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Fintech Fundings: 13 Companies Raise Nearly $400 Million This Week

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 23, 2015
Categories: Funding

The new year finally blasted off this week with nearly $400 million in new money headed to the hot sector ($194 million equity, $200 million debt). The majority of the cash ($322 million or 82%) went to Finovate alums including Kreditech ($200 million), Coinbase ($75 million including money from two retail banks, USAA and BBVA), Motif Investing ($40 million from China), True Link ($3.4 million), and Kofax ($1.9 million). In addition, one Finovate alum, prepaid card white-label specialist Akimbo was acquired by Payment Data Systems.

This brings total funding for the month to more than $630 million ($430 million equity, $200 million debt), a healthy $10 billion annual run rate (see recaps from 1st week, 2nd week of January).

The deals from Jan 17-23 in order of size:

Kreditech

Alternative banking & lending products

Latest round: $200 million (debt)

Total raised: $263 million (includes $215 mil debt)

Tags: Mobile, lending, underwriting, online banking, Hamburg, Germany, Finovate alum

Source: Finovate

Coinbase

Cryptocurrency wallet and exchange

Latest round: $75 million

Total raised: $106.7 million

Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, Investors: USAA, BBVA, NYSE, San Francisco, California, Finovate alum

Source: Finovate

Raise Marketplace

Giftcard marketplace for buying and selling

Latest round: $56 million

Total raised: $82.2 million

Tags: Prepaid, gift card, merchant, POS, fee income, Chicago, Illinois

Source: Crunchbase

Motif Investing

Automated investment advice for consumers

Latest round: $40 million

Total raised: $126 million

Tags: Consumer, investing, robo-advisor, wealth management, ETFs, Renren (investor), San Mateo, California, Finovate Best of Show alum

Source: Finovate

Judo Payments

Mobile-first payments platform

Latest round: $9.1 million

Total raised: $14.1 million

Tags: Payments, apps, mobile, SMB, London, UK

Source: FT Partners

Satispay

Italian payment network

Latest round: $6.4 million

Total raised: $6.4 million

Tags: Mobile payments, micropayments, P2P, peer-to-peer, Milan, Italy

Source: Crunchbase

True Link

Prepaid card with advanced controls for seniors

Latest round: $3.4 million

Total raised: $3.4 million

Tags: Prepaid card, credit, debit, controls, security, seniors, YC, California

Source: Finovate

Kofax

Document and image capture technology

Latest round: $1.9 million

Total raised: $11.5 million (public KOFX)

Tags: Remote capture, enterprise, mobile, Irvine, California

Source: Crunchbase

Tip’d Off

Social trading network

Latest round: $1.0 million

Total raised: $1.0 million

Tags: Investing, consumer, social networks, Mountain View, California

Source: Crunchbase

SiamSquared

Securities market technology

Latest round: $800,000

Total raised: $800,000

Tags: Trading, investment management, enterprise, Bangkok, Thailand

Source: Crunchbase

Sign2Pay

Secure mobile payments with your signature

Latest round: $700,000

Total raised: $700,000

Tags: Security, mobile payments, Antwerp, Belgium

Source: Crunchbase

Vogogo

Online and mobile payments

Latest round: $500,000

Total funding: $9.0 million

Tags: Payments, mobile, Palo Alto, California

Source: FT Partners

TrustAtom

Canadian provider of blockchain-powered smart contracts

Latest round: Undisclosed

Total raised: Unknown

Tags: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, legal, identity, security, Vancouver, Canada

Source: FT Partners

—————

Exits

Akimbo Financial

White-label prepaid card solutions

Price: $3 million

Buyer: Payment Data Systems

Tags: Prepaid card, gift card, debit, San Antonio, Texas, Finovate alum

Source: Finovate

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FT Partners Publishes Post-IPO Profile of Lending Club

By David Penn Posted on January 23, 2015
Categories: Lending Club, On Deck Capital

Now that the dust has settled on fintech’s biggest startup IPO ever, FT Partners has put together an extensive profile of Lending Club. Lending Club’s IPO last year was one of the major events that helped put fintech in the headlines of not just technology news, but business news, as well. And FT Partners’ report so far serves as the definitive document on just how the alternative lender did it and gives clues to what comes next.

The data-rich, 60-page document focuses mostly on Lending Club, though small business lender, OnDeck, is also covered. The review of Lending Club before, during, and after its public offering includes industry reaction as well as summaries of analyst coverage.

Key milestones in the rise of Lending Club are shown graphically, from its launch in 2007, through the company’s first $25 million institutional investment five years later. An industry timeline shows Lending Club’s place in the evolution of the alternative lending market (interestingly contrasted with a graph of the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield).

