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Flint Raises $2 Million from Verizon Investments

By David Penn Posted on December 10, 2013
Categories: Flint Mobile

Add another $2 million in funding for mobile payments startup, Flint Mobile.

The company said on Tuesday that Verizon Investments was contributing to Flint’s Series B round of funding. The additional capital from Verizon Communication’s investment division boosts Flint’s total funding for this round to $8 million.

Flint also announced integration with Apple’s Passbook. According to Flint CEO Greg Goldfarb, the idea is to “enable little businesses that don’t have a lot of technology resources and no cash register to act with the efficiencies of bigger businesses.” The Passbook integration will allow coupons and offers to be added to digital receipts, which can be sent via email or stored in Passbook. Users will also be able to manage payments, send invoices, and receive payments online.

Flint offers iOS and Android compatible mobile payments systems that requires no additional hardware or card reader. The technology makes it easier for smaller and nontraditional businesses to accept credit cards, and allows merchants to issue invoices and create customized receipts safely and securely.

The company made headlines in October with news that it had received $6 million in Series B funding from wireless service provider, Digicel. Flint demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2012 in San Francisco. See the company in action here.

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Finovate Alumni News– December 10, 2013

By David Penn Posted on December 10, 2013
Categories: Capital Access Network, Compass Plus, EyeVerify, Flint Mobile, Jemstep, Manilla, Mint.com, Motif Investing, NICE Systems, planwise, SigFig, Wealthfront

Capital Access Network changes its name to CAN Capital.

Compass Plus survey reflects declining support for NFC amid growing popularity of mobile channel.

CFA Institute’s Inside Investing takes a look at Motif Investing and “the secret revolution in finance.”

Gartner places NICE in leaders quadrant of the 2013 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Workforce Optimization.

Wealthfront announces new ability to harvest losses on stocks that comprise an index.

Fast Company features EyeVerify.

Flint Mobile raises $2 million from Verizon Investments.

Mint, Manilla, SigFig, Jemstep and Planwise featured in Kiplinger’s list of smart online tools to manage finances.

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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Innovations at FinovateEurope 2014: Part 1

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on December 9, 2013
Categories: FinovateEurope 2014

Last week we revealed 54 of the 64 FinovateEurope 2014 demo companies that will show off their innovations on stage in London. Below, we’ve described each company in more detail. Get your ticket here to be a part of the crowd on February 11 and 12.

Here are the descriptions of the first half of the demoing companies (in alphabetical order):

AdviceGames is world’s leading digital advice company, launching the first scientifically developed omni-channel advice services platform globally.

AnalytixInsight’s CapitalCube algorithmically analyzes market and company data to produce research on 45,000 companies and 1500 ETFs.

Atsora is disrupting the e-banking experience for small and medium businesses.

Arxan provides ‘Gold standard’ Mobile Application Security. Deploy applications with tamper-resistance to innovate with confidence.

Avoka: In the future, every transaction will be digital. Avoka Transact delivers the future today.

Backbase announces complete mobile enrollment application for financial services.

BehavioSec allows you to add transparent biometrics for multi-layered security.

Blue Speck Financial’s Momentum (FKA YourWealth) is empowering people to make choices about their financial future.

Buttercoin is disrupting the $500 billion Remittance Industry with the power of Bitcoin.

CRIF offers consulting, data, predictive analytics and technology solutions to achieve optimized and innovative decision-making throughout the credit value chain.

CurrencyTransfer.com offers the world’s first live, transparent and competitive price feed aggregator for the SME and Corporate market.

Device Ident offers expert anti-fraud solutions for European companies within the e-commerce and financial sectors.

Encap is a software security company that bridges the gap between banking grade security and user experience.

ETRONIKA is developing innovative solutions for banking and e- business, using advanced and secure technologies.

EXCESS RETURN helps users find the very best trading ideas, enhance their performance and minimize their risk.

EZBOB is an innovative, online, fully automated lending provider for small and medium businesses in the U.K.

fastacash is a social payments platform that enables users to transfer value across any social platform.

Feedzai uses machine learning and big data to let banks stop fraud before it happens.

Fiserv provides digital banking and payments solutions to financial institutions across the globe.

Five Degrees invigorates banks withMatrix: a customer centric dialogue and case driven bank platform

GMC Software Technology a leading software developer of solutions that transform the customer experience.

IND Group is a leading innovator and developer of digital banking, PFM and payments technology.

ITSector is an award winning, multi-channel and sales banking solutions company. It offers integrated multi-channel and sales solutions for large financial institutions.

Jumio is a next generation credentials management company offering payments and ID scanning & validation products for mobile and web transactions.

Kensho creates Technological innovations that intelligently analyze the world’s financial and event data to deliver superior risk management.

Kofax is a provider of smart mobile and process automation software and solutions for the businesscritical First Mile of customer interactions.

LifePay is the mobile solution provides allthe essentials of the standard cash register

Luminous We solve problems, that’s what we help banks do.

