Finovate Alumni News– August 2, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgNetbanker looks at LendUp and BillGuard as 2 innovators creating services to protect the elderly from spam.
  • Kofax acquires data integration software provider Kapow Technologies.
  • Startup Owl features Lighter Capital and On Deck. Check out Lighter Capital at FinovateFall in NYC.
  • Bill.com’s two-factor authentication brings security to SMBs.
  • Thoma Bravo completes billion-dollar acquisition of Intuit Financial Services, re-launched as Digital Insight.
  • Net Element International integrates its Aptito POS payments platform with TSYS.
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.

Meet the Innovators of FinovateFall 2013

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FinovateFall 2013 is right around the corner. That means it’s time to start getting to know the entrepreneurs and innovators that will be presenting their technologies on stage in New York City in September.

Remember, the early bird deadline is this Friday, August 2nd. So to reserve your spot and register now.

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Akimbo Financial offers a social bank account alternative that makes sharing money easier than ever.
authenticIDs identity tools pictureID and catfishID, are the most accurate, time-saving solutions for the forms of ID we already carry.
Backbase‘s Launchpad, the Commercial Banking Edition, making CFO’s work easier.
BehavioSec uses behavioral analytics to transparently tackle web and mobile security.
BillFloat revolutionizes credit delivery to consumers and businesses.
Biometric Signature ID has a patented software-only biometric for secure ID online verification.
BizEquity is the first and leading cloud-based business valuation engine, an innovative solution to small business lead generation.
Capital Access Network is the largest and most experienced small business finance specialist.
Cardlytics uses consumer purchase data to drive a patented advertising platform. Ads are so relevant–they’re expected. 
CoverHound is a comparison insurance adviser, helping people discover, buy, and manage insurance online.
CR2 is the innovative provider of self-service banking solutions including ATM, Internet, and mobile banking.
DoubleBeam‘s SDK powers mPayments inside other mobile apps, helping signup customers quickly and save a ton on the cost of payments.
FinanceIt offers businesses the ability to provide consumer financing to their customers at the POS.
Financial Guard helps you protect your investments, providing online investment advice at the right price, finally.
Finect is the leading online network for the financial services industry.
Fiserv is a leading global technology provider serving the financial services industry, driving innovation in payments.
FlexScore “gamifies” financial planning, gives a “score” of your financial fitness, and provides education, advice, peer comparisons.
Float Money offers interest-free credit to members of its shopping club and financial health partners.
FutureAdvisor manages your investments for better returns, making quality financial advice available to everyone.
GMC Software Technology is a leading software developer of solutions that transform the customer experience.
Guide Financial is like a healthcheck for your finances – automatically scanning your accounts for ways you can earn or save more, and providing simple, easy fixes.
Ignite Sales is the leader in retail banking, customer acquisition, and retention technology.
Innovation Agency, where you can execute on your innovation mandate and unlock the wealth of ideas in your ecosystems.
Instabank – Beautiful money.
Interactions provides natural language Virtual Assistant application services for the automation customer care processes.
Jumio is a next generation credentials management company offering payments and ID scanning and validation products for mobile and web transactions.
Kofax is a leading provider of smart process applications that simplify the business critical First Mile of information-intensive customer interactions.
LearnVest empowers people everywhere to take control of their money and live their richest lives.
Level Money is a financial GPS, designed to replace budgeting.
Lighter Capital provides growth capital to technology companies in a highly-automated basis – Capital-as-a-Service.
Lumesis provides software for the fixed income municipal market. Compliance and credit-focused. 
Luminous is a boutique innovation company that has become synonymous with innovative banking around the world.
Manilla is the leading free and secure service to simplify and organize daily financial life.
MasterCard is a technology company in the global payments industry, operating the world’s fastest payments processing network.
mBank is the biggest, pure-play online bank and the third largest retail bank in Poland.
miiCard is the first digital identity verification service to prove ‘you are who you say you are’ entirely online.
Mitek is positioned as the leading innovator in mobile imaging software. 
MoneyDesktop empowers financial institutions to provide online/mobile banking experiences to promote personal financial intelligence.
Motif Investing is a thematic, customizable, low-cost and crowdsourceable ETF-like product that is disrupting investing economics.

