Alumni News– June 27, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgMatchi announces signing sponsorship agreement with Standard Bank Group.
  • Intuit’s PayByCoin integrates Quickbooks Online with Coinbase to allow merchants to accept bitcoin.
  • RevolutionCredit is among six startups presenting at the 2014 FinTech Innovation Lab in New York.
  • Trustly partners with PayPal to facilitate direct payments for online bank customers in Sweden and Denmark.
  • Acculynk joins with Navicure to offer payment platform for healthcare providers.
  • 500 Startups teams up with SeedInvest to raise money for $100 million Fund III.
  • A review of digital ID technology by the Economist includes a nod toward miiCard.
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.

Alumni News– June 26, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgNutmeg raises $32 million from new investors.
  • Bank of Southside Virginia (BSV) to provide Banno mobile app courtesy of Jack Henry & Associates.
  • Chicago Tribune’s Blue Sky Innovation takes a look at the Technori Pitch event that featured Rippleshot.
  • DNAinfo Chicago looks at how Bolstr can now hit up investors for larger loans.
  • Monitise acquires Markco Media for up to £55M ($93.5 mil).
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.

Vaamo Launches Goal-Based Savings Platform on Invite-Only Basis

Vaamo Launches Goal-Based Savings Platform on Invite-Only Basis

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We caught up with vaamo today, which just launched its platform on an invite-only basis. Today, 150 users are given access to invest real money into the funds on vaamo’s platform in order to achieve their goals.

Vaamo is rolling out the invitations in batches over the next three months or so to accommodate the 2,000 users who have requested full access to its goal-savings platform.

We profiled vaamo earlier this year in our FinovateEurope Behind the Scenes post series (check it out here); as a refresher, here’s how its web app works:

1) Users set up any number of goals on the vaamo platform. These are generally larger life-goals such as higher education, purchasing a house, or saving for a wedding. In the screenshot below, the user has set up and is tracking three separate goals.

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2) Using an investment approach it developed in collaboration with the Goethe-University in Frankfurt, vaamo invests the user’s savings into a set of funds. The startup has partnered with Dimensional Fund Advisors to provide a group of well-diversified funds through which users can invest to reach their goals. Dimensional Fund Advisors has offices all over the world, and is headquartered in Austin.
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3) If one of the funds changes course, vaamo prompts the user to change their goals using the slider tools on its platform. For example, if a fund lost a significant amount of value, vaamo would prompt the user either to extend the time period of their goal or change the amount desired to reach their goal.
VaamoPlan

Users in Germany can now sign up for a demo account, and will be invited to use vaamo with real money in the near future. In other geographical locations, users can sign up for a demo account, but cannot invest funds in the platform.

To learn more about vaamo, check out its launch at FinovateEurope 2014.

Nutmeg Raises $32 Million from New Investors

Nutmeg Raises $32 Million from New Investors

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When it comes to raising capital, there are no friends like new friends.

Online discretionary money manager Nutmeg announced that it had raised $32 million in funding from a group of new shareholders. The capital takes Nutmeg’s total funding to $50 million.

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Participating in the funding round were Charles Dunstone (founder of Carphone Warehouse); international asset-management company Schroders; and Balderton Capital, a venture capital firm. Nutmeg plans to use the additional capital to develop new products and improve services.
Nick Hungerford, co-founder and CEO, pointed to its low-cost, security, transparency, and convenience as complements to what he called Nutmeg’s “brilliant portfolio management.” Nutmeg’s technology helps users reach their goals through more efficient savings and investment. By factoring in risk, contribution levels, time-to-target, and other conditions, Nutmeg provides a realistic, objective source of sound money-management.
Users of the platform pay a management fee between 0.3% and 1% of total invested. According to Nutmeg, this can be a significant savings compared to the average management fee for private clients of 1.36%. The minimum investment size is £1,000, and accounts with less than £5,000 are asked to provide a minimum £50/month contribution.
Nutmeg’s investment strategy is based on diversification of risk and opportunity and relies on exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to make targeted, low-cost investments. The company provides personalized portfolio management and periodic review, as well, including regular rebalancing.
Nutmeg has more than 35,000 users. The company picked up an award at the 2014 European Fintech 50 in January, and its CEO was named to FN’s 40 fintech leaders list earlier this month.
Winner of a Best of Show Award at FinovateEurope 2012, Nutmeg, founded in 2011, is based in London.

