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FinDEVr 2014 Presenters Revealed!

By Eric Mattson Posted on August 11, 2014
Categories: Uncategorized

FinDEVr San Francisco 2014 — the first event focused on fintech developers — is less than two months away, and we’re excited to announce our presenters!

These leading companies came from a competitive application process designed to find the best ideas and innovations for fintech developers. Not only did we have an unprecedented number of applications for a debut event, but we also saw an incredible range of cutting-edge solutions!

On Sept. 30 & Oct. 1 in San Francisco, they’ll showcase their latest tools, APIs, and platforms via fast-paced onstage presentations and in-depth workshops.

On the first day, our sponsoring presenters will reveal their latest & greatest fintech to a packed auditorium, then close out the day with happy hour and dedicated networking time. Here’s who you can expect to see on stage on Tuesday, Sept. 30:

Platinum Sponsors: Yodlee Interactive, TD Ameritrade, MasterCard & Visa
Gold Sponsors: PayPal & Forte Payment Systems
Silver Sponsors: Financial Apps, Avoka, Xero, InComm, EVO Snap, Xignite, Eshta & Intuit
Bronze Sponsors: CardFlight, BehavioSec, Mifos Initiative, Cloud Lending, ModoPayments, StockTwits, Bluefin Payment Systems, Finicity, Expensify, OnDeck, Paradigm4, Tradier & PayNearMe

After whetting the audience’s appetite on day one, our sponsoring presenters will kick off day two with deep-dive workshops into their developer technology. These 50-minute workshops will run throughout the morning in six tracks and continue into the afternoon.

Alongside these workshops, another round of fast-paced presentations will also take place during the second half of Wednesday, Oct. 1 in a shrunken auditorium. Here is the initial list of the cutting-edge companies that have been selected to present on day two: BCL Technologies, Bionym, BlockChain.info, CopSonic, CrowdCurity, Entersekt, Kiind, Knox Payments, MASSPAY, Morpheus Aiolos, PayStand, Pich Technologies, Plaid, Prudena, Sekur.me, SimplyTapp, TagCash, Thinknum, Trulioo & The TxPUSH Initiative.

Even prior to today’s announcement, tickets have been selling strongly and we’re pleased to be projecting an audience of 400-500 for the event. The room is going to be packed with developers and technical execs from startups as well as financial institutions like CIBC, Experian, Wells Fargo, BlackRock,
USAA, Capital One, Target, and Western Union.

If you and/or your technical colleagues are interested in attending to learn about the latest innovations for fintech builders, tickets are on sale at the very early-bird discount of $200 off through Friday August 22nd.

We’ll see you there!

FinDEVr San Francisco 2014’s VC sponsor is: Life.SREDA

FinDEVr San Francisco 2014 is partners with: BankersHub, BayPay Forum, California Bankers Association, fin-tech.org, Hotwire, Mercator, PaymentWeek & The Paypers

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UK Peer-to-Peer Lender Zopa Tops $1 Billion

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 11, 2014
Categories: Zopa

London-based peer-to-peer lender, Zopa announced that it has surpassed the billion-dollar mark (£0.59 billion) in total lending since launch.

“The peer-to-peer industry is growing faster than ever,” Giles Andrews, Zopa CEO and co-founder said. “And we’re looking forward to offering new products like ISAs in the near (future).”

It’s a testament to the growth Giles speaks of that a quarter of Zopa’s lending has come in 2014 alone. The company has enjoyed 92% year-on-year growth (basis July), and expects to return £10 million in interest to lenders this year.

A few metrics on Zopa:

Year-to-date number of loans (2014): 104,000
Year-to-date funds loaned (2014): £148 million
More than 63,000 active borrowers
More than 57,000 active lenders
Average Zopa lender: 47 years old
Average Zopa amount lent: £5,710
Average Zopa borrower: 40 years old
Average Zopa amount borrowed: £5,500
Total amount returned to lenders since launch: £37 million
Top three most popular loan uses cases:

Car: 40%
Home improvement: 20%
Debt consolidation 20%

Founded in 2005, Zopa demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2008. The company recently made headlines by winning the Most Trusted Loan Provider and Most Trusted Specialist honors at the 2014 MoneyWise Customer Service Awards in June.

Earlier this year, Zopa was named to the 2014 European FinTech 50, and won “Best Peer to Peer Lender” from Moneynet Personal Finance. The company raised £15 million in funding from Arrowgrass Capital in January, taking their total capital to more than $56 million.

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StockTwits Adds Former Yahoo! CEO and Robert Peck, SunTrust Tech Analyst, to Board of Directors

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 11, 2014
Categories: Stocktwits

Stock market communications platform, StockTwits is adding to the brains behind its operation. The San Diego-based company announced on Thursday it picked up the former Yahoo! CEO, Ross Levinsohn, to serve on its board of directors.

Immediately prior to this appointment, Levinsohn worked as CEO of Guggenheim Digital Media.