The report discusses Lending Club’s competitive strengths, opportunities for growth, and includes seven pages of loan statistics and another nine pages of financial analysis focusing on revenue and revenue comparisons.

Perhaps my favorite part is the 16-page section “Selected Alternative Lending Transactions.” Looking at the variety of financing, M&A, and other transactions in both the consumer and small business markets provides a robust sense of the history and diversity of the alternative lending space.

The full report is available here.

Financial Technology Partners is an investment banking firm dedicated to the financial technology sector. The company was founded by Steve McLaughlin and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

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Akimbo Financial Acquired by Payment Data Systems

By David Penn Posted on January 23, 2015
Categories: Akimbo Financial

At a purchase price of $3 million dollars, Akimbo Financial has agreed to be acquired by payments solutions provider, Payment Data Systems.

“We believe joining the Payment Data Systems family will help further our goal of reinventing the prepaid card,” Akimbo co-founder and CEO Houston Frost said. “We look forward to growing our program at FiCentive and making the Akimbo card product an industry leader and trendsetter.”

Payment Data Systems plans to integrate Akimbo’s prepaid card technology with the backend prepaid card processing platform of its subsidiary, FiCentive. The resulting technology, per Frost, will provide consumers with “new features and functionality”, better customer service, and lower costs.

Added Louis Hoch, FiCentive president and CEO, “Not only will FiCentive have access to new and significant prepaid card front-end technology including mobile applications, but will also be acquiring significant human capital with deep prepaid card industry knowledge.

(above: Akimbo Financial co-founder and CEO Houston Frost at FinovateFall 2013)

Akimbo Financial specializes in white-label, prepaid card programs for banks and credit unions. The company’s technology supports social payments and prepaid card management, making it easy for consumer to share money by email or over social networks, and to automate the management of their cards and accounts. The Akimbo Visa Prepaid Card, the company’s signature solution, can be used with a mobile app (both iOS and Android) to take advantage of the budgeting, money sharing, and card management features on the go.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, Akimbo Financial demonstrated its prepaid P2P payments solution at FinovateFall 2013.

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Kreditech Secures $200 Million Line of Credit

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 23, 2015
Categories: Funding, Kreditech

Germany-based Kreditech said, “hallo” to a $200 million line of credit yesterday. Victory Park Capital supplied the debt.

The company has served 2 million customers in 9 countries since launching in 2012. It will use this debt to “address the growing demand for loans of longer durations at fair prices.”

Kreditech CFO, Rene Griemens says, “Setting the stage for our upcoming Series C financing round, the credit facility will reaccelerate our growth well beyond the 500 percent per year mark.” According to TechCrunch, the impending Series C round will bring Kreditech to a $750 million pre-money valuation before its anticipated IPO in two to three years.

Kreditech uses its big data credit-scoring technology to better serve the world’s un and underbanked population, which accounts for four billion people. Earlier this month it acquired Kontomierz for its KYC technology and ability to get unique data in real-time.

Check out its live demo from FinovateSpring 2014.

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Alumni News– January 23, 2015

By David Penn Posted on January 23, 2015
Categories: Akimbo Financial, BankBazaar, Betterment, Bill.com, BlueVine, Encap, EZBOB, FutureAdvisor, Google Cloud Platform, Jemstep, Kreditech, LearnVest, MaxMyInterest, Mifos Initiative, Motif Investing, On Deck Capital, Personal Capital, SigFig, Toshl, TradeKing, Wealthfront

Internet Retailer looks at the relationship between product reviews and revenue courtesy of a new report from Baazarvoice.

Xero highlighted as “our best purchase of 2014” by Business Betties.

MakeMoneyYourWay profiles EZBOB and its new business loan promotion, the New Year’s Revolution.

Zee News’ Money Guru interviews Abhishek Dwivedi, vice president operations at BankBazaar.com.

Liverpool Echo features Toshl Finance in its list of must-have apps for busy moms.

Investopedia’s guide to choosing roboadvisors spotlights nine Finovate alums: Betterment, FutureAdvisor, Jemstep, LearnVest, Motif Investing, Personal Capital, SigFig, TradeKing, and Wealthfront.

Benzinga Fintech Awards publishes its video interview with Gary Zimmerman, CEO of MaxMyInterest.

American Banker covers OnDeck’s small business loan marketplace for institutional investors.

Pymnts interviews René Lacerte, CEO and Founder of Bill.com about how to simplify B2B payments.

