Swipely Earns $12 Million in Series B Funding

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Shasta Ventures led the financing round. Joining them were current investors First Round Capital, Greylock Partners, and Index Ventures.

Swipely plans to use the $12 million in new capital to help finance growth nationwide, as well as building the network of merchants who use their payment marketing technology. This latest round of funding brings the company’s total to more than $20 million.

Some additional metrics:
  • Manages more than $700 million in annual sales.
  • Maintains service to merchants in 130 cities and towns in the U.S.
  • Provides consumer behavior analytics on more than 2 million customers
Swipely targets merchants with more than $30,000 in monthly credit card sales.
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Swipely launched its Payment Marketing solution in 2012. The company earned a spot on Forbes’ list of “America’s Most Promising Companies” and was named one of the “Best Places to Work in Rhode Island” by Providence Business News.
Swipely was among the companies to debut its technology at FinovateSpring 2012. See its demo here.

Finovate Alumni News– May 21, 2013

  • FinovateLOGO.jpgBirdback teams up with Braintree for 3-day payments hackathon.
  • Indiana Members CU chooses Jack Henry & Associates’ Symitar for in-house core processing.
  • Keynote DeviceAnywhere adds mobile scripting, UI enhancements.
  • VoiceTrust moves operational headquarters to Canada, opening offices in Toronto and Montreal.
  • Figlo expands partnership with Yellowtail Consulting to enable stronger focus on South Africa.
  • Wipit partners with Sprint/ Boost Mobile to bring mobile payment capability to cash-preferred consumers.
  • Virtual Piggy signs first UK partners, Toy Galaxy and Toadstool.
  • eToro granted UK financial regulation approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
  • Tyfone releases Connected Smart Card solution to allow FIs to enhance user ID info used to access sensitive data.
  • Tradeshift partners with Invoiceware International to deliver compliant e-invoice validation in Latin America.
  • BillGuard to integrate with Google Wallet for transaction monitoring.
  • SigFig Portfolio adds support for Windows Phone.
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.

FinovateSpring 2013 in the Press

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Last week’s FinovateSpring 2013 received great coverage through blogs, tweets and articles. Here are the highlights:

Full conference live blogs

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Three contributors risked carpel tunnel to cover all 72 demos. Thanks to Erin McCune and William Mills III and Phillip Ryan for going the extra mile!

Bank Innovation
by Phillip Ryan
FinovateSpring recap and ratings
Day one morning recap
Day one afternoon recap
Day two morning recap
Day two afternoon recap

PaymentsViews
Live Blogging Finovate Spring 2013 San Francisco
by Erin McCune 
William Mills blog
Live Blog: FinovateSpring 2013 San Francisco by William Mills III-DAY ONE
by William Mills III
Other coverage
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Affluent Strategies
What About the Overbanked?
by JP Nicols

American Banker
5 Most Intriguing Companies at Finovate
by Sean Sposito
Bank Security Top Focus at Finovate
Banno Launches Data-Analytics Marketing Feature
by Sean Sposito
Crowdfunding Startups Pose New Competition to Commercial Lenders
by Sean Sposito
EyeVerify Rolls Out Authentication Service for Mobile Banking
by Brian Browdie

GoBank to Go Live on the Fourth of July
by Sean Sposito
The Buzz at Finovate: New Security Tech
by Sean Sposito
Bank Marketing Strategy
Musings of a Finovate Virgin
by Jim Marous
Bank Systems & Technology
Digital Marketing Solutions Stand Front and Center at Finovate Spring
by Jonathan Camhi
Banking 2020
FI Spotlight: USAlliance FCU Sees Cross-Selling Success
Barron’s
Algorithms for the Masses
by Theresa W. Carey 
Bloomberg Businessweek
Kabbage Expands Its Cash Advances to Brick-and-Mortars
by Patrick Clark

Celent
How to give a killer Finovate presentation
by Dan Latimore

Credit Union Magazine
Finovate Unveils Best of Show Winners

Finovate Highlights Industry’s Best and Brightest
by Steve Rodgers
Look into the Future of Finance
by Steve Rodgers
Scenes from FinovateSpring 2013
by Steve Rodgers

