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Fintech Fundings: 75 Companies Raise $900 Million in July 2014

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 2, 2014
Categories: Uncategorized

According to FT Partners, fintech companies raised $903 million in July 2014, $678 million in equity and $225 million in debt. Only the fundings during the last week of July are listed below (in alphabetic order). For all 75 deals in July, see the FT Partners database.

Active Hours
Alternative lender for short-term loans
Latest round: $4.1 million
Total raised: $4.1 million
Tags: Lending, credit, underbanked, unbanked, loans, Palo Alto, California
Source: FT Partners

AvantCredit
Online alt-lender
Latest round: $300 million ($75 million equity, $225 million debt)
Total raised: $554 million ($329 million equity, $225 million debt)
Tags: Lending, underwriting, personal loan, SMB, Chicago, Illinois
Source: FT Partners

BeanStalk
Online tax prep
Latest round: $2 million
Total raised: $2 million
Tags: Tax preparation, fee-based services, OnSwipe (acquired), Salt Lake City, Utah
Source: FT Partners

Exchange Corporation
Japanese consumer loan marketplace lender
Latest round: $3.3 million
Total raised: $3.3 million
Tags: Lending, credit, consumer loans, P2P, person-to-person, crowdfunding,Tokyo, Japan
Source: FT Partners

FreshBooks
Cloud accounting
Latest round: $30 million
Total raised: $30 million
Tags: Accounting, money management, SMB, invoicing, bill payment, Toronto, Canada
Source: FT Partners

Privio
Online marketplace for private mortgage loans
Latest round: $3.8 million
Total raised: $5.9 million
Tags: Mortgage, lending, underwriting, alt-lending, California
Source: FT Partners

Rong360
Chinese lending search engine
Latest round: $60 million
Total raised: $60 million
Tags: Lending, personal loans, lead generation, Bejing, China
Source: FT Partners

Thinknum
Analytics for loan underwriting & investments
Latest round: $1 million
Total raised: $1 million
Tags: Analytics, enterprise, underwriting, investing, financial analysts, New York City, Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

TipRanks
Investment analyst ratings
Latest round: $3 million
Total raised: $3.7 million
Tags: Investing, analytics, Tel Aviv, Israel, Best of Show Finovate alum
Source: Finovate

Volabit
Bitcoin exchange platform
Latest round: $250,000
Total raised: $250,000
Tags: Cryptocurrency, San Mateo, California
Source: FT Partners

Wonder Technology
eGiftcard provider
Latest round: $800,000
Total raised: $800,000
Tags: Giftcards, prepaid, merchants, SMB, Burlingame, California
Source: FT Partners

ZipZap
Enables merchants to accept cash for online purchases
Latest round: $1.1 million
Total raised: $2.7 million
Tags: Merchants, acquiring, POS, payments, underbanked, SMB, Yorba Linda, California
Source: FT Partners

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Alumni News– August 1, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 1, 2014
Categories: Cachet Financial Solutions, defi Solutions, Expensify, Patch of Land, PlayMoolah, Xero, ZipZap

Startup Daily: Startups leverage Xero’s API as part of their growth hacking strategy. Check out Xero’s API up close at FinDEVr in San Francisco September 30 – October 1.

Expensify grows from 24 employees in January to 45 employees in July.

Cachet Financial Solutions receives allowance for patent that covers aspects of its RDC platform to deposit bank checks using their Apple desktop, laptop or mobile device.

PlayMoolah’s WhyMoolah launches Act 2 to enable gamers who completed Act 1 to play out their lives from age 35 to 55.

ZipZap raises $1.1 million in new funding.

Your Mark on the World interviews AdaPia d’Errico, Chief Marketing Officer for Patch of Land. See Patch of Land demo at FinovateFall 2014 in New York.

defi Solutions CEO Stephanie Alsbrooks talks loan origination in Non-Prime Times.