Ross Levinsohn

According to Business Insider, StockTwits CEO John Melloy said that Levinsohn sees great potential in the StockTwits social network. He also mentioned that the web and mobile platforms are slated for a total redesign that will be launched this September, along with multiple new features.

Robert Peck

Along with Levinsohn, StockTwits is also adding Robert Peck, a technology analyst at SunTrust.

Check out StockTwits’ presentation at FinDEVr to get a closer look at their platform and be a part of the first event for fintech developers this September 30 through October 1 in San Francisco.

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LendUp Partners with MoneyGram to Enable Real-Time Offline Loan Repay

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 11, 2014
Categories: LendUp

For all the innovations in the ways alternative lenders connect borrowers with capital, it’s nice to see a little innovation on the side of lenders getting their money back.

LendUp announced this morning that it had inked two service arrangements with global money transfer and payments company, MoneyGram. The partnership will let LendUp borrowers use MoneyGram’s Express Payment Service to repay their loans. The service is available at 39,000 agent locations across the United States.

The goals, said LendUp CEO and co-founder, Sasha Orloff, was to provide “new payment options exactly where many of our customers prefer to do business.” In a statement, LendUp shared research that indicated that among “small dollar credit” consumers, “store location convenience” was a major factor.

Echoing this fact was MoneyGram’s executive vice president of U.S. and Canada, Pete Ohser, who highlighted both innovation and convenience in celebrating the new relationship with LendUp.

And “new relationship” sounds like the proper way to think of LendUp and Moneygram going forward. Rather than a one-off deal, LendUp sees its relationship with MoneyGram growing to include additional products and services enabling access to credit via LendUp. Payment services are also under consideration going forward.

Founded in 2011, LendUp is based in San Francisco, California. The company demoed its RESTful API platform at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose, having won Best of Show honors the previous year at FinovateSpring 2013 in San Francisco. LendUp also made headlines in May with news that the company had raised a $50 million credit facility thanks to Victory Park Capital.

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Alumni News– August 11, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 11, 2014
Categories: BehavioSec, Betterment, Blackhawk Network, FutureAdvisor, LendUp, Misys, Motif Investing, Personal Capital, Wealthfront, Wipit

Misys announces acquisition of Custom Credit Systems.

Wipit brings omni-payment functionality to its prepaid cash mobile wallet.

LendUp partners with MoneyGram to enable real-time offline loan repay.

Barclays Pingit adds eGift options through Blackhawk Network partnership.

WSJ reports how Wealthfront, Betterment, Future Advisor, Personal Capital, and Motif are changing the investment landscape.

Wired UK Magazine lists BehavioSec as one of Euorpe’s hottest startups. See BehavioSec at FinDEVr this September 30 through October 1.

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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Wipit Brings Omni-Payment Functionality to its Prepaid Cash Mobile Wallet

By David Penn Posted on August 8, 2014
Categories: Wipit

Wipit’s mobile wallet just got even handier.

The company unveiled this week omni-channel payment technology that will enable Wipit mobile wallet customers to use their prepaid cash mobile wallets to make payments at the retail point-of-sale, as well as online.

Wipit CEO Richard Kang said, “Omni-payments is a natural extension of our mobile wallet and will allow merchants to provide more options and better payment experiences to their customers.”

The new features expand the range of payment choices for consumers using Wipit’s network, which includes a branded GPR (general purpose reload able) card and in-app services. Brick and mortar retailers benefit from the wallet’s POS payment feature. Online merchants can take payments from consumers who may be unable to make digital payments through other means (for example, credit cards). There is also the advantage of merchants of avoiding interchange fees when transacting via Wipit.

The technology is designed to be easy to implement. Merchants have the option to deploy point-of-sale payment features via closed-loop payment cards, in-app barcodes, or NFC.

Wipit was founded in 2010, and is headquartered in Pasadena, California. The company demoed its Boost Mobile Wallet at FinovateSpring 2014. See Wipit’s live demo here.

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Alumni News– August 8, 2014

By David Penn Posted on August 8, 2014
Categories: Authentify, Cachet Financial Solutions, defi Solutions, Intuit, LearnVest, Malauzai Software, MasterCard, ReadyForZero, TransferWise, Tuition.io

TransferWise earns a spot on Wired UK’s list of the “100 hottest start-ups” in Europe for 2014.

TMC Net takes a look at CU of America’s deployment of mobile banking solutions from Malauzai Software. See Malauzai at FinovateFall 2014 in New York.

First Access Funding Corporation to deploy loan origination system (LOS) from defi SOLUTIONS.

MasterCard Indonesia launches e-commerce initiative.

Intuit acquires PaySuite, bringing cloud-based payroll services to Quickbooks.

American Banker: Authentify introduces extension of xFA called Smart Choice to determine authentication mechanisms the user’s device has access to.

Cachet Financial Solutions and Contact Solutions bring Mobile Customer Care to Prepaid Clients.

CNBC looks at how LearnVest, Tuition.io, and ReadyForZero are making student loan payback easier.

