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Correction: RevolutionCredit Announces Investment from Accion Venture Labs

By David Penn Posted on May 8, 2014
Categories: RevolutionCredit

If there’s such a thing as life after death, I think I want to come back as an alternative lender.

Or anything in that ecosystem for that matter. Venture capitalists are eager to spend big money on the fortunes of a growing number of alternative lenders. Big banks are looking to make deals and partnerships. And now investors are beginning to pay more attention to some of the other players in the fintech alt lending jungle.

RevolutionCredit, which specializes in credit decisioning, is a richer company today courtesy of an undisclosed investment from Accion Venture Lab. The Lab is a $10 million effort from Accion International designed to support those startups that are promoting financial inclusion through their technology. Both seed funding and mentoring are included as part of the initiative.

RevolutionCredit works by combining gamification, education, and forward-looking behavioral data to provide insights into which potential borrowers are more likely to successfully pay back their loans. Specifically, RevolutionCredit says that it can distinguish higher quality borrowers from lower quality borrowers even when traditional metrics like credit scores are the same or similar.

CEO Zaydoon Munir claims that RevolutionCredit can reduce delinquency by 30% and increase retention by more than 67%. The platform, which is currently available by invitation only, has been tested in pilot environments with lenders, credit card companies, and billers.

RevolutionCredit demoed as part of the FinovateFall 2013 conference in New York last year. Zaydoon Munir is founder and CEO. Watch the company’s presentation here.

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Motif Investing Raises $35 Million in Move Toward Wealth Management Market

By David Penn Posted on May 8, 2014
Categories: Motif Investing

What’s good for the retail investor may be even better for the professional wealth manager.

That’s the strategy of Motif Investing, the two-time Finovate Best of Show winner that just announced raising $35 million in funding from new investors. With an innovative investment product originally pitched toward everyday investors, the company has quickly outgrown its retail-oriented origins to take on the larger, and potentially more lucrative, wealth management market, as well.

Participating in the round were Balderton Capital, a venture capital firm out of Europe, as well as JPMorgan Chase and Wicklow Capital. With previous support from investors ranging from Goldman Sachs to Foundation Capital, Motif’s funding total stands at $86 million.

Motif says that the additional capital will help the company expand internationally, citing the participation of Balderton, as well as support continued technological innovation, particularly with regard to the Advisor platform.

On this note, Motif’s move toward wealth management was anticipated by their FinovateSpring appearance in San Jose. The company’s Advisor platform makes it easy for wealth managers to build, manage and rebalance motifs for their clients. The platform also features new social technology to help improve communication between advisor and advised.

Motifs are combinations of up to 30 stocks that can be traded as a single investment product, much like an exchange-traded fund (ETFs). The combination of the product’s ability to meet a real investor desire for personalization with smooth and eye-coddling user experience and interface helps distinguish Motif from its competitors. While motifs are a treat for the creative investing mind, they are also easy to build, easy to track, and easy to trade.

Motif Investing first appeared on the Finovate stage in the fall of 2013, picking up Best of Show honors with their debut demo. The Motif team continued its winning ways this spring, earning another Best of Show trophy at the FinvoateSpring conference in San Jose.

The full video of Motif Investing’s demo last week will be available later this month.

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Coinbase’s Acquisition of Kippt to Bring Usability to Bitcoin

By David Penn Posted on May 8, 2014
Categories: Coinbase

The news that bitcoin exchange Coinbase has acquired startup Kippt is one of the more positive stories to come out of the bitcoin community in recent weeks.

In an amount-undisclosed deal that consisted of stock and cash (but sadly, no bitcoin that we know of), Coinbase will be acquiring a company with which it already has a significant relationship. Members of the Kippt team reportedly have been working on branding for Coinbase, as well as developing a Coinbase app gallery.

Kippt’s reputation was built on its social bookmarking and messaging products. Both services will remain available, though there will be changes (such as the end of the paid Kippt Pro plan). Coinbase hopes to leverage the talent of Kippt to create a bitcoin that is friendlier to merchants and consumers alike.

In a blog post announcing the acquisition, Kippt co-founders Jori Lallo and Karri Saarinen wrote: “For the first time, designers and developers like us can now re-imagine the way financial transactions and products are designed and built.”

Fun fact: Coinbase and Kippt are members of the same 2012 Y Combinator class.