Narrative Science
 
enables companies to uncover the insight hidden in their data and create new content at a scale and frequency never before possible.
Numbrs – One App – Every Bank.
P2P Cash is the mobile wallet with switch technology that allows us to aggregate all other mWallets and mobile financial services.
PayWith is powered by MasterCard. Funded by Merchants. Loved by Consumers.
PhonyInvoices provides invoice fraud detection and prevention. We check a company’s vendor lists and transactions for suspicious activity.
Place2Give provides valuable and trustworthy information to make the most impactful social capital investment decisions.
QuarterSpot lending platform delivers the lowest cost and most favorable term small business loans.
RevolutionCredit is a revolutionary solution that transforms the credit decisioning process for both creditors and consumers.
SaaS Markets is the enterprise app store company for financial organizations looking to leverage cloud-based applications for their employees or customers.
SavedPlus is an automatic savings program that helps customers save money with every purchase.
Simple Verity provides business credit reports on any SMB in America.
Socure offers a social identity verification solution to combat the growing risk of online identity fraud for financial institutions.
SpearFysh leverages mobile, speech analytics, big data, and SaaS technology to improve sales processes and drive growth.
Spreedly provides vault cards in the cloud and work with more than 50 payment gateways.
StockSmart apps and platform offer insight and information on the world’s best companies and people.
StrategyCorps delivers local/mobile/social consumer checking solutions so appealing and relevant, your customers will gladly pay for them.
Tinkoff Credit Systems is Russia’s leading provider of online financial services.
TipRanks is a cloud-based service that measures the performance of anyone giving investment advice.
Toopher eliminates online fraud using your phone’s location. Simple, secure, your phone stays in your pocket.
Unleash is the cloud CFO that helps small businesses make better decisions faster.
VerifyValid and Deluxe are giving checks their first major upgrade in more than 200 years.
Versafe protects all users from all malware, threat types. On all devices, all transparently. 
WordSentry software analyzes messages during composition, identifying non-compliant components, for correction before sending.
Yodlee is the platform for financial innovation, powering the world’s largest collection of transactional data.
Yseop creates a new age where financial services delivered to customers are driven by AI and human collaboration.
Zenmonics is a global technology services and mobile product provider to the financial services market.
Zighra empowers banks and financial institutions to leverage implicit mobile user authentication and accelerate payments.
Zooz provides complete payment essentials at your fingertips: a robust set of tools that will improve the payment process.
Plus more stealth companies to be announced in the weeks to come.
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To find out more about the upcoming FinovateFall 2013 event in New York, September 10 and 11, visit our FinovateFall information page here.

Financial Innovation Marches On, Even in July

image I subscribe to about 800 blogs/alerts and usually find one or two new fintech companies, potential Finovate presenters, every single day. But July was slower, with the pace of new companies dropping to a few per week. Even though I know summer tends to be quieter, I always start wondering if we’ve finally invented everything…then I wake up to my RSS feed this morning and find two clever new services launching today:  

  • Crowdsourced home values: Everyone who owns a home wonders how much it’s worth. But unless you have a real estate agent in the family (and even then, they are probably biased to the high side), it’s a time-consuming and not-so-exact science to get a professional appraisal. Enter Redfin’shome price whisperer” service. Participants simply submit their house address and target price, and the company will have 250 others users give the valuation a thumbs up or thumbs down. While it won’t put realtors out of business, it’s a great way to get a quick handle on where you stand on what can be a key part of your financial security. (Another new startup, Trov, just landed $6.8 mil to help value less liquid assets).
  • Scam-protection geared to the elderly: Ever since Y-Combinator (YC) spawned a pair of billion-dollar companies during the Great Recession (AirBnB, Dropbox), I’ve been watching closely to see what its graduates will offer up to the financial services world. At FinovateSpring last May, we saw 2012 YC graduate LendUp (watch its Finovate demo here) wow the audience (and win Best of Show) with its service to lift consumers out of the payday lending cycle into less-expensive bank credit products. In a similar vein, 2013 YC graduate True Link Financial just announced a service to protect consumers, especially the elderly, from getting scammed by misleading or downright fraudulent charitable solicitations and other gray charges (it’s like BillGuard, but trying to block the questionable charges first, rather than dispute later). It’s basically a $20/yr prepaid card with customizable spending controls.

image So, it looks like we have officially moved into the second half of the year and all the fintech excitement that will bring. I’d be remiss if I didn’t put in a plug for the upcoming FinovateFall, where we’ll have 72 demos (full list here) offering up a plethora of new ideas. The early-bird deadline is Aug 2. So register now and save. 

