Alumni News– July 25, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgFox 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.

Winning Checking/Deposits from Established Small Businesses

imageI was asked recently what it would take for me to move my business deposit relationship. My immediate answer: “There is nothing you could do to get me to move.”

We have changed banks only once in our 20-year history, moving to Washington Mutual (now Chase) in 2007 in order to get a better line of credit (which ironically, was never granted, as WaMu was about to go into a death spiral).

We’ve been happy with Chase for the most part, and now have so many services and payees connected to it, that I can’t imagine going through the headache of changing. Even if another bank or CU offered a fee-free account that matched Chase feature for feature, it’s just not worth the considerable investment in time and energy to switch.  

But a few minutes later I changed my mind. Yes, there is one thing that would make me move my entire business account. And it’s so basic that it seems ridiculous that I’d even have to ask for it.

It’s the one thing that Chase, or any bank that I know of, isn’t currently delivering to small business owners:

Guaranteed safety of our funds against all fraud/theft

Chase has state-of-the-art security as far as I can tell (e.g., two-factor authentication for all the risky moves). And we’ve never had a problem. However, every time I read about some nonprofit or small business having their account drained after a successful key-logging attack, I get that queasy feeling.

And I’m not even asking for the fraud guarantee to be free. I’d be more than willing to pay for it. How about $25/month for the first $100,000 covered, then $10 to $15 per $100,000 thereafter? That should be enough to make it a decent profit center for the bank and I could sleep better (note 1). A win-win.

————————-

Note
1. Two years ago, I was encouraged by the new offering from EFTGuard (see post). They were offering coverage of $100,000 per account up to $500,000 total per customer. Insured customers were required to use fraud-monitoring software from Trusteer, Iron Key or Webroot. The price was $25/mo to the end-user with $10 of that pocketed by the bank distribution partner. But I haven’t run across any banks currently offering it.

LendingTree Launches Personalization Platform

LendingTree Launches Personalization Platform
lendingtree_hi_res_FS2014

Calling it “the next step forward to help(ing) consumers take control of their financial lives,” Doug Lebda, CEO and founder of LendingTree, announced the launch of the new LendingTree personalization platform.

The platform incorporates LendingTree’s VantageScore 3.0, credit scoring technology designed for the post-financial crisis era. VantageScore is a tri-bureau credit scoring model that can generate credit ratings for more than 30 million more consumers than with traditional methods.

LendingTree_homepage
Peer comparisons and credit education are also components of the platform, giving users a level of transparency to the credit-scoring process. And by integrating users’ financial accounts, LendingTree’s personalization platform gives consumers the ability to see an analyze their overall credit profile, as well as spot opportunities to save money.
The key is LendingTree’s ability to leverage its network of banks, peer-to-peer lending platforms, and other credit and financial institutions to provide users with insights into how their behavior affects their credit profile. It also is easier to provide consumers with cost-saving offers that are more relevant and more likely to be used.
LendingTree_homepage_2
A leading online lender, LendingTree has facilitated more than 30 million loan requests and more than $200 billion in closed-loan transactions. The company is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was founded in 1996. LendingTree demoed its mobile app at our spring conference in San Jose this year. See a video of the company at FinovateSpring 2014 here.

Coinbase Launches Coinbase Vault to Better Secure Your Bitcoins

Coinbase Launches Coinbase Vault to Better Secure Your Bitcoins
Coinbase_lo_res_logo

If you follow digital currency news, it’s likely you remember the crumbling of Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox in February. The site went bankrupt when 850,000 Bitcoins (then worth around $450 million) were stolen from users’ accounts.

Coinbase today launched a new product, Coinbase Vault, that aims to keep it from sharing Mt Gox’s fate by keeping a portion of users’ bitcoin safe from hackers and unauthorized withdrawals.