Mifos welcomes new partners: SkooliLabs and iSystems

Google Cloud Platform releases beta of Google Container Registry for secure hosting, sharing, and management of private container repositories.

BlueVine Grabs $18.5 Million to Increase Small-Business Lending.

Encap Security CEO Thomas Bostrom Jorgensen asks if biometrics provide a “false sense of security” in a column for Bob’s Guide.

Akimbo Financial acquired by Payment Data Systems.

Kreditech Secures $200 Million Line of Credit.

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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FinovateEurope 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 4

By David Penn Posted on January 22, 2015
Categories: Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, CPB Software AG, FinovateEurope 2015 Sneak Peek, Ixaris, JSC Delta Bank, QCR, Topicus

Will you be joining us live for FinovateEurope 2015? Following the action via the Finovate Live Blog and Twitter feed (@Finovate)?

However you plan on participating in the first Finovate conference of the year, our Sneak Peek series helps you get to know the presenting companies before they hit the stage next month.

We’ve already highlighted 18 out of the more than 70 companies demonstrating their latest technologies. If you missed them, you can get up to speed with Parts 1, 2 and 3 of our Sneak Peek series below.

Sneak Peek Part 1: ebankIT, Jumio, SOFORT, TradeRiver Finance, Xignite, and Yoyo

Sneak Peek Part 2: AlphaPoint, Avoka, Encap Security, investUP, Nostrum Group, and StreetShares

Sneak Peek Part 3: CoinJar, EVRY, FOBISS, Strands, Trunomi, VATBox

Today we bring you another set of six presenters: Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, CPB SOFTWARE, Ixaris, JSC Delta Bank, QCR, and Topicus.Finance.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank have a long, 156-year history of innovation. Our latest innovation is redy, a mobile commerce platform.

Features

A mobile commerce platform that connects shoppers, businesses, and the community for a common cause
Fast and secure mobile payments
Easy, fast, and secure donations

Why it’s great

redy is a fast and secure mobile commerce platform that improves the shopping experience and connects shoppers, businesses, and communities for a common cause.

Presenters

Robert Musgrove, Executive Community Engagement

Musgrove played a pivotal role in the expansion of Community Bank. He is always on the lookout for ways to give back to his community.

Rick vanEmmerik, Mobility Manager

vanEmmerik has been with Bendigo and Adelaide Group for 7 years. He has been part of the redy team since its inception.

CPB SOFTWARE offers profound expertise, creativity, flexibility, and high quality financial software solutions including premium ASP and BPO services.

Features

PROFOS is the app for bankers
Manage your clients anytime and anywhere
The best way to support your advisors and clients

Why it’s great

PROFOS – The Bank is where Clients are!

Presenters

Peter Thomayer, CEO

Thomayer is founding member and since 2000 CEO of CPB Software. Areas of responsibility: strategy, human resources, marketing, and sales. Held different leading positions in some banks before.

Barbara Aigner, Consultant

Aigner is founder and CEO of emotion banking, a consultant company for banks and founder of victor, the main analysis and championship for banks in the German-speaking area.

Markus Nekham, Consultant / Advisory Board

Nekham is founder and CEO of networx business services. He is lecturer at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, and a negotiation and communication consultant and coach.

Ixaris is a fintech company specializing in the delivery of next generation card programs.

Features

Extend your card programs offering with apps from our App Store
Reduce burden on your IT through an on-the-cloud platform
Reduce card program management overheads with self-service tools

Why it’s great

Card programs tailored to your customer needs by your own customers

Presenters

Patrick Abela, Product Director

Abela has 15 years experience specializing in leveraging technology to deliver innovative and competitive payment products and solutions.

Reno Scerri, Pre-sales and Solutioning Manager

Scerri has over 10 years’ experience in technology products, with special focus on design and delivery of solutions for the payments industry.

JSC Data Bank is a Ukranian innovative universal bank that provides a wide range of products and services for all types of clients.

Features

Transfer money via Facebook
Transfer money using only the recipient’s mobile phone number
Service is available without registration for everyone

Why it’s great

Pay2You is a service that makes your communication channels available for transferring money.

Presenter

Stanislav Ostrovsky, Head of R&D Department

QCR has developed RiskAware, an innovative credit risk assessment technology which can add major value to existing risk management practices at financial institutions.

Features

Drastically improved corporate default predicting power
Deeper credit risk analysis and more accurate quantification of credit risk
Faster credit risk management, quicker SLA times

Why it’s great

Through faster and more accurate credit risk management, RiskAware can save millions of USD a year in credit losses for financial institutions.