Bill.com’s Two-Factor Authentication Brings Security to SMBs

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Bill.com announced today that it has brought two-factor authentication to customers using its Bill.com Banking Platform. The company is an innovator in the field of integrating bill pay, custom invoicing, and cash flow management for small and medium-sized businesses.

Available for banks and built into the platform for small businesses, the technology is compatible with existing authentication methods, and can be readily integrated. Said CEO Rene Lacerte, “banks can offer small businesses one more reason to trust all of their business needs to one bank.”

Bill.com stresses the unobtrusive nature of their authentication solution. The technology uses a risk-based model to monitor all activity and determine when a request for further authentication from the user should be made. This, according to Bill.com, helps prevent workflow interruptions that can take place when authentication processes are triggered whenever any change is made.

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Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Bill.com won Gold at the 2013 PYMNTS.com Innovator Awards in the “Best Innovation via ACH” category. The company recently announced that it had converted more than 40% of its customers from checks to electronic ACH transactions.
Bill.com presented its technology as part of the FinovateSpring 2011 show in San Francisco. See the company’s demo here.

Finovate Alumni News– August 1, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgKeyBank names ProfitStars software operations strategic partner of the year.
  • Payment Eye interviews Currency Cloud CEO, Mike Laven.
  • Checkpoint Technologies partners with Mobile Labs.
  • Zopa sets record for P2P Lending in UK, amassing a total £20m lent for July.
  • ACI Worldwide again wins SWIFT Certified Application accreditation for its ACI Money Transfer System.
  • Meet the Innovators of FinovateFall 2013.
  • Kabbage announces it’s made 80k advances over 2 years, with an advance volume 4X higher than nearest direct competitor.
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– July 31, 2013

  • Netbanker: BBVA Compass bundles microbiz checking with PAYware mobile card processing.
  • FIS brings mobile, eBanking, remote capture and more to Sterling Bank.
  • GoBank announces plan to promote its mobile-first bank account in more than 500 Barnes & Noble bookstores on college campuses.
  • Pymnts.com interviews Allen Friedman of TSYS Acquiring Solutions on the role of EMV in a cardless world.
  • NYT features how LearnVest is bringing financial planning to the masses.
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.

BBVA Compass Bundles Microbiz Checking with PAYware Mobile Card Processing

imageI rarely get a chance to write about checking accounts, so I was glad to see the BBVA Compass announcement on the wires yesterday.

The bank launched a Business Mobility Bundle which has checking, mobile card processing and a free Galaxy Tab 3 Android tablet (wifi-only), a $200 value (note 1). It’s a soft bundle (note 2) of the bank’s existing e-Business Checking Account and its Merchant Mobility Pack, powered by Verifone PAYware

imageThe checking account is fee-free up to a certain level of activity (note 3). But the optional card-acceptance piece is $24.95/mo, which is waived in this promo for 12 months. The offer is not currently visible on the bank’s website, but a link in the press release leads to a landing page with the offer (see first screenshot).

Myimage take: The Business Mobility positioning is excellent, nicely tying two key business products together. The underlying accounts seem to be solid values, and the free Samsung tablet is sure to spark sales. 

However, my initial enthusiasm from the press release was somewhat tempered by the realities of the fine print (see second screenshot, note 1) and overall execution. For example:

  • No online application, it’s a call-me form (albeit a good one)
  • Mobile deposit is limited to $1,200 every 30 days
  • Both the free e-Business Checking and the 12-month fee waiver for mobile card acceptance are currently available on the bank’s website. There are no added benefits to the Business Mobility Bundle, outside the tablet premium
  • The free tablet is wifi only and sells for $199 online (it’s no iPad)

The offer is not currently visible on the BBVA website, even through site search, presumably so it doesn’t irk existing customers who cannot get the free tablet.

Bottom line: I like the promotion, although I wish the bundle had more features. For example, mobile banking pre-loaded on the Galaxy; customer service available via Skype; or even higher mobile-deposit limits for those using card processing (note 4).

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BBVA Business Mobility landing page (link, 30 July 2013)

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Fine print (positioned directly below the screen shown above)

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Notes:
1. Fine print: (A) New small business customers only, 1 per household/biz; (B) Must perform 10 transactions, not including intrabank funds transfers, within 30 days of account opening; (C) $100 minimum opening deposit
2. I just made up that term, but what I mean is that the customer is not required to add the Merchant Mobility piece to qualify for the free Samsung tablet. The checking account alone earns the premium.
3. Transaction limits before fees kick in:
– 50 items processed
– 2 in-branch deposits
– 5 processed checks and/or in-branch withdrawals
– $5,000 cash processing
In addition, mobile deposit has stingy initial limits of $500 max per item and only $1,200 max every 30 days  
4. The landing page could use more powerful visuals showing the BBVA mobile app and/or PAYware dongle in use.

