Intuit Buys Tax Planning/Preparation Specialist GoodApril

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Founded in January. Launched in March (see their FinovateSpring 2013 demo). Acquired in August.

That pretty much sums up a very productive 2013 for online tax preparation/planning software company, GoodApril.

The company announced on Thursday that it had been acquired by financial services giant, Intuit, for an undisclosed amount. GoodApril had been scheduled to make their pitch at Techstars Boulder/Denver Demo Day when the news broke. Undaunted, the innovative startup made its presentation anyway, a presentation that must have seemed as much acceptance speech as elevator pitch.

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GoodApril’s Tax CheckUp solution allows users to anticipate and prepare for potential tax liability in the tax year to come. Headquartered in San Francisco, and having only three employees, the company bills itself as the tax software for “the other 364 days of the year.” Tax Checkup analyzes previous tax returns and makes recommendations over the course of the year to ensure that taxpayers pay only what is owed on Tax Day.
Intuit has already one popular product in the tax preparation software market, TurboTax. However, like most tax preparation software packages, TurboTax is designed to help taxpayers prepare tax returns for previous years. Good April’s forward-looking approach gives taxpayers a chance to make potentially money-saving changes before it’s time to file.

Tradeshift Adds Features to “Humanize” Project Workflow

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Online invoicing startup Tradeshift announced updates to its platform yesterday that extend its reach beyond just e-invoicing. 

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The new update, called Collaborative Workflow, will enable users to collaborate on tasks and automate workflow, making Tradeshift a more holistic platform for businesses. It attempts to “humanize” the workflow process by:

1) taking the platform mobile
2) automating repetitive tasks
3) allowing multiple users to collaborate on a single project, giving each user a profile picture to associate with their name.

Check out Tradeshift at FinovateEurope 2012 where it demoed its Instant Payments feature.

Finovate Alumni News– August 8, 2013

  • FinovateLOGO.jpgKofax announces completion of Kapow Technologies acquisition.
  • ACI Worldwide cites role of their Universal Payments Platform in net new bookings growth for 2013 in this week’s Q2 report.
  • The New York Times looks at Lending Club, Prosper, Zopa, On Deck, SocietyOne, and Kabbage as significant lending platforms.
  • Finextra reports: PayPal trials new geolocation payment service in London.
  • Leadfusion launches new RESPONSE interface for Premium Financial Tools.
  • Finect Founder Jennifer Openshaw moderates Best Practices in Compliant Social Media webinar. See Finect demo at FinovateFall 2013 in New York.
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.

Why I Want My Auto Insurance Company to Track My Every Move

imageOur family has been lucky. Extraordinarily lucky. Eighty-plus years of mostly city driving, combined across four drivers, and not a single auto insurance claim (note 1). That means we’ve paid more than $100,000 (2013 dollars) in premiums for nothing, so far (note 2).

Actually, that’s not at all fair to the insurance providers. We’ve paid $100k for the peace of mind and potential financial help had we needed it (not to mention staying on the right side of the law). And it’s been worth it.

That said, I wouldn’t mind paying less for the same peace of mind. And that’s why I love the idea of mileage- and behavioral-based insurance (note 3). I haven’t always been a model driver, but I was the first person in my extended family to regularly wear a seat belt and I’ve grown to be a relatively conservative driver, especially after becoming a parent.

And I’d love to be compensated for that.

That’s why I’m all for the next generation of “smart auto insurance” that connects to your on-board computers to measure:

  • Speed
  • Miles driven per day
  • Time of day driven
  • Acceleration
  • Braking
  • How hard turns are taken
  • Seat belt usage
  • GPS tracking

And eventually, even more difficult concepts such as:

  • Driver distraction
  • Driver impairment

Not only will I qualify for lower premiums (hopefully), the feedback from the tracker will be interesting (e.g,. historical maps of your routes) and could have a significant impact on the quality of your driving (since it will directly impact your rate).  I know there are serious big-brother concerns here, especially in light of the NSA scandals of the past few months. But it can all be opt-in, though eventually, those not opting in will face higher premiums.

Progressive Insurance is an early leader in this area. It’s opt-in Snapshot tracking device (inset) has been used by more than one million customers (see screenshot below). Prospective customers can install the device free of charge for 30 days and track their potential savings online. You don’t even have to be a Progressive customer to get the free trial. 