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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2015 Digital Banking Strategic Planning (Part 1)

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 31, 2014
Categories: Fee Income, Insurance, Planning, Strategic Planning

I was on a call today with the digital strategy committee of a large U.S. bank. It was clear from their line of questioning that they are grappling with how to prioritize among the many major opportunities on the digital side.

I won’t list any of the specific topics here, but you could guess most of them (though one would surprise you I think). But the conversation got me thinking about what I’d recommend for next year if I was working in a bank, credit union or consumer fintech company.

In semi-prioritized fashion, here are my first three recommendations for 2015. More will follow.

_______________________________________

1. Insurance
_______________________________________

How are you going to replace NSF fee income once the CFPB gets around to capping it? (Timing hint: There’s a big election in 27 months.) One place to look: Insurance. It’s one of the last frontiers for retail banks, especially in the United States. FinovateSpring 2014 alum Insuritas (demo here) says it can launch your very own insurance store within 90 days. So if you move fast enough, you could have this running by end of year.

______________________________________

2. Lifetime transaction archives
__________________________________

I believe digital services will increase bank loyalty two or three-fold. So instead of accounts turning over every 7 years or so, it will be 15 or 20 years for digital-first households. Why? Once banks come to their senses and start archiving all your transactions like Google does for email, it will be much more of a pain to move.

________________________________________

3. Subscription fees
___________________________________

Back to the Gmail example. How much could Google charge me now that I have 100,000 messages archived there? $100/year easy. Probably more. Banks should be thinking the same way. Get #2 done, then charge $4.95/mo for a Peace of Mind package that includes lifetime archives, mobile document/receipt capture, priority customer service, and so on.

To be continued………..

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ZipZap Raises $1.1 Million in New Funding

By David Penn Posted on July 31, 2014
Categories: ZipZap

In a round led by AngelList Syndicate and 500 Startups, and featuring participation from Blumberg Capital, ZipZap has raised $1.1 million in new capital.

ZipZap now has $2.7 million in total funding. In a statement, the company says the funds will “further its vision to be the primary payment network for digital currencies.”

This helps explain, among other things, ZipZap’s recent talent acquisition: Jim Griffin. Formerly of UBS Investment Bank, where he was Executive Director, Jim is newly the Senior Vice President of Currency and Foreign Exchange for ZipZap.

ZipZap founder and CEO Alan Safahi pointed to Jim’s expertise in these areas as key to helping ZipZap “not only manage our risks but also develop solid relationships with banks and currency traders.” Before working at UBS, Jim was Senior Vice President of Foreign Exchange at Wells Fargo.

ZipZap is a global network that makes it easy for people to buy digital currencies with cash ACH, or wire transfer. The service is active in the U.S. , the U.K. and 15 other countries throughout Europe and Latin America. Bitcoin is currently offered, with LiteCoin and Dogecoin available “in the near future.”

ZipZap had paused its cash-to-Bitcoin service in the U.K. in March, due to concerns over the government’s attitude toward the digital currency. That service has been restored as of June. As reported in CoinDesk, ZipZap has “more than 20,000 partner retail locations in the U.K.”

Founded in 2010 and based in San Francisco, ZipZap demoed its CashCade and CashPayment solutions at FinovateSpring 2012. See the company in action here.

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Alumni News– July 31, 2014

By David Penn Posted on July 31, 2014
Categories: InComm, MoneyDesktop, QuantConnect, Tagit, The Currency Cloud, Wallaby Financial, Xendpay, Yodlee

A discussion of “next gen PFM” at The Financial Brand features insights from Melanie Flanigan of Yodlee.

Xendpay announces mobile wallet service in Indonesia.

Wallaby for Samsung Gear 2 brings personal finance to the smart watch.

Grass Roots America deploys InComm’s Physical Fulfillment Solution to streamline physical and digital prepaid card delivery.

Payments provider MangoPay and Currency Cloud partner to offer better rates for international payments.

Herald Media explores how MoneyDesktop is contributing to the Utah business boom.