Credit Union Times
5 Things You Don’t Know Because You Weren’t at Finovate
by Robert McGarvey
Onsite Coverage: Finovate Crowns the Winners
by Robert McGarvey
Onsite Coverage: New Security Tools Take Finovate Stage in Numbers
by Robert McGarvey
Onsite Coverage: No Clear Winners at Finovate Day 2
by Robert McGarvey
Threat of the Week: DDoS Back at You
by Robert McGarvey
Tomorrow’s Ideas Spark Interest But Fail to Excite
by Robert McGarvey
Des Moines Register
Banno launches marketing product for banks
by Marco Santana
Ecommerce Bytes
ZooZ Lets Mobile Shoppers Tap an Ad to Buy
By Ina Steiner 
FamZoo blog
My Finovate Scorecard Winners Plus Snarky Tweet Highlights
by Bill Dwight
Spend Money Like a Pop Star…Or Not: FamZoo’s FinovateSpring 2013 Demo
by Bill Dwight
Filene blog
Filene Five: Promising Products from Finovate
The Financial Brand
7 Reasons to Love GoBank
by Jim Marous
Finews.ch
Neues aus der Finanzwelt der Zukunft
Finextra
Banno unveils marketing tool Kernel
Forrester blog
FinovateSpring Fling 2013: Another Year of Dazzling Financial Services Delight!
by Tiffani Montez
Hotwire blog
Innovations inspire at Finovate Spring 2013
by Annette Leach
IntelliResponse blog
IntelliResponse Takes Center Stage at Finovate Spring 2013
by Dwayne Weppler 
Investment News
Quantopian launches trading platform pilot program
by Davis D. Janowski
Kabbage blog
Kabbage and Intuit Partner to Fund Small Businesses!
Lisa LaMagna’s Slideshare
Finovate SF in 60 Seconds
by Lisa LaMagna
MainStreet
Kabbage Expands Small-Business Financing
by Laurie Kulikowski
Man in Ranks blog
I attended Finovate Spring in San Francisco
by Christopher Perrien
Intuit
by Christopher Perrien
Newfination
Finovate Spring 2013: Expensify Is At The Forefront Of Innovation In Business Expense Management
Finovate Spring 2013: On Finovera You Can Store Your Bills, Statements, And Financial Documents
Finovate Spring 2013: GoBank Is A New Finance Bank That Enables Smart Personal Money Management
Finovate Spring 2013: GoodApril Helps You With Your Taxes All Year Round
Finovate Spring 2013: In San Francisco At The Center Of The New Finance World
Finovate Spring 2013: Kabbage Approves And Lends Money To Small Businesses in 7 Minutes or Less
Finovate Spring 2013: Leaf.me Is A Multiprocessor Payment Platform For Merchants
Finovate Spring 2013: Prestadero Is A Mexican Peer To Peer Lending Marketplace
Finovate Spring 2013: Realty Mogul Is A Crowdfunding Platform For Real Estate Investing
Finovate Spring 2013: Refundo’s App Is For The Under and Unbanked
Finovate Spring 2013: Start A Trust Fund For Each Of Your Kids At TrustEgg
Finovate Spring 2013: Virtual Piggy Is A Safe Payments System For Your Kids to Spend their Allowance
Finovate Spring 2013: Walla.by Is A Full Service Credit Card Advisor
Newsday
Banking Up Launches at FinovateSpring, Lets Any Business Offer Customers a Trusted Alternative to Traditional Banking
PandoDaily
Finovate: Quantopian debuts live data trading for consumer quants
by Michael Carney
Pymnts.com
A VC’s Inside Look At FinovateSpring 2013
by Dan Rosen
GoBank Announces Timing of General Availability and National Distribution Relationships at FinovateSpring
Kabbage Extends Loan Services To Offline SMBs
TipRanks Wins Best of Show Award at Finovate
TransCard Congratulates FamZoo, Winner of One of Five 2013 FinovateSpring Best of Show Awards
The Paypers
InvoiceASAP, Zebra Technologies
partner for mobile invoicing solution
Refundo blog
FinovateSpring 2013 Trip – Demo Day
by Michael de Senna
SF Gate
ZooZ Previews “In-Ad Payments”™ at Finovate Spring
Silicon Prairie
Onstage at Finovate, Banno unveils ad platform for banks
by Danny Schreiber
Watch EyeVerify, Banno demo their wares at bank tech event Finovate
by Fred Bauters
TechCrunch
Mobile Payments Startup ZooZ Debuts In-Ad Payments (Yes, “Ad” Not “App”)
by Sarah Perez
VentureBeat
Expensify takes on Freshbooks with invoicing & billing features
by Sean Ludwig
Kabbage expands its loans business, now supports Quickbooks
by Christina Farr
Y Combinator Blog
LendUp (YC W12) wins Finovate 2013 Best in Show for consumer loan platform to help the underbanked build credit
We’ll continue to add coverage throughout the next few weeks. If you have FinovateSpring press coverage you would like to add, please email the link to [email protected].

