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Finovate Debuts: mCASH

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 9, 2014
Categories: Finovate Debuts, mCASH

Finovate Debuts is a blog series to introduce companies who demonstrated for the first time on the Finovate stage.

mCASH seeks to make payments easier by enabling consumers to pay and get paid directly from their mobile device. By scanning a QR code on a screen or printed on paper, consumers can pay for goods or services at a physical point-of-sale (POS), in-app, or online. Additionally, they can make peer-to-peer payments by sending the funds to the recipient’s mobile phone number.

Stats

Founded in 2010
25 employees
$9.5 million in funding
360,000 merchants have POS terminals that support mCASH
Uses two-factor authentication

The experience

Consumers first need to set up their funding source(s), which can include credit and debit cards, direct bank transfer, or prepaid cards. For multiple funding sources, they can set a default option.

Consumers can use mCASH at a physical point of sale or online, by scanning a QR code.

>> At physical POS
mCASH recently partnered with payment terminal provider Point, which is owned by Verifone, to enable merchants to accept payment through mCASH at the physical POS. To pay, users simply open the mCASH app, scan the QR code that appears on the payment terminal, and accept the payment.

When a merchant does not have a POS terminal that supports QR codes, they use a printed QR code affixed near their register.

>> Peer-to-peer payments
To make peer-to-peer payments, users simply:

Select the amount they want to send
Pick the account to fund the transaction
Choose a recipient from their address book
Swipe to confirm the payment

The money is both debited and credited in real time.

>> Mobile merchants

mCASH recently debuted a web app specifically for mobile merchants. Unlike Square and iSettle, this solution does not require additional hardware. Instead, the customer uses their smartphone to scan the QR code on the screen of the merchant’s smartphone, tablet, or laptop.

After scanning the QR code, the consumer receives a payment request on their smartphone and swipes to pay and complete the transaction.

>> Printed ads
mCASH can also be used directly on printed advertisements, billboards, or TV ads to entice consumers to buy. When merchants include a QR code next to a product for sale, customers can scan it using the mCASH app to begin the checkout process. The app requests payment from the customer, who selects their preferred payment method, confirms the amount, and provides their pre-loaded shipping details.

Merchant benefits

Aside from being a platform that merchants can use to accept payments, mCASH also makes it easy for businesses to build loyalty, offers and rewards into the payment experience.

mCASH provides consumers a low friction way to pay while offering merchants an easy and inexpensive method of collecting payment. The two-factor authentication creates a secure payment environment that reduces the risk of fraud for both parties.

Businesses who wish to on-board with mCASH face few hurdles since there is no need to purchase additional hardware and the web-based payment platform works on every device with a browser. Additionally, mCASH chargers a lower transaction fee than solutions such as Square and iZettle.

Check out a video of mCASH’s live demo here.

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Alumni News– October 9, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 9, 2014
Categories: Arxan Technologies, BioCatch, CurrencyFair, Holvi, InComm, Xero, Zopa

Arxan Technologies partners with Xamarin to provide developers with enhanced application security solution.

InComm partners with PayPoint to launch Digital Gaming Vouchers.

Former Commonwealth Bank CMO Andy Lark appointed as Xero’s new CMO.

Technologie.ie interviews Brian Monaghan, head of online at CurrencyFair on the growth of hacking.

Avaus lists Holvi among the 30 smartest companies in Finland.

Fairer Finance gives top marks to Zopa in its latest personal loan roundup.

Fast Company profiles how BioCatch makes online art out of visualizations of hacking attacks.

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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Dwolla Raises $9.7 Million in Round Led by CME Group

By David Penn Posted on October 8, 2014
Categories: Dwolla

With a new investment of $9.7 million, Dwolla’s total capital now stands at $32.5 million.

This latest investment in the real-time digital payment network was led by CME Group. The round included participation from a handful of existing investors, as well, specifically, Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and Village Ventures.

Writing for the Dwolla blog, CEO and Founder Ben Milne talked about how the investment will have an “immediate impact,” pointing to CME Group’s experience as “the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace. This has led to some interesting speculation on next steps and potential future deployments of Dwolla’s technology.

Recently in the news announcing the official launch of MassPay, Dwolla also was featured in an American Banker column on payment technology and wearables like Google Glass. In June, Dwolla released its Direct service to allow users to send money without requiring fully registered Dwolla accounts. The month before, the company launched Next Day Transfers, its new small business service offering that provides faster deposits (three times faster than ACH), and next-day bank withdrawals.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, Dwolla demoed its FiSync solution at FinovateSpring 2012 in San Francisco.

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Alumni News– October 8, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 8, 2014
Categories: Actiance, Arroweye Solutions, Cachet Financial Solutions, Dwolla, Personal Capital, The Currency Cloud, Top Image Systems, TSYS, WePay, Xpenditure

Xpenditure brings in $1.25 million in funding.