Infocomm Development Authority evaluating Tagit for accreditation to help it build capabilities and allow it to compete with big companies in bidding for government projects.

QuantConnect overhauls core backtesting technology to increase speed by 10x.

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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Wallaby for Samsung Gear 2 Brings Personal Finance to the Smartwatch

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 30, 2014
Categories: Wallaby Financial

With news of its Samsung Gear 2 deployment, has Wallaby become the Fitbit of personal finance?

This connection between physical health and financial health may not be as far-fetched as it seems. In my conversation with Wallaby CEO Matthew Goldman last week, he pointed to the way that wearable technology had dovetailed with, if not helped enabled, a growing interest in personal health.

It is true that, in many ways, financial health has been left behind in this “quantified self” movement. But as more people begin to see their financial health (for example, reducing debt) as integral to their physical health (for example, reducing stress), there is a great opportunity for companies to tailor solutions to these newly (financially) conscious consumers.

In part, this is the wager Wallaby Financial has made when it comes to the still-nascent wearable technology market. With Samsung Gear 2, Wallaby is making its third foray into this industry, having deployed versions of its free PFM app and credit card aggregation cloud wallet in both Pebble (a wristband device) and Google Glass.

What does Wallaby for Samsung Gear 2 do? Samsung Gear 2 is a 4GB, Bluetooth-enabled, 512MB RAM smartwatch with a 1.6-inch screen. The smart watch features a gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, music player, and heart rate monitor and, like most wearables, requires an accompanying smart device (a Samsung device in this case) in order to work.

Available in Wild Orange, Gold Brown, and Charcoal Black, Samsung Gear 2 retails for $299.99.

Wallaby for Samsung Gear 2 will enable users to optimize credit card rewards, review their card balances, and check other personal finance information on the fly and in real-time. Matthew highlights the notion of “personal finance information” as opposed to “personal finance management” to underscore the challenges of bringing the Wallaby solution to the smart watch.

“What is used the most? What is the critical thing you need to know?” were the questions that have guided Matthew and his team’s efforts to bring a robust PFM app to wearables with divergent form factors (wristwatch versus glass, for example). This is why he refers to the wearable app as delivering “personal financial information” such as checking balances and credit availability, as well as optimizing rewards and offers, rather than remaking the entire PFM experience – functionality and all – on a screen that is little more than 1.5 inches.

But interestingly, this choice is nothing new for Wallaby, which decided early on that rather than be a Mint clone, there was room for a personal finance solution that focused on those personal finance issues that are most immediate and most critical for the average consumer. “If you’re shopping at a store,” Matthew said. “You don’t need access to six-months of budget data. You need to know if you’ve got the available credit to make the purchase.”

Making the purchasing experience that much easier has always been a part of Wallaby’s project. Asserting both that “people hate to budget” and that “people hate to pay,” Matthew explained how Wallaby’s solution responded to both pain points. “Budgeting is like dieting” he said. “Maybe you can’t stop a person from making a purchase. But you can drive consumers toward better financial choices, such as taking greater advantage of credit card rewards and offers.”

And the move toward wearables could help deal with the aversion to the payment process. “U.S. culture doesn’t talk about payment details. People want to conduct the commerce, but not the payment,” Matthew said. But he then pointed to innovations like the Apple Store. “They are bringing the payment experience out from behind the counter,” he said, and merging payment more seamlessly into the shopping/commerce experience.

To the extent that a wearable device like the Samsung Gear 2 could become a major component of payment authentication, the Wallaby app is in just the right place – even if it has arrived a bit early for the masses. “Wearables are going to be the thing,” Matthew said confidently, pointing to Google’s recent decision to open up Google Glass to developers and the likelihood of Apple launching a wearable device (an iWatch, potentially) sooner than later.

Matthew conceded that the technology is “still extremely niche,” which makes it challenging to understand the potential market.