___________________________________________________________

Stay tuned next week to see the descriptions of the rest of the companies that will demo their innovations on stage at FinovateEurope.

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Emida Recruits David Kirtman as New CEO

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on December 9, 2013
Categories: Emida

Global prepaid solutions company, Emida, has recently added new talent to its team. It announced today that David Kirtman (LinkedIn) will join the company as its new CEO.

Kirtman brings years of stored value and payments experience to the California-based company. Prior to joining Emida, David worked for iSend where he helped build the company’s in-kind international payments business.

Shane Belovsky, who was serving as interim CEO, will continue with Emida as COO.

Emida debuted its Cash and Transact service at FinovateFall 2012.

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Finovate Alumni News– December 9, 2013

By David Penn Posted on December 9, 2013
Categories: Azimo, Comarch, DeviceFidelity, Fiserv, GMC Software Technology, HelloWallet, NICE Systems, Realty Mogul

Azimo CEO Michael Kent talks about his company’s partnership with The Currency Cloud.

Realty Mogul named one of the 18 best startups of 2013 by Business Insider.

Bob’s Guide looks at Comarch survey to determine SMB satisfaction with business banking.

American Banker reports: Fiserv Releases Financial Crime Risk Platform.

1to1 media features insights on customer service innovation from NICE Systems and GMC Software Technology.

Business Standard reviews Hello Wallet’s smartphone app.

NFC chip from DeviceFidelity earns commendation in this Forbes column on mobile banking.

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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Finovate Alumni News– December 6, 2013

By David Penn Posted on December 6, 2013
Categories: Betterment, Cartera Commerce, Comarch, FutureAdvisor, Jemstep, LearnVest, Moven, ThreatMetrix, TransferWise, Wealthfront

Money Under 30 reviews the Moven app.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek takes a look at Comarch’s report on banking in London’s “Tech City”.

Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of TransferWise, weighs in on the state of the UK’s financial technology industry.

ThreatMetrix protected 1 in 4 U.S. e-commerce transactions on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Cartera Commerce launches American Airlines’ Mobile AAdvantage shopping site.

The Guardian profiles “robo-advisors” Betterment, LearnVest, FutureAdvisor, Wealthfront, and Jemstep.

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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Email Design: Discover Card’s “Statement Available” Message

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 5, 2013
Categories: Alerts & Messaging, Discover Card, Electronic Statements, Email Samples

There are a number of financial startups and trail-blazing FIs bringing modern user interfaces to banking. We see dozens of great examples at every Finovate (note 1). And we expect a slew of remodels in the new year as responsive design and other techniques take hold.

But I continue to call out Discover’s design work (previous posts). Partly because I have an account there and see it often and partly because it’s instructive to see how a large full-service bank handles design tradeoffs.

Yesterday’s email from DIscover, reminding me that my monthly statement was ready, shows how the card giant marries good design with useful information.

Most statement alerts are simple one liners asking the user to do all the work: login, find the right tab, click on the correct button, and so on. Discover, on the other hand, positions key summary information right within the body of the email (see screenshot below):

Statement end date
Statement balance
Credit available
Minimum payment due
Due date

The company includes a button to view the statement at the top, but somewhat buries the payment link near the bottom.

Analysis: This is one of the better (maybe best) statement-available message I get from the major brands (note 2). But it could still be improved:

Include a Pay Now button.
Remind me that I’m on autopay and when to expect the payment in full to be deducted from my bank account.
Reword and fix the bottom link. Currently it says “Late and Minimum Payment Warning.” That sounds like there must be a problem with my account. But there isn’t, so I assume that is supposed to link to the alerts maintenance area. However, that link wasn’t working, so I just was dumped onto the main secure account page. It was very confusing.
Add a link to customer service, both self-serve and human powered.
Add the amount of rewards earned this period. It’s always nice to be reminded of free money received.

————————
Notes:
1. For example, a recent crowd favorites was from Poland’s mBank which demoed alongside Accenture at FinovateFall in September (demo video).
2. We dug deep into this area a few years ago in our reports (subscription):
– Email Banking: Revitalizing the Channel (August 2010)
– Alerts & Streaming (July 2010)
– Paperless Billing & Banking (Nov. 2010)

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Lending Club Tops $3 Billion Mark for Personal Loans Originated

By David Penn Posted on December 5, 2013
Categories: Lending Club

When Lending Club demoed at Finovate Startup in 2009, the company boasted $35 million in personal loans originated.

This morning, we learn that Lending Club has reached $3 billion in personal loans originated, with $2 billion of that amount generated in 2013 alone.

With 225,000 loans in 44 states, Lending Club continues to leverage its lending technology to put borrowers and lenders together in a way that saves money compared to the kind of lending that characterizes traditional banking. Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche said, “it is gratifying to see how many people we’ve been able to help achieve their goals this year, from consolidating debt to paying off credit cards to completing home improvement projects.”