Bottom line: Unless regulators get in the way due to privacy concerns, it’s inevitable that auto insurance, along with other types of property/casualty, will use behavioral metrics to price the risk. That will be a big change for the industry and will likely provide good openings for new entrants. 

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Progressive has 1 million drivers using its plug-in tracker (7 Aug 2013)

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Snapshot tracking log (via RoverGuide.com here)

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Notes:
1. There have been a few altercations with concrete pillars and such, but nothing severe enough to involve the insurance company. 
2. I know that I’ve now completely jinxed this, sorry family, and whomever we collide with.  
3. See previous post on Street Owl’s safe driving app and Metro Mile’s pay-as-you-go insurance.
4. For more on banks opportunities in insurance, see our full report here (Dec 2011, subscription)

PreCash’s PayConnect Helps Make Payments Faster and Cheaper

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One of the biggest gripes about mobile and online bill payment is that it takes “forever” to post (read 2-3 days), and if you want to (or have to) speed up the process, it’s just too expensive.

To solve this problem, PayConnect from PreCash leverages the company’s existing, cloud-based processing system to provide same day payment delivery for more than 80% of the transactions it processes. 

PayConnect allows customers to make payments at more than 10,000 utility, cable, and insurance companies, as well as other service providers. Customers can use both cash and cards for payment. 
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The company offers a pair of integration options: deploying into existing services by way of an API, or adding PayConnect as a white-label application with an online interface that can be branded.
PreCash CEO Steve Taylor cited a report from Aite Group that says more than half of consumers have made bill payments outside their bank, suggesting that “there is immense opportunity for innovative companies to unseat banks and incumbent providers by offering faster payments and a better user experience.”
PreCash serves more than 3 million consumers, processes more than $3 billion in payments, and has its products in more than 100,000 locations throughout the U.S. Headquartered in Houston, the company demoed Flip, their mobile check deposit solution for the underbanked, as part of the FinovateFall 2012 show in New York. See the company’s technology in action here.

NICE to Acquire Causata to Enhance Customer Experience Management

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NICE, a company that focuses on enhancing interactions with end customers, is about to make it easier for organizations to understand and improve the customer experience.

That’s because the Israel-based company announced it will acquire Causata, a customer experience management company.

As a part of the partnership, NICE will integrate Causata’s Hadoop-based technologies into its Customer Engagement Analytics platform. This will:

    • create customer profiles by analyzing their activities over multiple channels
    • converge self-service digital channels (i.e. web and mobile) with assisted-service channels to better manage the customer experience
    • enable banks to provide agents with the complete context of a customer interaction
    • improve real-time decisioning with predictive analytics and machine learning

The acquisition is expected to close in a few days.

To learn more about NICE, check out their demo from FinovateSpring 2013.

Finovate Alumni News– August 7, 2013

  • FinovateLOGO.jpgMasterCard CEO Ajay Banga announces MasterPass digital wallet now accepted by more than 20,000 merchants.
  • EyeVerify reaches finals in four categories of the 2013 Silicon Prairie Awards.
  • Ralph Marcuccilli, president and founder of Allied Payment Network, talks about the benefits of photo bill pay.
  • ProfitStars introduces hosted version PROFITstar Budget Manager, supported by Windows Azure for cloud computing. First Interstate Bank replaces Excel-based budgeting process.
  • U.S. PayPal users given option to withdraw money using MoneyGram.
  • London Loves Business blog highlights Nutmeg, Zopa, and Wonga as well-known London-based fintech startups.
  • Cardlytics names Jim Morgan as first CFO. Come see Cardlytics demo at FinovateFall in New York September 10 and 11.
  • PreCash launches PayConnect mobile and online bill pay platform.
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.

Finovate Alumni News– August 6, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgERN raises another $1 million, acquires two UK companies.
  • Expensify announces additional approval modes.
  • TMC selects Interactions’ Virtual Assistant applications for a 2013 Speech Technology Excellence Award.
  • The Financial Brand looks at NeoBanks: Moven, Simple, GoBank.
  • Reuters article features Wealthfront as a platform of choice for how millenials manage money.
  • MasterCard partners with United Bank for Africa to provide Nigeria’s first personalized debit card.
  • BrightFunds announces that it is now an official contributor to Triple Pundit.
  • The Economist talks with TransferWise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus about technological innovation in Estonia.
  • Kabbage and On Deck Capital both featured in Fit Small Business column on raising money for an existing business.
  • Allied Payment Network partners with Access Softek to provide Picture Pay mobile bill pay technology.
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.