Presenters

Tamas Varkonyi, Founder and CEO

Varkonyi’s professional career in credit risk management spans 12 years. Before founding QCR, he managed a credit portfolio at CIT Group and underwrote loans at Barclays.

Sandor Kocso, CTO

Kocso is a seasoned technologist with 10 years of experience developing financial software applications at Morgan Stanley and Leonteq Securities, Switzerland.

Topicus.Finance is a flexible, process-oriented business lending platform with self-service capabilities.

Features

With FORCE Business Lending:

Enable automatic loan origination
Achieve seamless fulfillment for all parties
Facilitate everything from orientation to a fully-repaid debt

Why it’s great

“Customer centric” is no longer a hollow phrase. FORCE Business Lending enables your employees to fully focus on (the business of) your customer.

Presenters

Michiel Schipper, Managing Director

Jamie Burink, Head of Business Lending

FinovateEurope 2015 will be held February 10 and 11 in London. Pick up your tickets today and join us for the first Finovate conference of the year.

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BlueVine Grabs $18.5 Million to Increase Small-Business Lending

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 22, 2015
Categories: BlueVine, Funding

Being a small business short on funds is never a good thing. However, with more startups tackling short-term funding headaches for small businesses, there are now more options available.

For example, BlueVine Capital raised $18.5 million in a series B round today, bringing its total funding to $24 million. The announcement comes a day after its competitor, Taulia, pulled in $15 million.

The funding was co-led by 83North (formerly Greylock Partners) and Lightspeed Ventures. Silicon Valley Bank, Correlation Ventures and private investors also contributed.

The Palo Alto-based company will use the funding to expand into new verticals and add software integration. It also plans to double its employee base this year.

In March of 2014, BlueVine beta-launched its cloud-based platform that helps small businesses smooth out their cash flow by freeing up funds stuck in unpaid invoices. Businesses can receive credit lines from $5,000 to $50,000.

Since launch, BlueVine has processed thousands of invoices and provided several million dollars to small businesses in the U.S.

Check out BlueVine’s debut at FinovateFall 2014 in New York.

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Taulia’s Fresh $15 Million to Fuel International Growth

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 22, 2015
Categories: Funding, Taulia

Invoice management company, Taulia, raised $40 million over the last six months, and brought in even more cash yesterday. The new, $15 million installment, which has been added to its previously-closed Series D round, comes from Zouk Capital.

Since launching in 2009, the San Francisco-based company acquired BillFLO in 2011 and has raised a total of $91 million. It operates primarily in North America and Europe and the new funds will be used to fuel international expansion.

The growing funding mirrors the company’s rising success. Over the past year, Taulia has doubled the number of employees to 200. Additionally, its network of suppliers has grown by 186%.

At the start of 2015, Tauila brought Rik Thorbecke on board as CFO. In the remainder of the year, the company plans to bolster R&D efforts and expand its enhanced financing options for buyers.

Taulia demonstrated its Early Invoicing Platform at FinovateSpring 2012.

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Alumni News– January 22, 2015

By David Penn Posted on January 22, 2015
Categories: Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Braintree, Coinbase, CPB Software AG, Digital Retail Apps, GMC Software Technology, Ixaris, JSC Delta Bank, Kreditech, planwise, QCR, Realty Mogul, Silanis Technology, Temenos, Topicus, TradeKing, Trustev

Kreditech secures $200 million credit line from Victory Park Capital.

GMC Software and Silanis Technology partner to integrate eSignLive with Inspire.

Internet Retailer features Trustev CEO Pat Phelan in discussion on consumer fraud.

TradeKing unveils Risk Assist to protect clients against steep market declines.

Braintree completes initial integration with Coinbase; opens up private beta access.

Financial Post business section features Digital Retail Apps in its look at digital payments in 2015.

Realty Mogul adds new Senior VP of Mortgage Operations, Kendra King.

Temenos forges strategic alliance with EFT processor, Elan Financial Services.

Check out our latest FinovateEurope 2015 Sneak Peek, Part 4 featuring Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, CPB Software AG, Ixaris, JSC Delta Bank, QCR, and Topicus Financial.

Planwise launches Connect, leveraging affordability tools to help real estate agents engage potential buyers.

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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True Link Raises $3 Million in Round Led by Cambia Health Solutions

By David Penn Posted on January 21, 2015
Categories: True Link

Recently highlighted by The Wall Street Journal as a top online tool for retirees, True Link has raised $3.4 million dollars in a round led by an atypical fintech investor: Cambia Health Solutions.

Also participating in the round were Collaborative Fund, Generator Ventures, and Kapor Capital.

