Blog - Page 914 of 1240

Plutus Software Launches KreditAja.com Credit Scoring Site

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 11, 2014
Categories: FinovateEurope 2014, Plutus Software

This post is part of our live coverage of FinovateEurope 2014.

Plutus Software is up first, launching its credit scoring site, KreditAja.com:

“In addition to the comparison functionality for the various financial products, KreditAja.com features predictive analytics to aid both borrowers and lenders. For borrowers, this potentially enables creditworthy individuals to gain access to financing that they normally would not be able to obtain based on traditional credit scoring methods. At the same time, this analytics capability enables lenders on our platform to more accurately assess the risk of borrowers so as to better price the products that they are disbursing. Our proprietary credit scoring system aims to produce a more holistic assessment of a borrower’s creditworthiness via incorporating multiple data sources, including social media.”

Presenting Aidil Zulkifli (CEO) and Jagannathan Janagyraman (Group CTO)

Product Launch: February 2014

Metrics: S$700,000 raised in seed funding, 15 employees, approximately $5 million in approved loans

Product distribution strategy: Direct to Business (B2B), licensed

HQ: Singapore

Founded: February 2012

Website: KreditAja.com

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FinovateEurope 2014: Live in London!

By David Penn Posted on February 10, 2014
Categories: FinovateEurope 2014

It’s rehearsal day here at Old Billingsgate Market Hall in London, and the whole Finovate team is here busily getting everything ready for another sold-out FinovateEurope.

FinovateEurope is the first big fintech event of 2014. And if you’re looking for insights into the kind of innovations people will be talking and writing about all year, then you’ve come to the right place.

From biometric authentication technologies for the security-conscious to mobile payments and PFM, this year’s event will help set the tone for another year of triumphs and surprises from a growing, international community of fintech entrepreneurs.

FinovateEurope Mobile and web app
And speaking of community, this year we’re using Bizzabo’s social networking app to help attendees make the kind of connections that make Finovate so unique. Within Bizzabo’s mobile app environment, attendees will be able to learn more about our presenting companies and our sponsors, review the show’s agenda and, most important, reach out and connect with each other.

You can download the Bizzabo app for both Android and iOS from their respective app stores (here for Android, here for iOS). You can also use the app on your desktop via this link. Once you’ve got the app downloaded and installed, just search for “Finovate” and you’ll be connected to the event.

Twitter

So whether you will be here in London, following us on our Twitter feed @Finovate, or reading along with our Live Blog at Finovate.com, we couldn’t be happier to have you join us. The show starts Tuesday morning at 9:00am London time, continues all day long, and starts again bright and early Wednesday morning – same fintech time, same fintech place.

For more information about FinovateEurope 2014, check out our preview page here. Get information on the event schedule, the venue, a list of presenters and more.

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UK-Based Card-Linked Offers Company, Birdback, Raises $2.4 Million

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 10, 2014
Categories: Birdback, Funding

Adding to the flood of funding this month, card-linked offers company Birdback recently announced $2.4 million dollars in venture funding.

Passion Capital led the round, followed by:

Paul Nikkel
Luke Johnson
Playfair Capital
#1seed

The UK-based company will use the round to retailers and financial institutions. Users in the UK, France, and Brazil will have the first opportunity.

To learn more about Birdback, check out its demo from FinovateEurope 2013.

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B2B Currency Exchange Specialist Kantox Raises $9 Million in Series A Round

By David Penn Posted on February 10, 2014
Categories: Kantox

This time a year ago, Kantox was on stage at FinovateEurope, showing the world its peer-to-peer currency exchange for SMEs.

Today, the company is announcing its largest funding round to date: a Series A investment of €6.5 million (approximately $9 million). The round was led by Partech Ventures and IDinvest Partners, which joined previous investor, Cabiedes & Partners.

The new investment brings the company’s funding total to more than $12 million. Kantox plans to use the capital to help develop its peer-to-peer trading technology, as well as to expand the company’s presence in Europe. Philippe Gelis, Kantox CEO, said, “We are extremely excited to have secured this latest round of funding, and can’t wait to continue building out our sales teams in Germany, France, Spain, the UK and Italy.”

Kantox specializes in helping small and medium sized businesses access optimal foreign currency exchange rates. Kantox leverages its peer-to-peer technology to provide SMEs with a way to avoid costly (and often undisclosed) FX fees typically demanded by brokerage firms and banks.

“Large corporates enjoy access to really competitive rates while SMEs and mid-caps – who usually don’t have access to live rates or an in-house FX expert – are overcharged by a banking oligopoly which promotes opacity,” Gelis said.

A few Kantox metrics:

Serves more than 500 corporate clients
Anticipates processing more than 1 billion euros in transactions in 2014.
Provides ability to trade more than 25 international currencies
Saved more than 70% of its customers more than 80% compared to banks and brokerages

Kantox is one of a number of innovators in this P2P currency exchange space, competing alongside fellow Europeans (and Finovate alums) like CurrencyTransfer and TransferWise. The company is headquartered in the UK, and has offices in Barcelona, Spain.