Alumni News– June 25, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgKreditech raises $40 million in series B round.
  • Charge! LoopPay launches its iPhone ChargeCases.
  • Fiserv announces new partnerships and renewals with four credit unions.
  • Navy FCU chooses Select Mobile Money prepaid mobile app from Cachet Financial Solutions.
  • P2Binvestor adds three Colorado companies to its portfolio in June.
  • Ian McKenna examines how Yseop’s artificial intelligence can help financial advisors.
  • Vaamo launches Goal-Based Savings Platform on Invite-Only Basis.
  • Oink (formerly VirtualPiggy) and SafetyPay partner to enable Oink to accept local payments as they expand into Europe and Latin American markets.
  • ReadyForZero launches API to enable partners to deploy its debt-management platform on their own sites.
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.

Kreditech Raises $40 Million in Series B Round

Kreditech Raises $40 Million in Series B Round
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In a round led by Värde Partners and featuring participation from existing investors Blumberg Capital and Point Nine Capital, Kreditech has raised $40 million in new funding.

This latest capital infusion brings Kreditech’s total to more than $63 million. This includes $15 million in debt financing from Kreos Capital the company secured in the fall of 2013 and at the beginning of 2014.

As reported in TechCrunch, Kreditech will be looking to put the money to use expanding into new markets and further developing its product line.
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Kreditech specializes in developing and marketing advanced underwriting tools that leverage big data – and 10,000 data points per application – to determine creditworthiness “within minutes.” The technology means that potential borrowers can apply for loans online or on mobile without having to visit a bank branch. Consumers whose loans are approved can have funds in their accounts in ten minutes.
Here are a handful of interesting metrics from Kreditech:
  • Revenue run rate of more than $15 million
  • Issued loans run rate of more than $55 million
  • Average loan loss in established, profitable core markets of less than 10%
Kreditech was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. Founder Sebastian Diemer is CEO. The company demoed its technology in San Jose as part of the FinovateSpring 2014 conference. See Kreditech in action here.

Charge! LoopPay Launches its iPhone ChargeCases

Charge! LoopPay Launches its iPhone ChargeCases
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Trying to solve the puzzle of point-of-sale mobile payments? Don’t worry, Loop is on the case.

Mobile wallet innovator, Loop announced today that its LoopPay ChargeCase, the company’s battery case for the iPhone 5 and 5s, is now available.

As part of a limited time promotion, customers who buy the $99 ChargeCase will get the Loop fob for free. The fob, which retails for $39, is useful for loading cards onto the Loop app. The fob can also be used as a standalone payment device, especially at hospitality locations like restaurants and bars.
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What’s unique about Loop’s technology is the way the company uses short-term, short-range magnetic fields to communicate mag stripe data from the app to the POS terminal. And while the fob and ChargeCase represent the two main hardware approaches to storing the small wire that makes this magnetic field technology possible, the company is in talks with OEMs and hopes one day to have the hardware installed in phones during the manufacturing process.
Read more about Loop in our “Behind the Scenes” feature from the company’s Finovate debut this spring.
In the meanwhile, the LoopPay ChargeCase will put iPhone users that much closer to the sort of mobile wallet nirvana the industry has been promising for years. Like the fob, the charge case can work on its own, whether or not the Loop app – or the phone for that matter – is turned on. Unlike the fob, the ChargeCase of course serves another purpose, providing the iPhone with an additional 60% charge when needed.
Loop was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. Will Graylin is CEO. The company demoed its Loop app at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose. See a video of the company’s technology at work here.

Alumni News– June 24, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAmerican Banker looks at Wipit’s partnership with prepaid mobile wallet, Boost Mobile.
  • Iceland’s Acquiring Bank, Borgun, launches mPOS solution powered by Handpoint.
  • e27 examines TradeHero’s mobile app.
  • San Francisco Business Times: Taulia taps Fortune 500 to finance small businesses.
  • Geezeo announces partnership with Payveris.
  • Seasons FCU (18k members; $140 million assets) to deploy Verde International’s Corona, Aurora solutions for loan decisioning.
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.