ERN Raises Another $1 Million, Acquires Two UK Companies

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Recently, the big data trend has been pulsing through fintech and beyond. To further prove this, data insights company and creator of looop, ERN, recently announced $1 million in funding and the acquisition of two companies.

This seed funding, combined with the $1.6 million it announced in July and the $2 million it received late last year, brings the London-based company’s total funding to $4.6 million. All investors are unnamed, high-net worth individuals.

ERN acquired two U.K.-based consulting companies that were both purchased with a combination of undisclosed fees and stock:

    1. Inspired Analytics
    2. Elucidata

ERN also mentioned in its news release that it is preparing to announce its first commercial customer.

To learn more about ERN, check out its FinovateEurope 2013 demo video.

Finovate Alumni News– August 5, 2013

  • FinovateLOGO.jpgZopa featured in a Scottish Express column on P2P lending in the United Kingdom.
  • MasterCard and Visa to bring standardized chip-and-pin technology to the U.S.
  • Azimo, Zopa, and Lending Club are among the Finovate alumns highlighted in an Economist column on “changing finance for the better.”
  • VentureBeat lists BillGuard as 1 of 20 fastest growing mobile startups.
  • Slate lists reasons why everyone should download and use Braintree’s Venmo app.
  • Digital Trends chats with Basil Anan, CoverHound CEO on insurance rates trends. Check out CoverHound’s new tech at FinovateFall in NYC next month.
  • Braintree listed by Pando Daily as one of Chicago’s “new class of anti-Groupons”.
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.

Higher One Acquires PayDivvy’s Social Bill Management Solution

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PayDivvy’s social bill management services will soon be available to college and university students on the Higher One platform.

That’s because Higher One, a tech services company for college campuses, has purchased PayDivvy’s software. Now that the year-long acquisition process is complete, Higher One will enable its client base of college students to split and track bills and share expenses using PayDivvy’s social bill management services. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

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While the technology is well-suited for expense tracking and splitting among college roommates, Higher One has future plans to open the service to non-college students, in order to retain users after they graduate.

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PayDivvy’s founders, Mike Melby and Ray Tamblyn, have left to pursue other ventures, but the team of engineers at PayDivvy will still work with Higher One.

To learn more about PayDivvy, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

An Update on Q2 and a Look at its Partnership with Geezeo

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We recently chatted with Austin-based Q2 (formerly Q2ebanking) to find out what its team has been up to since demoing at Finovate. We also wanted to get a closer look at the recent announcement of its partnership with PFM solutions provider, Geezeo.

Q2 Overview

    • Headquarters: Austin, TX
    • Employees: 360 with plans to hire 40 more by year end
    • Funding: $20 million
    • Number of FI clients: Just under 400
    • Clients include: Umpqua Bank, Urban Partnersip Bank, and Eli Lilly FCU
    • End users: Just under 3 million
Since FinovateSpring 2011
At FinovateSpring 2011, Q2 demoed its Risk & Fraud Analysis to help FIs defend against account takeover in ACH, wire, and external transfers. Since then, the Austin-based company has been quite busy. Here is a sample of what it has been up to:

1) Enhanced security: Q2 is the only online banking provider that has built its own security solution into its platform.

2) Q2Clarity: This new solution provides bank executives with easy-to-digest visuals of how their customers are using online and mobile banking platforms. Graphs show logon rates, mobile device usage, and more.

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3) Tablet: A step further into mobile development allows end users to perform daily banking tasks, including mobile bill pay, remote deposit capture, and mobile enrollment.

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Geezeo partnership
Geezeo first took the Finovate stage in 2007 with a followup appearance at FinovateFall 2010, where it demoed its Enterprise Marketing Platform alongside SapientNitro.

Integrating Geezeo’s PFM with Q2’s e-banking platform will provide users easy access to their spending summary. Financial institutions will have the option to customize how they want Geezeo’s PFM to look inside their online banking experience. For example, it can appear on a sidebar on the homepage, or be located under a separate tab.

People’s Bank of Alabama is the first to adopt this new platform, and Q2 is in the process of on-boarding additional customers. 

What’s next
Q2’s next innovation will focus on Big Data marketing. Retail banks will be able to use data gathered from client interactions to cross-sell and up-sell to customers.

Q2 demoed at FinovateSpring 2011. Check out the demo video here.