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FinovateEurope 2014 is Sold Out!

By Eric Mattson Posted on February 9, 2014
Categories: Uncategorized

We’re very excited to announce that FinovateEurope 2014 is sold out and the wait list is growing quickly. The demand for our 4th annual event in London has been unprecedented and we believe yet another sign of how vibrant the European fintech industry has become.

On this Tuesday and Wednesday, almost 1,000 innovators will witness the future of fintech debut live at Old Billingsgate Market Hall in the heart of London.

Here is a small sample of the organizations that will be in attendance:

ABN Amro
ABN AMRO
Accel Partners
AIB Bank
American Express
AXA Bank
Balderton Capital
Banco Santander
Bank Julius Baer
Bank of America
Bank of East Asia
Bank of Ireland
Barclays
BNP Paribas
Bradesco Bank
Capgemini
Celent
comdirect bank
Cortal Consors
Credit Suisse
Datamonitor Financial
e-laCaixa
Ernst & Young
Erste Bank
Euromoney
Experian
FHB Bank
Fidelity Investments
Financial Technology Partners
Financial Times

Fiserv
Forbes
Forrester
Gartner
General Atlantic
Goldman Sachs
Google
HSBC
Index Ventures
ING DIRECT
Investec
Jyske Bank
KPMG
Lloyds
MasterCard
Mergermarket
Microsoft
Nationwide
OTP Bank
Ovum
PostFinance
Rabobank
RBKMoney
RBS
Riyadbank
Route 66 Ventures
Royal Bank of Scotland
S&P Capital IQ
Sberbank of Russia
SBT Venture Capital
Scottish Equity Partners

Silicon Valley Bank
SKAGEN Funds
SNS Bank
SocGen
Sparebanken
Standard Bank Group
Standard Life
Suncorp
Sutor Bank
Swedbank
SWIFT
Swisscom
T. Garanti Bankasi
TechCrunch
Techstars
The Bancorp
The Economist
The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal
Thomson Reuters
TSB Bank
UBS AG
Unicredit Bank
Velocity Capital
Visa
Volksbank Bühl
Wellington Partners
Western Union
Wonga.com
Yahoo Japan
And many more!

If you’re like to follow along with all the FinovateEurope innovations, our research team will be live blogging the conference at Finovate.com and you can also search for #finovate on twitter. If you’re interested in getting on the wait list for the event, please email us at [email protected].

Please note we’re also seeing strong demand for our FinovateSpring 2014 event in Silicon Valley in late April. If you’re interested in locking in your ability to attend that event, please register soon.

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

FinovateEurope 2014 is partners with: Aite Group, Bank Innovators Council, BankersHub, Celent, The Financial Services Club, FSIC, Hotwire PR, Level39, Mapa Research, SME Finance Forum, Visible Banking, & World Finance.

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Finovate Alumni News– February 7, 2014

By David Penn Posted on February 7, 2014
Categories: EyeVerify, IntelliResponse, Klarna, Realty Mogul

Kansas City, Kansas mayor declares February 6th “EyeVerify Day.”

Klarna announces broader expansion in Europe, interest in Japan and the US.

LA Times real estate column on innovations in lending features Realty Mogul.

Opus Research report names IntelliResponse as a leader in the Enterprise Virtual Assistant industry.

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 Launches Tuesday. Come Join Us!

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 6, 2014
Categories: FinovateEurope 2014

The Finovate team is on their way to London, and that can only mean one thing: FinovateEurope 2014 is just around the corner!

Here’s what you need to know as you prepare to attend the biggest show we’ve ever hosted in Europe:

Schedule
Registration opens at 8AM on Tuesday, February 11 and the demos will go from 9:00AM Tuesday until 3:30PM on Wednesday.

If you don’t have your ticket yet, there’s still time. Ticket registration will be open until we sell out. Click here to be a part of our record-breaking audience.

Venue
We’ll be returning to the Old Billingsgate Market Hall on the Thames. As a reminder, here’s the address:

1 Old Billingsgate Walk 16 Lower Thames Street London, EC3R 6DX

Presenters
Throughout the two day event, 67 companies will have a chance to show off their newest technology from the Finovate stage. Check out our Presenters page to learn more about each company.

Questions about the event? Check out the FAQ or contact [email protected].

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PayNearMe Leverages Family Dollar Partnership; Raises $20 Million

By David Penn Posted on February 6, 2014
Categories: PayNearMe

Helping separate itself from the growing pack of consumer payments platforms, PayNearMe‘s partnership with the Family Dollar retail chain will bring the company’s cash payment solution to more than 8,000 locations in 40 states.