Pymnts interviews Mike Laven, CEO of Currency Cloud.

WePay launches WePay Clear to powers payments invisibly from the backend.

TSYS upgrades CentreSuite, its online self-service solution for commercial cardholders.

LSC deploys Cachet Financial Solutions’ Select Mobile Money Platform for LSC’s CU Money prepaid card users.

Investment News features Personal Capital.

Actiance integrates with PeopleLinx to facilitate social media adoption.

Hospitality Marketing Concepts selects Arroweye Solutions to deliver personalized rewards cards and welcome kits.

FinovateFall 2014 Sets New Attendance Record of 1,500.

Top Image Systems announces relocation of TIS America’s headquarters to Plano, Texas.

In a funding round led by CME Group, Dwolla raised $9.7 million in new capital.

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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FinovateFall 2014 Sets New Attendance Record of 1,500 (Plus One Drone)

By David Penn Posted on October 7, 2014
Categories: FinovateFall 2014

With all the excitement of FinDEVr’s successful inaugural event last week, it’s all the more gratifying to remember that FinDEVr followed what was the biggest Finovate conference to date.

FinovateFall 2014 attendance was nearly 1,500, up 30% over last year. It also featured a number of other interesting milestones and famous firsts such as:

Most Devices Used in a Single Demo – 12 (MX/Money Desktop)
First Deployment of Drone Technology (Toopher)
Most “Time’s Up” Bells Rung (since 2011)

There are many ways to enjoy Finovate conferences. And for those who weren’t able to be in New York for the show in person (and for many who were), the Finovate Twitter feed at #Finovate is often the next best thing to being there.

See for yourself! And don’t forget to check out the full slate of demo videos from FinovateFall 2014 now up in our “Watch Demos” video section.

Thanks again to all those who presented, sponsored, and/or attended FinovateFall 2014. We’ll see you next year!

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Xpenditure Brings in $1.25 Million in Funding

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 7, 2014
Categories: Xpenditure

Xpenditure, a mobile and web-based expense management platform announced today that it raised $1.25 million in funding from existing investors.

This funding, added to Xpenditure’s initial round of $1.75 million, brings the Belgium-based company’s funding to $3 million.

It plans to use the funding to expand its operations. In fact, it recently opened an office in New York City and plans to grow its team from 15 to 25 people by the end of 2014.

When users scan their receipts into Xpenditure, the system pulls all relevant data and organizes the information in its web-based portal. Once all of the users’ expenses have been uploaded and organized, they can export expense and reimbursement reports into their ERP software or a CSV file.

Xpenditure was developed in 2011 by CardWise, a company that specializes in prepaid card products.

Check out the demo video of Cardwise’s Xpenditure at FinovateEurope 2014.

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Blockchain Raises $30 Million in Growth Capital

By David Penn Posted on October 7, 2014
Categories: Blockchain

In a massive Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Wicklow Capital, bitcoin wallet innovator Blockchain announced today that it has raised $30 million in growth capital.

The successful round comes as the company celebrates reaching 2.3 million consumers with its private, secure, and portable bitcoin wallets. Writing at the Blockchain blog, the company credits Lightspeed Venture Partners for being one of the first Silicon Valley firms to begin paying serious attention to the bitcoin phenomenon. Wicklow Capital also comes in for commendation, with Blockchain hoping to leverage Wicklow’s experience and leadership in developing “technology enabled trading and financial services”.

Blockchain also announced new additions to its board of directors, onboarding Richard Branson, Mosaic Ventures, and Prudence Holdings, among others.

Founded in 2011 by Ben Reeves as a way to study and analyze the bitcoin market, Blockchain is the maker of the first, Java-based, client side bitcoin wallet that makes it easy for individuals to store and use their bitcoins. Calling itself the “de facto search engine for the bitcoin economy,” Blockchain manages more than two million bitcoin wallets, representing more than $21 billion in total payment volume.

Reeves currently serves as Blockchain CTO, Nicholas Cary is CEO, and Peter Smith is President.

Blockchain participated in the first FinDEVr conference last week in San Francisco, where they demonstrated their core API for bitcoin development. Read more about the company’s FinDEVr presentation here.

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Expensify Announces $3.5 Million Round Led by Barracuda Networks

By David Penn Posted on October 7, 2014
Categories: Expensify

If you thought SAP’s purchase of Concur was the only thing going on in the business travel / expense management innovation space lately – guess again.

Expensify has raised $3.5 million in new capital. The funding was led by Barracuda Networks, and boosts the company’s total equity funding to more than $10 million.

Developers of “expense reports that don’t suck,” Expensify made a splash in the days before the funding news became public with an offer to honor the Concur contracts for customers who switched from the recently-acquired rival. Expensify’s SmartScan technology lets users upload receipts and import expenses to their smartphones. Users can then submit their expense reports online or from their smartphones and get reimbursed directly to their checking accounts.