Lending Club’s technology matches creditworthy potential borrowers with lenders looking for returns. Rates available for borrowers are typically better than credit card rates, and lenders benefit from putting their capital to work earning solid returns and generating cash flow.

In addition to strong, year-ending metrics, Lending Club’s 2013 has been positive overall. The company secured an investment from Google, part of a secondary transaction worth $125 million. Lending Club also made significant additions to its executive team and advisory board, bringing former Capital One Bank SVP Sid Jajodia on board for the former and luminaries like Mary Meeker and Lawrence Summers on board for the latter.

In store for 2014, according to Laplanche, are stepped up efforts to help Lending Club become a more “mainstream brand,” as well as expansion into new product categories. The Lending Club team now stands at more than 300 employees, and recently expanded to a fourth floor at its San Francisco location.

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Kabbage Adds Square Transactional Data to its Credit Decisioning Process

By David Penn Posted on December 5, 2013
Categories: Kabbage

Kabbage is the latest company to decide that it really is hip to be Square, after all.

The SME online lender announced that it will now use transactional data from companies that use Square to process payments as a tool for helping allocate capital and make loans.

The use of Square data for underwriting purposes is novel, according to Kabbage. Company co-founder and CEO Rob Frohwein credits the platform’s “flexibility and power” in describing Kabbage’s ability to “leverage the broadest range of business data sources … to (make) funding simple and accessible to small business everywhere.”

Kabbage is a pioneer in the field of online small business lending. The Atlanta-based company specializes in analyzing data from actual business activity, from shipping data and seller channels to social media. This enables the lender to know more about their potential borrower than is often discovered using traditional credit modeling methods. A partnership with Intuit provides “under 7 minute” funding decisions for customers who use QuickBoooks.

Kabbage was most recently in the headlines with news of its partnership with Xero. The deal allows Kabbage to use small business accounting data as part of the basis for underwriting decisions. The company also announced earlier this year that it had integrated with Stripe to make it easier for companies that process online payments to apply for financing.

Kabbage demoed its technology as part of the FinovateSpring show in San Francisco this spring. See the company in action here.

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Finovate Alumni News– December 5, 2013

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on December 5, 2013
Categories: Better ATM Services, Dwolla, Expensify, Fiserv, Intuit, TSYS

Dwolla announces partnership with Fiverr by giving away free Fiverr gigs.

FinovateEurope 2014 Presenting Companies Revealed.

Intuit to Acquire Docstoc, Small Business Document Startup.

Expensify modernizes its UI.

Better ATM Services rolls out reseller network and announces first agreement with Express Teller Services.

TSYS earns spot on the National Conference on Citizenship’s The Civic 50.

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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FinovateEurope 2014 Presenting Companies Revealed!

By Eric Mattson Posted on December 4, 2013
Categories: Uncategorized

With just 68 days to go until our fourth annual FinovateEurope, it’s finally time to reveal the presenter lineup for the event.

On February 11 & 12, these companies will take the stage to demo their newest fintech innovations to a projected crowd of over 900 financial executives, venture capitalists, press, industry analysts and entrepreneurs.

With the explosion in European fintech activity in the last year, the application process to select the innovations for the conference was incredibly competitive. While that makes for hard choices for our selection committee, it also lays the foundation for another amazing FinovateEurope filled with cutting-edge fintech innovation.

Without further ado, here are the companies that will be demoing their latest and greatest in London next February:

AdviceGames
AnalytixInsight
Atsora
Avoka
Backbase
BehavioSec
Blue Speck Financial
Buttercoin
CRIF
CurrencyTransfer.com
Device Ident
Encap
ETRONIKA
EXCESS RETURN
EZBOB
fastacash
Feedzai
Fiserv

Five Degrees
GMC Software Technology
IND Group
ITSector
Jumio
Kensho
Kofax
LifePay
Luminous
Luxoft
Matchi
Meniga
The Moneyer
Money on Toast
My Order
myWishBoard
NF Innova
Nostrum Group

Nous.net
payworks
PhotoPay
Pixeliris
Plutus Software
SaaS Markets
SecureSafe
Smart Engine
SoftWear Finance
SQLI
Temenos
Tink
Tootpay
Top Image Systems
Topicus Finan
Toshl
Trustev
Yseop

We will be also be announcing over a dozen stealth companies closer to the event.

If you’re interested in witnessing the future of European fintech debut in London next February, please get your ticket today to guarantee your ability to attend as we’re headed towards a sellout crowd. Plus if you register before December 21st, you’ll save £100 via the early-bird discount!

We’ll see you in London in February (or Silicon Valley in April)!

FinovateEurope 2014 is sponsored by: The Bancorp, Be Group, Financial Technology Partners, and Life.SREDA.

FinovateEurope 2014 is partners with: Aite Group, BankersHub, Celent, The Financial Services Club, FSIC, Hotwire PR & Visible Banking.

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