“Footprint” has been the company’s biggest limitation, according to PayNearMe CEO Danny Shader. With the technology already in use at 7-Elevens and ACE Cash Express, the addition of Family Dollar will expand PayNearMe’s reach to 17,000 payment locations.

PayNearMe also announced a major new funding: $20 million in a round led by GSV Capital, with existing investors August Capital, Khosla Ventures, Maveron, and True Ventures also participating. The company’s total funding now stands at more than $56 million.

A cash transaction network, PayNearMe provides an easy way for cash-based consumers to pay bills, rent, auto loans, and other obligations at designated payment locations. The solution benefits consumers who prefer to pay with cash, retailers who gain additional foot traffic to their brick and mortar locations – as well as earning commissions from their PayNearMe payments, and merchants looking to expand their customer base by accepting cash.

According to PayNearMe, the cash economy remains important, especially for the underbanked. They note:

More than 28% of U.S. households are un- or underbanked
68 million adults living in the U.S. are un- or underbanked
54% of U.S. adults cite cash as their preferred form of payment

For its part, PayNearMe has experienced major growth, including a tripling of payment volume from 2012 to 2013.

PayNearMe demoed its technology as part of the FinovateFall 2011 show in New York. See the company in action here.

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Finovate Alumni News– February 6, 2014

By David Penn Posted on February 6, 2014
Categories: Billeo, FIS, Mambu, PayNearMe

FIS announces multi-year business process outsourcing agreement with wealth manager Diversified Trust.

Mexican micro-lender Kueski chooses Mambu’s cloud banking platform.

Billeo launches social e-commerce solution for Facebook fan pages and Twitter.

PayNearMeleverages Family Dollar partnership; raises $20 million.

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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New OBR Published: Money 3.0

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 5, 2014
Categories: bitcoin, Online Banking Report

The report, Money 3.0: Payments Go Mobile examines the evolution of money beyond cash, check and credit cards. We also take a look at the biggest story in payments over the past six months, the rise of bitcoin. If you believe the proponents, we’ve been witnessing the founding of the “internet for money.”

That may be true, but like Napster when it created the “internet for music” there will be substantial push-back from existing players. And this time, legacy providers will have the full support of the government to keep the newcomers in check.

But as the music industry changed post-Napster, we expect the rise of bitcoin, and digital financial transfers in general (especially mobile), to have lasting impact on the financial services industry. The rapid rise of mobile payments at PayPal, the original alt-payments disrupter, illustrates the speed of change in the space.

This report looks at the latest developments and recommends potential courses of action for financial institutions of all sizes.

About the report

Money 3.0: Payments Go Mobile (link)

Apple, Bitcoin, & mobile apps are changing the game. What’s a bank to do?

Author: Julie Schicktanz, Research Analyst
Editor: Jim Bruene, Editor & Founder

Published: 4 February 2014

Length: 36 pages

Cost: No extra charge to OBR subscribers, US$395 for others here

Report excerpt:

A look at Fidor Bank’s recent involvement in bitcoin:

—————————————————————

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Finovate Alumni News– February 5, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 5, 2014
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Backbase, Digital Insight, Digital Mailer, Experian, Fiserv, Flint Mobile, Kabbage, PlayMoolah, Taulia

Kabbage expands platform to serve all SMBs: online, brick-and-mortar, and services businesses.

Spend Matters interviews Taulia’s Markus Ament on its discounting philosophy, e-invoicing, and ERP.

Gartner recognizes Backbase CXP as being at the forefront of UX design and mobile development support.

PlayMoolah celebrates third birthday.

Washington Federal picks Fiserv’s DNA account processing platform.

Digital Mailer adds eight new financial institutions to its My Virtual Strongbox service.

Experian launches real-time data sharing service for UK credit providers.

Genesis Financial chooses ACI Worldwide to power multichannel call center and eLockbox payment options.

LegacyTexas Bank of Plano to work with Digital Insight to deploy online and mobile banking solutions. See Digital Insight demo at FinovateEurope next week.

Pulse 2.0 takes a look at Flint Mobile.

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– February 4, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 4, 2014
Categories: Banno, Finovera, Jack Henry, Kofax, Luminous, Nous.net, Pindrop Security, Refundo, TransferWise

Nous makes it to the finals of UK’s Million Pound Startup competition. Check them out at FinovateEurope in London.

Luminous partners with Jack Henry & Associates. Come see them both at FinovateEurope next week.

Pindrop Security achieves record growth in 2013 fueled by rising phone-based fraud.

Sun Hearlad features Finovera as a new site to help manage personal finances.

In yet another partnership, Refundo partners with Stripe to process payments for tax preparers.

CNB Texas launches responsive design website from Banno for greater cross-sell potential.

Top-Five U.S. Bank makes million dollar investment in software licenses for Kofax’s Mobile Capture. Come see Kofax’s live demo at FinovateEurope.

FinovateEurope 2014: Guess Who’s Coming to London?

VentureBeat lists TransferWise among London’s hottest startups.

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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