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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Alumni News– August 7, 2014

By David Penn Posted on August 7, 2014
Categories: Blackhawk Network, Green Dot, Payoneer, Spreedly, TSYS

TSYS to license payment transaction processing platform to Metrobank Card Corporation in the Philippines.

Payoneer partners with Gosocet to bring cross-border e-invoicing capabilities to Latin American businesses.

American Banker interviews Green Dot CEO, Steve Streit, on the relationship between fraud and reload cards.

PYMNTS column on what to expect in the 2nd half of 2014 features thoughts from Justin Benson, CEO of Spreedly, and Teri Llach, CMO of Blackhawk Network.

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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Alumni News– August 7, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 7, 2014
Categories: Blackhawk Network, Green Dot, Payoneer, Spreedly, TSYS

TSYS to license payment transaction processing platform to Metrobank Card Corporation in the Philippines.

Payoneer partners with Gosocet to bring cross-border e-invoicing capabilities to Latin American businesses.

American Banker interviews Green Dot CEO, Steve Streit, on the relationship between fraud and reload cards.

PYMNTS column on what to expect in the 2nd half of 2014 features thoughts from Justin Benson, CEO of Spreedly, and Teri Llach, CMO of Blackhawk Network.

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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Alumni News– August 6, 2014

By David Penn Posted on August 6, 2014
Categories: Betterment, Feedzai, FutureAdvisor, Insuritas, Kapitall, Kreditech, LearnVest, Motif Investing, Personal Capital, Prosper, Radius, Ripple, SigFig, TradeKing, Wealthfront

Yahoo! Germany looks at financial innovation in Kreditech.

Prosper earns a spot on the 2014 AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies roster.

Feedzai launches anti-fraud, transaction scoring apps for Shopify and Big Commerce.

Forbes.com features Betterment, FutureAdvisor, Kapitall, LearnVest, Motif Investing, Personal Capital, SigFig, and Wealthfront in a discussion on Millennial generation investment habits.

Radius unveils its new website.

Richard Hagen, CEO of TradeKing Advisors, named to WealthManagement.com’s “Ten to Watch in 2015”.

Insuritas announces partnership with Financial Partners CU to open and manage its turnkey insurance solution.

Bank Innovation highlights alums SigFig and Ripple in a discussion on “8 under the radar fintech startups you should know.”

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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Alumni News– August 6, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 6, 2014
Categories: Betterment, Feedzai, FutureAdvisor, Insuritas, Kapitall, Kreditech, LearnVest, Motif Investing, Personal Capital, Prosper, Radius, Ripple, SigFig, TradeKing, Wealthfront

Yahoo! Germany looks at financial innovation in Kreditech.

Prosper earns a spot on the 2014 AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies roster.

Feedzai launches anti-fraud, transaction scoring apps for Shopify and Big Commerce.

Forbes.com features Betterment, FutureAdvisor, Kapitall, LearnVest, Motif Investing, Personal Capital, SigFig, and Wealthfront in a discussion on Millennial generation investment habits.

Radius unveils its new website.

Richard Hagen, CEO of TradeKing Advisors, named to WealthManagement.com’s “Ten to Watch in 2015”.

Insuritas announces partnership with Financial Partners CU to open and manage its turnkey insurance solution.

Bank Innovation highlights alums SigFig and Ripple in a discussion on “8 under the radar fintech startups you should know.”

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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The Surprising Banking Giant Behind New Savings Site Sumday

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 5, 2014
Categories: Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Investment Products

BNY’s Sumday.com homepage

Last week, the Internet discovered an interesting new savings site called Sumday (note 1). It has responsive design, a cute intro video, and social media integration. But it also has something that few trendy fintech plays have, a $230 billion dollar parent, BNY Mellon.

I’ve published something like 2 million words about retail banking and technology and this may be the first time “BNY Mellon” (or Bank of New York) has appeared. Not because they aren’t a good company, but its specialities, corporate banking and uber-wealth management, rarely fit our editorial coverage.

But surprisingly, BNY is bankrolling Sumday, a site encouraging beginners to start investing with “as little as $1.00.” That’s about 6 zeros to the left of the decimal point from where the typical BNY Mellon client usually starts with. All money collected through Sumday is invested in the Dreyfus Basic S&P 500 Stock Index Fund, according to the prospectus accessible in the fine print (the fund is low-cost index offering charging just 20 basis points annually in fees).

One distinguishing feature of the service, you can automatically add a preset amount of cash whenever you use hashtag #sumday on a tweet. That’s a novel feature, but it’s unlikely to get much usage (e.g. most people don’t want to use precious characters to add a misspelled hashtag to their snarky missives). Still, it’s a nice addition to a platform clearly targeting youth.

Other than that, there is little detail spelled out on the site. It is in closed beta and soliciting email addresses for the waiting list.

Apparently the project is a collaboration with IBM given that the only person on the LinkedIn listing provided by Sumday is a consultant with IBM Interactive Labs.

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