CoinbaseVault

The free new account has three features that contribute to increased security:

    • Time-delayed withdrawals
      There is a 48-hour waiting period before withdrawals are transferred from the Vault account. During the waiting period, the transaction can be cancelled at any time.
    • Multiple approvers
      For joint accounts, approval from multiple parties is required in order to begin the withdrawal.
    • Offline storage
      97% of bitcoin is held offline in safe deposit boxes.

Coinbase showcased Instant Exchange at FinovateSpring 2014. You can check out the demo video here.

LoopPay Earns Investment from Visa

LoopPay Earns Investment from Visa

Thumbnail image for Loop_logo.jpg

You know you’re a Finovate fan when you skip over the report that Visa and Apple are talking just to get to the news that Visa has made an investment in mobile wallet innovator, LoopPay.

In a statement, LoopPay CEO, Will Graylin said he was “thrilled to have Visa as a partner and investor.” Visa SVP of innovation and strategic partnerships Jim McCarthy praised the company’s technology, particularly the fact that merchants can accept payment via LoopPay using their existing point-of-sale infrastructure.

Loop_homepage_sample
The investment from Visa is part of the larger funding round LoopPay announced a few weeks ago. Amounts have not been disclosed.
LoopPay’s innovation is its expertise in Magnetic Secure Transmission™ (MST) technology. The technology uses an app, a secure chip, and an embedded magnetic loop to collect, store, and transmit mag stripe data from our added cards to the POS terminal when making a payment.  The loop is built into accessories such as the fob and, most recently, the LoopPay ChargeCase.
LoopPay made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose, winning Best of Show honors. The company was founded in 2013, and is based in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Alumni News– July 24, 2014

  • C. Hoare & Co. choose TSYS’s Prime 4 card management solution.
  • Pymnts interviews Vib Prasad, Group Head of MasterCard’s MasterPass about digital wallets.
  • CSI globalVCard launches B2B payment system called globalVCard travel, designed to alleviate many of the corporate travel industry’s biggest pain points
  • FreeAgent integrates with PayPal Here to make it easier for UK small businesses to get paid faster.
  • Xero confirms it’s planning on filing for a U.S. initial public offering in 2015.
  • Actiance expands on its support of Microsoft Office 365 Exchange Online, to help manage risks of Office 365 Lync Online.
  • LoopPay earns investment from Visa.
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.

TipRanks Announces $3 Million Investment

TipRanks Announces $3 Million Investment

Thumbnail image for TipRanksLogo.jpg

Featuring former New York State attorney general, governor, and so-called “Sheriff of Wall Street” Eliot Spitzer as one of its investors, TipRanks has just closed an initial round of funding, raising $3 million.

Also participating in the Series A round were Roni Michaely, a professor of finance from Cornell University, and John Nakamura, an angel investor. The completed round takes the company’s total funding to $3.7 million.

TipRanks_homepage_new
TipRanks leverages machine learning and natural language processing technology to analyze and rank more than 6,500 financial analysts and bloggers online. This enables the company to provide accurate performance measurements on anyone giving investment or stock trading advice online.
Uri Gruenbaum, TipRanks CEO and co-founder, explained, “Let’s face it, not all analysts are created equal.”
“By scanning leading (financial) websites for analyst recommendations, TipRanks is able to provide its users (with) relevant information regarding the analyst’s performance history.”
TipRanks was founded in 2012 by Uri Gruenbaum (CEO) and Gilad Gat (CTO). The company includes Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi among its financial institution customers. Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, TipRanks demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2013, taking home Best of Show honors. See TipRanks in action here.

SaveUp CEO Priya Haji Passes Away at 44

SaveUp CEO Priya Haji Passes Away at 44
SaveUp_hires_logo_FS2014

Finovate joins the fintech community in expressing our sadness at the passing of Priya Haji, CEO and founder of SaveUp. We extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues.

SaveUp co-founder and CFO Sammy Shreibati praised Priya as a “wonderful leader, innovator, and friend” in a statement confirming the news.