Geezeo Announces Partnership with Payveris

Geezeo Announces Partnership with Payveris

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PFM innovator Geezeo announced today that it will partner with Payveris to provide a new suite of financial tools geared toward helping people better manage their finances.

The leaders of both companies were understandably complimentary of what each brings to the equation. Here’s Geezeo CEO Shawn Ward:

“The ability to pay bills or make payments from their online or mobile devices is a natural complement to Geezeo’s market-leading PFM, and unique web-based, data-driven marketing platform.”
And Fran Duggan, President of Payveris, was no less complimentary, saying:
“Geezeo is a thought leading company that understands the importance of giving their users a holistic view of financial assets, liabilities, cash flow, goals and budgets.”
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Makes you wonder what took so long for these two to get together!
Seriously, the idea of PFM solution developers allying with mobile payments specialists is a welcome one for those looking for further innovation in both spaces. As consumers begin to adopt new technologies, they seem to be as eager to see “what’s next” as they are in ensuring that the solution they do have is as capable of solving their problems as possible. And there may be no clearer example of this in fintech than the union of PFM and billpay.
Geezeo was last in the headlines this spring, announcing its HTML5-inspired redesign of its mobile app. The Boston-based company was born in 2006 and demoed its Enterprise Marketing Platform at FinovateFall 2010. See a demo of the company’s technology here.

Verde Corona, Aurora to Drive Loan Decisioning at Seasons FCU

Verde Corona, Aurora to Drive Loan Decisioning at Seasons FCU
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Seasons Federal Credit Union announced late last week that it would adopt loan decisioning technology from Verde Advisor.

Howard Brady, Chief Lending Officer for Seasons FCU highlighted the way the technology would help the credit union improve its lending strategy by being able to provide credit to a greater percentage of its membership.

“Specifically, Verde’s model enables us to responsibly serve the entire credit spectrum while increasing our net credit margin,” he said.

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The announcement means that Seasons FCU will run Verde’s Aurora and Corona solutions in tandem. Aurora is Verde’s automated, decisioning optimization engine. Corona is the company’s loan origination technology. Verde Advisor demoed Aurora at the company’s Finovate debut earlier this year at FinovateSpring in San Jose.
Patrick Reily, Verde Advisor co-founder and CEO, said, “As one of the first credit unions to deploy Verde Aurora, we look forward to helping them better serve their members through more effective pricing and instant, optimized underwriting.”
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Based in Middletown, Connecticut, Seasons FCU has more than 18,000 members and more than $140 million in assets. Seasons FCU offers a number of services (namely, Kasasa) courtesy of another Finovate alum, BancVue
Verde Advisor was founded in 2006, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Read our Behind the Scenes conversation with the company here.

Alumni News– June 23, 2014

  • CEOs and founders from eToro, BehavioSec, TransferWise, The Currency Cloud, and Nutmeg earn spots on FN’s 40 fintech leaders list.
  • Bill Harris, Personal Capital CEO, featured on CNBC to Personal Capital and how it differs from robo-advisors.
  • Investment News looks at the humans behind FutureAdvisor’s robo-advisors.
  • Betterment adds municipal bonds asset class to make client’s non-IRA portfolios more efficient.
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.

Alumni News– June 20, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgBillGuard expands internationally, now available in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
  • Simple speeds up money transfers: 1 business day for xfers from Simple and 3 business days for xfers into Simple.
  • Credit Sesame attracts 1 million + users to enroll in its free ID theft protection service.
  • American Banker talks about Check in its feature on the role of mobile bill pay in helping banks retain customers.
  • Fiserv announces that its CUnify account processing platform will be deployed by United Credit Union.
  • The National Bank (TNB) in Palestine signs deal with Temenos to replace current platform with T24.
  • Check announces billpay partnership with Direct Energy.
  • Gremln raises $100,000 as participant in SixThirty Accelerator Program.
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.