Founded in July 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Coinbase holds more than 1 million consumer wallets and enables bitcoin transactions for 28,000 merchants. The company specializes in removing exchange-rate risk from bitcoin transactions. This further reduces a source of friction for merchants and consumers using the virtual currency.

Coinbase is a recent Finovate alum, having debuted on the Finovate stage during the Spring show in San Jose last month. Video of the company’s demo will be available soon.

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Finovate Alumni News– May 8, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 8, 2014
Categories: Andera, Boku, Cachet Financial Solutions, Coinbase, MasterCard, Motif Investing, ProfitStars, RevolutionCredit

Boku partners with Deutsche Telekom to power the MNO’s payments offerings, provide it with a mobile app, and give customers the ability to pay for digital goods and services simply using their existing mobile phone account.

ProfitStars named among the 2014 Best Places to Work in Kentucky.

American Banker: Andera Acquisition to Bolster Bottomline’s Digital Banking Business.

Cachet Financial Solutions files initial registration statement with the SEC looking to raise $20 million through a public stock offering.

MasterCard Accelerator for European startups announces May 16 deadline.

Motif Investing raises $35 million in move toward wealth management market.

RevolutionCredit announces $10 million investment from Accion Venture Labs.

Coinbase’s acquisition of Kippt to bring usability to bitcoin.

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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MasterCard Accelerator for European Startups Announces May 16 Deadline

By David Penn Posted on May 7, 2014
Categories: MasterCard

Are you a European startup with seed funding and a beta program ready to go?

If so, MasterCard’s Start Path Accelerator program may be the opportunity you’ve been looking for.

The Start Path Accelerator program will give up to eight startups the opportunity to spend four months in Dublin working with MasterCard. The companies will also be mentored by program partners like Asos and Capital One. The goal of the program is for each startup to develop a pilot project with MasterCard or a MasterCard partner during the period.

Startups will also receive €35,000 to help cover expenses while working in Ireland.

MasterCard says that companies participating in the program will have “direct access” to the company’s wealth of knowledge and experience. We also know that MasterCard’s knowledge and experience with incubators and accelerators likely has been enhanced through their work with other successful programs such as FinTech Collective and Techstars.

If you’re interested, there’s no time like the present to apply. The deadline for applications is Friday, May 16.

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BBVA Compass Teams Up with OnDeck to Better Score Small Biz Borrowers

By David Penn Posted on May 7, 2014
Categories: BBVA Compass, Kabbage, Lending Club, On Deck Capital, Prosper

The only thing keeping pace with the investment interest in alternative lenders from Prosper to Kabbage may be the growing partnership interest from banks.

Earlier this week we reported on the deal between Lending Club and Union Bank. Today we learn that BBVA Compass will be working with OnDeck to develop better ways to provide loans to its small business clients.

Specifically, BBVA Compass will be relying on OnDeck’s OnDeck Score. This technology allows banks and financial institutions to review thousands of relevant data points, including social data points, to help determine a would-be borrower’s suitability for a given loan.

This new initiative is a big deal for OnDeck, and represents the first such collaboration with a bank the size of BBVA Compass. Founded in 2007 and led by CEO Noah Breslow, OnDeck made headlines a month ago when it announced a $77 million funding round led by Tiger Capital. The company specializes in combining loan underwriting analysis with the merchant’s own business data to determine a potential borrower’s creditworthiness faster than traditional lenders.

The average loan from OnDeck is $40,000, and loans can run as high as $250,000. Terms range from as little as three months to two years. The company demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2012.

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Finovate Alumni News– May 7, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 7, 2014
Categories: Actiance, App Annie, BancBox, BBVA Compass, Credit Sesame, Dashlane, Jack Henry, Kabbage, On Deck Capital, Personal Capital, Prosper, Striata, TradeHero

iFactor and Striata partner to offer robust push ebill solution to utilities.

Kingdom Trust and Bancbox partner to streamline the crowdfunding and P2P lending platform experience for the IRA investor.

Alternative lending pays up: Kabbage raises $50 million, Prosper pulls in $70 million.

Actiance extends Socialite to include Google+ & YouTube.

VentureBeat looks at the rise of P2P lending of many Finovate alums and predicts $1 trillion in loans by 2025.

App Annie now lets app developers track ads, app store optimization.

TradeHero launches a Chinese version, bringing the stock market game to traders in China.