Going forward, Wallaby is looking to leverage the enormous amount of consumer data the company is analyzing. The goal is to help consumers make ever more exacting financial choices when it comes to pay. “The trick,” Matthew said, “is to enable that experience in everything: mobile, card, wearable, and online.”

Wallaby Metrics

Founded: 2011
Headquarters: Pasadena, California
Founders: Matthew Goldman (CEO), Todd Zino (CTO)
Solutions

Funding: $1.5 million

Founders Fund
Karlin Ventures
Lion Wells Capital
Mucker Capital
Quotidian Ventures
WI Harper Group

See Wallaby’s FinovateSpring 2013 demo video here. Developers and others looking to partner with Wallaby can learn more about the company’s APIs and Partner Plus program here.

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Alumni News– July 30, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 30, 2014
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Blackhawk Network, Boku, Coinbase, Credit Karma, Financial Guard, FIS, i-exceed, Insuritas, Simple, The Currency Cloud, ThreatMetrix, Vermilian

ThreatMetrix granted patent for its ability to differentiate between trusted customers and cybercriminals

Australia-based Vermilian acquired by banking technology firm Ultradata.

i-exceed launches its new website.

Boku brings its direct carrier billing-based mobile payments technology to India.

Mangopay teams up with Currency Cloud to provide international money transfer services to its customers.

Shivalik Mercantile Cooperative Bank to deploy “bank in a box” from FIS.

Blackhawk Network teams with Amazon to enable customers to manage and spend their gift cards in the new Amazon Wallet app.

Financial Guard to provide clients with both passive and active investing options.

Happy second birthday to Simple.

Insuritas wins 2014 NAFCU Services Corporation (NSC) Innovation Award that highlights groundbreaking solutions for credit unions.

TechCrunch: Credit Karma offering free, weekly credit reports – no strings attached.

Franklin University chooses ACI Worldwide for online payment processing.

Wikipedia Foundation partners with Coinbase to allow bitcoin donations.

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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PayPal and MyOrder Partner to Enable Brick and Mortar Mobile Payments in the Netherlands

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 29, 2014
Categories: MyOrder, PayPal

Mobile payments-loving Dutch citizens have something to celebrate today. PayPal announced last week that it is now accepted at 1500 brick and mortar stores in the Netherlands.

Patrons of those stores will be able to pay with PayPal at parking meters, cafes, restaurants, and more.

Thanks to a partnership with Rabobank-owned MyOrder, PayPal users have a more convenient way to pay. Using PayPal’s mobile app linked to a payment account, users can:

Pay for a parking meter without searching for the pay station
Order drinks ahead of time at a coffee shop
Pay for a meal without waiting for the server to bring the check

For PayPal, this expansion into mobile payments is no surprise. Last year, the dollar value of transactions made from a smartphone or tablet was $27 billion, which is an increase of 99% from one year prior.

Check out a live demo of MyOrder’s technology from FinovateEurope 2014. PayPal last demonstrated at FinovateEurope 2012 where it showcased Instant Account Creation.

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Alumni News– July 29, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 29, 2014
Categories: Betterment, Concur, Financial Guard, FutureAdvisor, Jemstep, Loop, Moven, Numbrs, Open Bank Project, Pellucid Analytics, Personal Capital, SigFig, Thinknum, Wealthfront, Xero

Concur partners with Uber to allow Concur users to link their accounts and automatically send Uber receipts to their expense reports.

The Financial Brand looks at opportunity for banks and credit unions in the Loop Visa partnership.

Open Bank Project making its API available during hackathon in September.

TechCrunch explores Pellucid Analytics’ take on PowerPoint pitch books.

Seed Me! Thinknum raises $1 million in seed funding round.

Feature on robo-advisors highlights seven alums: Betterment, Financial Guard, FutureAdvisor, Jemstep, Personal Capital, SigFig, and Wealthfront.

Macwelt reviews banking app Numbrs.

Bank Systems & Technology points to Moven as a nontraditional financial service provider “gunning” for banks.