Priya_Haji_FS2014b
A socially-conscious entrepreneur from an early age, Priya founded a free health clinic while she was still in high school. In addition to earning degrees from Stanford University (BA) and University of California Berkeley (MBA) – and before founding SaveUp – Priya launched a company called World of Good. 
World of Good, acquired by eBay in 2010, is a fair trade and sustainable products marketplace for women artisans in the developing world.
A crowdfunding campaign at Fundly has been established to help provide support to her 11-month old daughter and two-year old son. Finovate has contributed to this fund.

Alumni News– July 23, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgTaulia raises $27 million in series D funding.
  • CU Service Network partners with Insuritas to generate fee income for credit unions.
  • Cachet Financial Solutions partners with top five commercial bank in the U.S. to implement a prepaid mobile platform for supermarket chain.
  • BioCatch raises $10 million in Series A round. See them demo at FinovateFall 2014.
  • Malauzai Software partners with Trusteer to bring mobile security solutions to Customers Bancorp. Join Malauzai in New York in September for FinovateFall.
  • Place2Give launches MyPlace2Give.com to enable individuals to set up their own charitable giving fund.
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.

BioCatch Raises $10 Million in Series A Round

BioCatch Raises $10 Million in Series A Round
BioCatch_lo-res_logo

Israel-based biometric security specialist BioCatch announced today that it had raised $10 million in an initial Series A funding round.

The Series A was led by Blumberg Capital and equity crowd funding firm, OurCrowd, and included participation from unnamed existing investors. The company says that the new funding will go toward research and development, as well as expanding the service in North America, Europe, and Latin America.
BioCatch_homepage_1
BioCatch CEO Benny Rosebaum said in a statement, “This funding will allow us to continue strengthening our offering and expand our globe reach in strategic markets, while keeping the world’s largest and most influential institutions safe and secure.”
BioCatch is an innovator in the biometric authentication space. The company’s technology examines more than 400 behavioral, cognitive, and physiological markers to help determine when unusual activity is taking place. These markers range from how a person’s finger tends to move across a trackpad or interface, or even the angle at which a mobile device is typically held while being used.
And while stopping fraud is the important, headline goal, the more fundamental objective of the technology is eliminating friction. This translates into both a more secure experience for online and mobile banking customers and e-commerce consumers, as well as a more efficient and seamless transacting process.
BioCatch cyber strategy chief Uri Rivner suggested as much in an interview with Gigaom. “The problem today is not necessarily fraud, but (that) they want to make sure it’s really you, so they add a lot of security, which is friction.”
“We’ve demonstrated that we can reduce that friction and operational costs.”
Founded in 2011, BioCatch will make its Finovate debut this September. To take advantage of early-bird pricing to the New York City event, register here.

Taulia Raises $27 Million in Series D Funding

Taulia Raises $27 Million in Series D Funding

tauliaLogo.jpg

Taulia, a company that aims to ease cash flow issues faced by small and medium sized businesses, announced today it raised $27 million in Series D funding.

This newest installment, which brings Taulia’s total funding to $67.2 million, comes from QuestMark Partners, which led the round, and existing investors Trinity Ventures, Matrix Partners, Lakestar and DAG Ventures.

TauliaHomepage2014

When Taulia launched in 2009, its primary service was Dynamic Discounting, a product that helps suppliers receive faster cash flow, and gives buyers more flexibility and discounts if they pay early. Now Taulia offers seven products, including einvoicing and supplier management tools that help small businesses interact with their suppliers.

Of the 225,000 suppliers on Taulia’s platform, 55 rank among the largest corporate companies. The San Francisco-based company plans to use the funding to sign more large corporate clients and expand into Asia.

Taulia is now valued at $200 million.

To learn more about Taulia, check out its FinovateSpring 2012 demo where it debuted its Early Payment Network.

CEO Interview: Jim Collas of OnBudget

CEO Interview: Jim Collas of OnBudget
OnBudget_hi_res_FS2014

We recently caught up with Jim Collas, founder, president, and CEO of OnBudget. The San Diego-based company made its Finovate debut at our Spring show, demoing its Budgeting Solution.