FIS Brings Mobile, eBanking, Remote Capture and More to Sterling Bank

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Sterling Bank announced this week a new, multi-year agreement with FIS to deploy the banking technology company’s Business eBanking and Mobile Banking technologies.

The FIS Business eBanking solution is geared toward small and medium sized businesses. Features include check imaging, account transfer, ACH payments including direct deposit, as well as real-time access to both personal and business accounts. Mobile Banking through FIS brings services like mobile wallets, prepaid and debit card services, and remote deposit capture.

The announcement comes in the wake of previous moves by Sterling Bank to take greater advantage of online and mobile banking. The bank has already converted its business clients to the FIS business internet platform, outsourcing its core banking to FIS two years ago.
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Sterling Bank is the principal operating subsidiary of Sterling Financial Corporation. With nearly $10 billion in assets, Sterling is based out of Spokane, Washington and has branches in California, Idaho and Oregon, as well as Washington state.
Also doing business as Sonoma Bank, the corporation serves more than 54,000 small and medium-sized businesses, and more than 280,000 retail accounts.
FIS provides mobile banking services to more than 20 million mobile users and more than three million mobile deposit customers. The company demoed its FIS Payment Manager at FinovateFall 2010 in New York. See the FIS demo here.

Finovate Alumni News– July 30, 2013

  • FinovateLOGO.jpgOpenCoin is among the virtual currency innovators looking to form a self-regulatory body for the industry.
  • MasterPass from MasterCard launches in the United Kingdom.
  • Bank Innovation takes a look at FIS Global’s recent remarks on the company’s technology deal with Sainsbury.
  • Yahoo Finance looks at rewards earned using Dynamics ePlate credit card.
  • StreetFight features reasons to opt in for card-linked loyalty programs from Cartera Commerce, Cardlytics, edo Interactive and Swipely.
  • Netbanker features BillGuard, Manilla, and Credit Karma as value-added apps driving mobile adoption.
  • eToro adds price alerts to eToro Trader app.
  • Bright Ideas features Noreen Hafez, senior product marketing manager at Akamai.
  • Kasasa holds sweepstakes, films big-bank breakup video, featuring CEO Gabe Krajicek.
  • Betterment joins fellow Finovate alumni FutureAdvisor and LearnVest in this NYT column on bringing “financial planning to the masses.”
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.

Will mobile finally make PFM popular?

image In the online desktop era, we’ve seen only one direct-to-consumer PFM mega-hit: Mint (see note 1).

But looking at recent rankings in the U.S. Apple App Store (iOS) it looks like that may be changing. There are currently five specialty PFMs in the 13 most-downloaded free finance apps, including Mint of course. Is the mobile device finally what will make PFMs popular with consumers? Or are these apps just being downloaded by curious smartphone owners who will never register for the service, let alone become active users? 

My Take: Mobile is, and will be, a huge driver for specialty PFM apps. App stores help consumers find the services, and mobile makes them less daunting to use. But it’s not just the mobile platform driving usage at these four challengers (see below), it’s the way they have positioned themselves with tangible consumer benefits (e.g., save money by spotting fraud charges) rather than the nebulous (e.g., “manage your spending for a better life”).

Parsing this list a little closer, only Mint is positioned as a pure PFM. The challengers are all backing into PFM from various niches:

  • imageBillGuard (#5) is positioned as a fraudulent charge protector
    and accomplishes that through account monitoring. It appeals to
    those concerned about losing money to fraudsters and greedy merchants.
  • imageLemon (#7) is positioned around mobile wallets and payments, but it also offers account monitoring as a premium service. It appeals to early adopters wanting to use their smartphones for payments and all things financial. 

  • imageManilla (#12) revolves around billing and financial statements, but obviously aggregated bank and credit card statements is a core PFM feature. It appeals to those wanting better management of their mess of paper bills, receipts and records. 

  • imageCredit Karma (#13) focuses on credit scores and debt management, but recently extended into full account monitoring. It appeals to those wanting to improve their credit scores and better manage debt.

Because most consumers have no interest in looking at a bar chart of their spending, it makes sense to sneak in the PFM piece through more compelling, benefit-laden service offerings. For banks, all four of these approaches are worth a look. 