Xero partners with MarketInvoice to bring faster funding to UK businesses.

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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Seed Me! Thinknum Raises $1 Million in Seed Funding Round

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 28, 2014
Categories: Thinknum

Thinknum, a web-based platform that makes it easy for junior bankers to read and analyze corporate financial data, announced today that it had raised $1 million in seed funding. The investment was led by Pejman Mar Ventures, and included participation from 500 Startups, 645 Angels, Green Visor Capital, HKB Capital, and Signature Capital.

Quoted in The New York Times Dealbook, Thinknum co-founder Gregory Ugwi talked about his technology as “building a platform using the web to become one living, intelligent platform.” Indeed, one of the virtues of Thinknum’s solution is the technology’s ability to pull data directly from the Internet, saving analysts a significant amount of data collection and entry time. In fact, Dealbook’s coverage of the announcement included a report on the “grueling” working conditions of the average junior banker to help make the point.

Thinknum says that the funding will go toward hiring additional software engineering talent.

Thinknum was referred to as the GitHub for finance in a TechCrunch profile this spring. The company seeks to crowdsource financial analysis, making it possible for financial professionals to benefit from their combined efforts in much the same way that programmers are able to do with code. The technology is optimized for collaboration, enabling efficient change-tracking and audit trails.

Founded in 2013, and based in New York, Thinknum will make its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2014 in September. To join us and see Thinknum in action, click here. Early-bird savings are still available.

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Alumni News– July 28, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 28, 2014
Categories: Concur, Expensify, Financial Guard, MyOrder, Narrative Science, PayPal, Pellucid Analytics, SecureKey

PayPal announces partnership with MyOrder to enable PayPal payments at 1,500 locations in the Netherlands.

SecureKey launches new single-stack API integrations for card-present, card-not-present, and ACH transactions.

Concur adds gamification features to TripLink, the company’s spend management solution.

Expensify changes report submission and approval process for those using Expensify outside of an expense policy.

Concur partners with Airbnb to make it easier for business travelers to file expenses when booking on Airbnb.

RazorSocial takes a look at simplifying Google Analytics using Quill Engage from Narrative Science.

Financial Guard featured in Investment News’ review of “robo-advisors” and online investment managers.

Huffington Post: Pellucid Analytics turns data into content to make lives easier for investment bankers.

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– July 25, 2014

By David Penn Posted on July 25, 2014
Categories: Actiance, BillGuard, Cartera Commerce, Coinbase, DemystData, eToro, FutureAdvisor, Holvi, Jemstep, Kabbage, LendingTree, Malauzai Software, MoneyDesktop, Monitise, Personal Capital, SecondMarket, Wealthfront, Zooz

Fox Business News features Kabbage’s small business lending process.

Huffington Post describes how DemystData’s big data analytics help evaluate creditworthiness.

Cartera Commerce’s CFO Karen Cambray named a finalist in Boston Business Journal’s 2014 CFO of the Year Awards.

Bloomberg: BillGuard programmers code in bomb shelters.

Coinbase launches Coinbase Vault to Better Secure Your Bitcoins.

MoneyDesktop appoints Brandon Dewitt as its first ever CTO.

SecondMarket CEO Barry Silbert stepping down in order to refocus his attention solely on bitcoin.

InvestmentNews features roboadvisors Jemstep, FutureAdvisor, Wealthfront, and Personal Capital.

The Irish Times looks at Holvi’s move into Ireland.

CMS Wire: Actiance wants to help companies curb social media mistakes.

Karen Webster of Market Platform Dynamics interviews Zooz CEO Oren Levy.

eToro announces new version of OpenBook for iOS.

Mobile Entertainment talks with Adam Levene, SVP of Strategy at Monitise Create.

LendingTree launches personalization platform.

Pymnts takes a look at the partnership between Malauzai Software and Trusteer. See Malauzai at FinovateFall in September.

Fortune.com interviews Bill Siegel, interim CEO of SecondMarket.

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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