizable controls
Latest round: $1.0 million
Total raised: $1.0 million
Tags: Credit, debit cards, customization, YC, security 
Source: Crunchbase
Netherlands Bitcoin exchange
Latest round: $570,000
Total raised: $570,000
Tags: Cryptocurrency, payments, Netherlands
Source: Coindesk
Secure card tokenization technology
Latest round: $150,000
Total raised: $2.2 million
Tags: Credit/debit cards, security, payments, Durham, North Carolina
Source: Crunchbase

Finovate Alums Populate the FinTech50

Looking for the most innovative startups in fintech? The FinTech50 is a great place to start.

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It also turns out to be a great place to find Finovate alums. Of the 50 companies recognized by FinTechCity’s panels of judges as being “game-changers transforming the future of finance,” nearly half are alumni of Finovate conferences – including our upcoming event in London.
Here is the list of alums in alphabetical order:
According to Chris Skinner, who was one of the panelists, more than 700 companies competed for spots in the FinTech50. The selection panel included veterans of finance and technology from companies ranging from American Express and Google to Silicon Valley Bank and UBS. The FinTech50 winners were announced at an invitation-only event in London.
Speaking of London, Five Degrees, InvoiceSharing, Ixaris, mBank, and Trunomi will be in town next month, demonstrating their latest solutions at FinovateEurope 2015, February 10 and 11. More information on the event available here.