Lend Academy speculates Prosper now valued $600 million, up from a $100 million valuation around eight months ago.

Personal Capital reaches 500,000+ registered users. Now is tracking over $70+ billion in & is managing $500 million in assets for clients.

Credit Sesame offers Target customers free ID protection, credit monitoring and credit scores without deadlines.

Jack Henry Banking’s Core Director processing platform deployed by Oklahoma State Bank and The Bank of Clovis in New Mexico.

BBVA Compass teams up with On Deck Capital to better score small business borrowers.

WSJ Personal Technology column recommends Dashlane as the “best way to manage online passwords.

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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LendUp Gets $50 Million Credit Debt Facility

By David Penn Posted on May 6, 2014
Categories: LendUp

With so many venture capitalists throwing money at alternative lenders in recent days, is it any surprise that they’ve begun hurling credit cards at these innovators, as well?

LendUp announced today that it has raised a $50 million credit facility from Victory Park Capital. This comes just a few months after picking up $14 million from Google Ventures and QED Investors in November.

LendUp co-founder Sasha Orloff credits rapid growth for the fresh funding needs of his company. He points to month-over-month growth between 10-20%, as well as expansion into Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee as evidence that LendUp will make good on its goal of launching in a new state every two weeks, and originating 300,000 loans this year.

A pioneer in socially responsible lending, LendUp provides a source of money for those typically unable to borrow through banks and credit unions. LendUp combines financial education, gamification, and better loan terms than those typically offered by traditional non-bank lenders to build a business that serves rather than avoids non-prime borrowers.

LendUp was founded in 2011, and launched its platform a year later. The company was part of FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose, California, where they demoed their technology. Video of LendUp’s demo will be available soon.

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Leaf Appoints Sarah McCrary as CEO

By David Penn Posted on May 6, 2014
Categories: Leaf

Sarah McCrary has been appointed CEO of Leaf. She formerly held the position of Chief Operating Officer, and will replace outgoing co-founder and CEO Aron Schwarzkopf.

Becoming “the small business owner’s best friend” is how Sarah characterized her goals for Leaf, the mobile, point-of-sale tablet that gives merchants greater flexibility in choice of payment providers.

The platform allows business owners to create a virtual store with customers, inventory, and employees, and features a variety of productivity apps geared toward small businesses. Many of these apps have been created by third-party developers.

Sarah McCrary spent six years at Heartland Payment Systems, and another four at Allied Data Systems previous to her joining Leaf as COO. While at Heartland, she co-invented the company’s end-to-end encryption technology, E3. In a statement, Leaf says they hope to leverage her expertise and background to grow sales and drive technological innovation in a small business POS space.

Leaf’s relationship with Heartland Payment Systems is a close one. Heartland invested $20 million in the mobile POS platform developer last October, and is involved with both selling the platform and developing new Leaf apps.

Leaf demoed its technology as part of the FinovateSpring 2013 conference in San Francisco. See the company’s demo here.

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Finovate Alumni News– May 6, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 6, 2014
Categories: BancBox, Banno, Fiserv, Holvi, Insuritas, Jack Henry, Leaf, Lending Club, LendUp, MiiCard, Ripple

CU Alliance hires Insuritas to build non-cyclical fee income for credit union members.

Lendoor partners with BancBox.

Wade Arnold wins CEO of the Year award from Technology Association of Iowa, weeks after selling Banno to Jack Henry & Associates.

Holvi moves HQ to downtown Helsinki.

Techli St. Louis features miiCard.

Fidor AG is first bank to deploy Ripple protocol.

Lending Club announces partnership with Union Bank.

Fiserv’s TradeFlow enhanced to support SWIFT’s GETC.

Sonora Bank implements SilverLake core processing platform from Jack Henry Banking.

LendUp raises $50 million credit debt facility from Victory Park Capital.

Leaf appoints Sarah McCrary to CEO.

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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FinovateSpring 2014 in the Press

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 5, 2014
Categories: FinovateSpring 2014

Last Wednesday we wrapped up FinovateSpring 2014. Since then, press reps have been hard at work covering the news and product launches that buzzed throughout the two day conference.

Below is a compilation of the news so far. We’ll add further coverage as it’s released throughout the week:

American Banker

Data Breaches Spur Security Focus at Financial Startups

by Kevin Wack