The investment is the first significant infusion of capital for the True Link. Founded in February 2013 and based in San Francisco, the company debuted its True Link Prepaid cards at FinovateSpring 2014. CEO Kai Stinchcombe introduced the technology as a way to help prevent elder Americans from financial exploitation, fraud, and abuse, while still ensuring seniors can have an active financial life.

As reported in Techcrunch, Stinchcombe finds Cambia’s relative lack of Silicon Valley cred to be a feature rather than a bug. He credits Cambia’s “strong thesis around aging” as a major synergy compared to other potential investors whose focus may be more youth-culture oriented.

(Above: True Link CEO Kai Stinchcombe at FinovateSpring 2014)

The company plans to use the capital to look into protecting other consumer assets such as credit scores.

True Link’s technology consists of a prepaid debit card with a variety of safeguards. The cards can be set up to block transactions at certain stores or certain categories of items or even certain types of transactions (i.e., no online transactions). It can also be used to establish spending limits, and to send alerts whenever a transaction threatens to breach them.

The service is $10 a month. Cards can be funded from a bank account or direct deposit, and True Link says the process takes less than five minutes to set up.

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LendingRobot Pulls in $3 Million to Boost Your Lending Club and Prosper Portfolios

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 21, 2015
Categories: Funding, LendingRobot

Yesterday, LendingRobot received $3 million in funding for its platform that helps individuals invest like pros on P2P lending sites, Prosper and Lending Club. Europe-based Runa Capital led the Series A round.

The new funding, plus the undisclosed amount received in a Seed round last April, brings LendingRobot’s total raised to somewhere north of $3 million.

The Washington state-based company plans to use the funds to add new features, enhance its prediction models, and accelerate growth.

LendingRobot uses an algorithm to invest users’ available balance in their Prosper and Lending Club accounts to get them the best return.

How is this different from Prosper’s QuickInvest or Lending Club’s Automated Investing?

Think of it as Bid Sniper software for eBay-meets P2P Lending. Popular loans are funded seconds after they are posted on Prosper or Lending Club, usually by institutional investors or hedge funds with automated loan investing technology. By the time the average individual makes their investments, often times the best loans have already been snatched up.

Additionally, it offers its 1,000+ users more than 40 filtering criteria to insure their cash is being invested how they want.

LendingRobot has no up-front fees, and manages users’ first $10,000 for free, after which it takes 0.45% per year.

LendingRobot was recently named a finalist in SWIFT Innotribe’s Startup Challenge.

We featured LendingRobot in our Behind the Scenes feature in May of 2014. Check out LendingRobot’s live debut at FinovateSpring 2014.

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Alumni News– January 21, 2015

By David Penn Posted on January 21, 2015
Categories: Akimbo Financial, AlphaPoint, Arroweye Solutions, Avoka, Azimo, BrightScope, Coinbase, CustomerXPs, Encap, EZBOB, iBillionaire, InComm, investUP, Kreditech, Malauzai Software, Mitek, Nostrum Group, On Deck Capital, PayPal, Roostify, StreetShares, TIO Networks, Tradeshift, TrueLink Financial, Wall Street Survivor, Yodlee

Your Personal Financial Mentor profiles EZBOB.

BrightScope releases AdviceMatch, a free online service to help consumer choose financial advisors.

OnDeck Marketplace emerges from pilot program. Platform helps institutional investors buy small business loans.

Venture Burn takes a look at Azimo and the West African remittance market.

Kreditech named Germany’s leading digital innovator of the year by Focus Magazine.

Arroweye Solutions CEO Render Dahiya urges issuers on EMV adoption.

Check out FinovateEurope 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 3.

Coinbase Raises $75 Million from BBVA, USAA, NYSE, & Others.

Millennial-focused BankMobile app is powered by Malauzai Software and uses Mitek to power mobile customer on-boarding.

Roostify describes its experience with Yodlee’s FinDat Disruptor program.

PayPal to use InComm to support PayPal’s digital gifts services in Canada.

Yale Undergraduate selects Wall Street Survivor to help students understand investing and personal finance.

Technical.ly/ Baltimore looks at how TIO Networks powers Baltimore’s online bill pay system.

Tradeshift wins Circular Economy Digital Disruptor Award held at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

CustomerXPs and EY, a tax advisory firm, partner to help companies deal with fraud.

iBillionaire updates mobile app & releases new High Dividend Index.

Payment Data Systems to acquire Akimbo for $3 million.

Be sure to check out FinovateEurope Sneak Peek #2 featuring AlphaPoint, Avoka, Encap Security, investUP, Nostrum Group, and StreetShares.

True Link Raises $3 Million in Round Led by Cambia Health Solutions.

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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