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Table: 20 most popular free finance mobile apps in U.S. Apple App Store 
Does not include several non-financial apps

  Name Primary Type
1 Capital One Bank/card
2 Chase Bank/card
3 Bank of America Bank/card
4 PayPal Payment
5 BillGuard (note 2) PFM: cards
6 Wells Fargo Bank/card
7 Lemon PFM: cards
8 Mint PFM: general
9 American Express Card
10 Scottrade Investing
11 USAA Bank
12 Manilla PFM: billing
13 Credit Karma PFM: debt
14 Discover Card
15 Citi Bank/card
16 Xoom Money Transfer Remittances
17 TD Bank Bank
18 Venmo (Braintree) Payments
19 Fidelity Investing
20 US Bank Bank/card

Source: U.S. Apple App Store accessed via iPhone 5 from Seattle, WA on Fri. July 26, 2013 at 11 AM PDT 

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Notes:
1. Not counting bank-branded PFMs from Intuit, Yodlee, Geezeo, Money Desktop, et al. And not counting the packaged-software stalwarts from the 1990s, Microsoft Money and Quicken.
2. BillGuard moved up to the #1 position over the weekend and remains there as of 6:00 PM PDT today
3. Check (formerly PageOnce) should also be considered in this discussion. It has been a top-20 finance app for the past few years, despite currently running in the lower 30s, probably due to its recent rebranding to an entirely new name
4. For more info, see the Online Banking Report PFM library (subscription required): PFM 4.0 (June 2012); PFM 3.0 (May 2010); Social Personal Finance (June 2007); Personal Finance Features for Online Banking (Aug 2006).

Finovate Alumni News– July 29, 2013

  • FinovateLOGO.jpgJilliene Helman, CEO and co-founder of Realty Mogultalks crowdfunding and real estate in NAWRB’s N Magazine.
  • Bazaarvoice CEO Stephen Collins writes about why Big Data needs big problems.
  • Finect’s Jennifer Openshaw talks about social media and the coming deluge of hedge fund advertising.
  • Total Payments features Moven founder, Brett King, as he discusses the future of banking and payments.
  • Bank Innovation looks at Moven, Simple, GoBank, and the decline of personal checks.
  • TechPost considers the success Lending Club, SocietyOne, and Zopa have had implementing P2P lending platforms.
  • American Banker reports ID Analytics announces updated ID fraud software, ID Score.
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.

Using BillGuard’s New iPhone App to Solve Mystery Credit Card Charges

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With BillGuard’s help, consumers can now view their credit and debit card balances, recurring charges, and potentially fraudulent charges, all on their iPhone.

The New York-based company recently launched an iPhone app, which it calls a “Smart Inbox for Money,” to help users identify suspicious and fraudulent charges on their credit and debit card statements.

The app takes a more active approach compared to the desktop platform. The new mobile experience is a beautiful way to view credit and debit card transactions, and it uses push notifications to encourage logins. Watch the video at the bottom of the post for an overview of the mobile experience.

Here’s a quick look at my experience with the app, researching potentially fraudulent charges from an unknown merchant:

1) Users can sign up directly from the app. Since I already have an account, I was prompted to set up a 4-digit PIN. Once inside, you can add credit and debit cards by entering your account credentials.

2) An overview of one of my three card accounts:

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3) The Priority section alerts me to charges that others have marked as suspicious or where BillGuard does not recognize the merchant (see below):

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3) When I follow up to determine if this charge is fraudulent, I’m presented with four options. I selected, Help me recognize this:

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4) Then I’m presented with four options to begin some detective work. In this case, I Googled the merchant name.

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Thankfully, Google solved the mystery, but I could have also emailed or texted my friend who was with me on the afternoon the charge occurred.

5) After discovering that the charge is from Flathead Lake Brewing Company, I selected Name this merchant to add to the merchant information to BillGuard’s database. 

To date, the startup has scanned almost a billion transactions.

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Below is the pricing structure for BillGuard’s app, which Apple chose to feature in the App store today as New and Noteworthy. 

Until August 31, BillGuard is holding a launch special that will allow users to load up to 10 cards on the platform for a one-time fee of $9.99. Beginning in September, the same service will cost $45/ year.

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Aside from its direct-to-consumer offering, the New York-based company also offers BillGuard Resolve for merchants and BillGuard FI for banks which won Best of Show  at FinovateSpring 2012.