Expensify has more than 300,000 companies taking advantage of their solution, and more than 1.4 million users. The company processes more than $2 million in expense reports daily.

Expensify announced its integration with the Uber API to launch SmartRides back in August, grew from 24 employees to 45 from January to July, and was profiled recently by Forbes.com in a column on the “new sharing economy.”

Based in San Francisco, California, Expensify was founded in 2008 by CEO David Barrett. See a video of the company’s FinovateSpring 2013 appearance.

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FinovateFall 2014 Demo Videos Are Ready for Your Viewing Pleasure

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 7, 2014
Categories: FinovateFall 2014

If you were stuck in the office, scanning the Twitter feed while your colleagues attended FinovateFall a couple of weeks ago, we have good news! You can watch all of the action, as recorded live from the stage, in the FinovateFall demo videos we’ve released today.

Check out the FinovateFall 2014 demo videos here.

The 70 presenting companies showed off their newest technology, much of which is the result of years of hard work, in front of the record-breaking crowd of 1500 people.

To get started, feel free to watch the Best of Show winners:

AnchorID

blooom

CrowdFlower

LOYAL3

MX (formerly MoneyDesktop)

Nice

Toopher

Also, don’t forget to check out our Flickr feed that showcases photos from the demos, networking, and everything in between.

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Credit Karma Announces Equity Investment of $75 Million; $1 Billion Valuation

By David Penn Posted on October 7, 2014
Categories: Credit Karma

Few things say “growth round” like a capital infusion of $75 million.

The latest investment in Credit Karma (FinovateStartup 2009) comes courtesy of a trio of current investors: Google Capital, Susquehanna Growth Equity, and Tiger Global Management. 2014 has been a good year for raising capital for Credit Karma, having raised $85 million in the spring.

The company’s total capital raised now stands at more than $193 million.

Founder and CEO Ken Linn pointed two two factors that investors continue to find appealing about the company. One is the conviction that Credit Karma is category leader in consumer credit and finance. Two is continued strong demand for Credit Karma’s solutions.

To this last point, Credit Karma says it has experienced a 50% increase in users since February, with more than 30 million consumers now taking advantage of the technology.

“Today’s complex marketplace requires a pro-consumer resource that makes financial comprehension easy, transparent, and empowering,” Lin said. “Credit Karma delivers that.”

The company plans to use the new capital to fuel growth initiatives and continue product innovation.

In other good news for Credit Karma, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company is now worth more than $1 billion. The Journal quoted Lin referring to Credit Karma as the “Expedia for financial services products.”

Credit Karma was founded in 2008, and is based in San Francisco. The company made headlines this summer when it announced that it would provide free, weekly credit reports.

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Alumni News– October 7, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 7, 2014
Categories: BehavioSec, Blockchain, Boku, Credit Karma, Expensify, FutureAdvisor, InComm, Matchi, Spreedly, TIBCO Software, Tradeshift, WallStreetSurvivor, Wonga

Matchi opens global fintech challenge

New Frontier Group to integrate BehavioSec’s behavioral authentication solution in online banking.

Boku acquires competitor Mopay, now covers 5 billion users.

BBC: Wonga to write off £220m of debts for 330,000 customers.

Financial Planning features FutureAdvisor.

Tradeshift announces new operations in Japan and Europe, new executive appointments.

Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX) partners with InComm to leverage its POS integrations.

WallStreetSurvivor.com launches Financial Education Courses.

Vista Equity Partners to take Tibco Software private for about $4.3 billion.

Expensify announces $3.5 million round led by Barracuda Networks.

Blockchain raises $30 million in growth capital.

Credit Karma announces equity investment of $75 million; $1 billion valuation.

Spreedly announces new investment; raises $750,000 in equity financing.

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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FinovateFall 2014 in the Press

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 6, 2014
Categories: FinovateFall 2014

After FinovateFall late last month, we’ve been monitoring the press and have seen some great coverage.

While the record-breaking crowd travelled back to their offices, the journalists and industry analysts were heads down at their computers, covering the recently unveiled product launches and new technology. Thanks to everyone who covered this event!

We’ll be updating this post as additional press coverage rolls in over the next few weeks.

Here is the press coverage:

ABA Banking Journal

Developers set strong presence at FinovateFall

by John Ginovsky

Link

Finovate, the place to get noticed

by John Ginovsky

Link

FinovateFall’s “Best in Show” selections

by John Ginovsky

Link

Fintech future featured at NY event

by John Ginovsky

Link

Investing, PFM innovations predominate FinovateFall

by John Ginovsky

Link

New payment solutions debut at Finovate

by John Ginovsky

Link

Security solutions locked in at FinovateFall

by John Ginovsky

Link

Aite Group

FinovateFall Recap: New Digital Advisors Make Their Debut

by Sophie Louvel Schmitt