OnBudget takes the tried-and-true Envelope Budgeting System used by our parents and grandparents and updates it for the 21st century. The technology consists of a prepaid card for daily purchases and a mobile app that automatically sets up a budget.

JimCollas_OnBudget_headshot
Finovate: You demoed OnBudget at FinovateSpring in April. What was the question you heard most frequently from attendees?
Collas: The most frequently asked question from people who saw us at Finovate was, “How is this different from other PFM tools, like Mint.” 
It’s a good question, and rather than focus on a person’s total financial life, OnBudget is completely focused on daily living expenses. Since the OnBudget platform is connected directly to the prepaid card processing systems, we get real-time transaction information, which allows us to present real-time notices and trends, including a “Left to Spend” amount for each budget category that’s always up-to-the-second accurate.
Beyond that, it’s effortless to set up. Unlike most PFM tools, a user doesn’t have to input any account information or spending data. Perhaps most importantly, it uses the prepaid card as digital envelopes, which is a huge consumer trend for segmenting, tracking and controlling spending.
OnBudget_homepage
Finovate: Any news to report since April’s FinovateSpring?
Collas: At OnBudget, we have shifted our focus exclusively to private labeling the solution for bank partners and distributing through the banking channel. We’re primarily focused on banks with assets of $10 billion and above, whose debit profits have been severely affected by the Durbin Amendment. We have significant traction with our Business Development activities and we are currently in discussions with 15 of the top 50 U.S. banks.
Finovate: What is the best way for people new to OnBudget to understand how your technology helps people better manage their finances?
Collas: People seem to get the concept and how it can hep them when we describe the service as the digital version of the Envelope Budgeting System: where a prepaid card replaces physical envelopes and the mobile app tracks various spending categories (i.e. envelopes) in real-time.
OnBudget_homepage2
Finovate: OnBudget is different from other prepaid cards because it’s free. What’s the catch – how does OnBudget make money.
Collas: Like all prepaid cards, OnBudget Card makes money on interchange fees. What sets us apart is that our mobile app motivates and compels users to use the card for all their daily living expenses, which generates significant revenues.
The average U.S. household spends $1,800 per month on the categories we track for them, which is 38% of total household spend. That generates monthly recurring interchange revenue of $22 per month per account.
Finovate: How does OnBudget remove the pain from the traditional budgeting process?
Collas: It’s effortless to set up and manage a budget. The cardholder just uses the card for 30 days and the app automatically categorizes transactions, tracks the user’s spending, and then suggests a budget for each of their budget categories. To adjust their budget, users can use our simple budget balancer, a slider tool that easily adjusts budgets. Meanwhile the card continues to auto-categorize spending and offer insights with no additional effort required.
OnBudget_homepage3
Finovate: You’ve mentioned that the number one reason consumers use prepaid cards is to help them budget. Why do you think this is the case?
Collas: Prepaid cards have a high propensity to help consumers budget because they are a physical metaphor for and follow the same dynamic that makes the Envelope Budgeting System so popular. Segmenting by spending buckets (envelopes) that are easily trackable makes it easy to understand and simple to use.
Finovate: Do you view OnBudget as a competitor of banks or as a more complementary solution?
Collas: Since we’ve shifted our focus to partnering with banks, it is totally complementary. In fact, we believe it’s really compelling way for banks to regain their competitive advantage in prepaid and debit, as well as recover lost Durbin revenue. 
It also increases debit spend per household from $843 to $1,596. Banks can quadruple debit revenue on an average of roughly 90% increase in spending.
Finovate: What can we look forward to seeing from OnBudget in the second half of 2014 and into 2015?
Collas: We will be launching a version of a student and teen card, and we will be launching our private-label service with our first bank partners later this year.
Learn more about OnBudget. Watch their live demo from FinovateSpring 2014 here.