EyeVerify Earns $2.3 Million in Series A Funding

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The latest investment in the biometric-identity innovator brings the company’s total funding to $3.7 million. Participating in this latest round were Think Big Partners, Mid-American Angels, Nebraska Angels, and other individual, angel investors.

EyeVerify plans to use the additional funding to add sales and marketing talent, as well as invest in research and development. Founded in January 2012, the company is based in Kansas City, Kansas, and has eleven employees.

The technology uses the unique vein patterns in the whites of the eyes to create an “eye print” with fingerprint-level accuracy, according to the company. Eyeprints can be taken with a smartphone camera rather than requiring specialized hardware.
EyeVerify demoed their Eyeprint technology as part of the show at FinovateSpring in San Francisco this month. You can read our live coverage of their presentation here.

OpenCoin Wins Investment from Google Ventures, IDG Capital Partners

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For the second time in as many months, open source payment network innovator, OpenCoin is closing another round of funding. This time the company has earned investment from Google Ventures and China-based IDG Capital Partners.

The total amount of the angel funding round has not been disclosed, though Google Ventures is rumored to have contributed less than $200,000.

The announcement comes one month after the company reported funding from a quintet of investors: Andreessen Horowitz, FF Angel IV, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Vast Ventures, and Bitcoin Opportunity Fund. OpenCoin’s technology, Ripple, is a decentralized, virtual currency convertible into dollars, euros, yen, or Bitcoin.
OpenCoin’s CEO is Chris Larsen. The company presented its Ripple technology as part of FinovateSpring this month in San Francisco. Read our live coverage of their demo here.

Finovate Alumni News– May 20, 2013

  • FinovateLOGO.jpgQuantopian featured in the print edition of Barron’s Electronic Investor column.
  • Software company Malauzai, technology partner with Allied Payment Networks, talks mobile photo bill pay adoption rates.
  • CardNotPresent takes a look at OneID’s two-factor authentication technology.
  • Palo Alto Software collaborates with MasterCard to provide lean planning and management software solutions to small businesses.
  • Lendio interviews BBC Easy founders in a podcast on its blog.
  • CommunityLend’s FinanceIt launches paperless document function.
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– May 17, 2013

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  • Serverside Group grants license for its US card customization patents to financial services provider, DimpleDough.
  • CashStar announces year-over-year growth in Mother’s Day eGifting cards sold.
  • MobilePaymentsToday takes a look at Zooz In-Ad Payments service.
  • FlexScore provides waiting list for access codes to beta version of their web-based financial advisor platform.
  • American Banker features crowdfunders LendUp and Realty Mogul.
  • TransCard congratulates technology partner FamZoo on winning FinovateSpring 2013 honors.

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.

FinovateSpring 2013 Best of Show Winners

After the final demos wrapped up on two fintech-packed days at FinovateSpring 2013, the audience voted for their favorite demos to ultimately decide who would be named Best of Show. The overall top five took home the trophies.

The winners (in alphabetical order):

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FamZoo, for its prepaid card family pack
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LendUp, for its LendUp Ladder loan platform that helps the underbanked build credit
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MoneyDesktop, for its Target and Insight back-end data analytics and marketing platform
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PayNearMe, for launching the white-labeled version of its cash-dpayments platform
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TipRanks, for its solution that brings transparency to individual investors, helping investors decide who to trust
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We’ll have the videos of all 72 demos posted on Finovate.com in a few weeks.

Thanks to everyone who joined the audience and came to be a part of our largest show so far. And thanks to the 77 innovators* who braved the Finovate stage. 

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*Five demos hosted a co-presenting company, including Visa, MasterCard, USAlliance Credit Union, Intuit, and Paydiant

Notes on methodology:  
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.     
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.    
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”  
4. The five companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named Best of Show.  
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners.

FinovateSpring 2013 Best of Show Winners

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After the final demos wrapped up on two fintech-packed days at FinovateSpring 2013, the audience voted for their favorite demos to ultimately decide who would be named Best of Show. The top 5 overall took home the trophies.

The winners (in alphabetical order):

FamZooLogo2Large.jpg

FamZoo, for its prepaid card family pack
famzooimg2.jpg
LendUp, for its LendUp Ladder loan platform that helps the underbanked build credit
LendUpLogo.jpg
IMG_2285.JPG
MoneyDesktop, for its Target and Insight back-end data analytics and marketing platform
MoneyDLogo.jpg
MoneyDesktopLogoNew.jpg

paynearmelogo2.jpeg

PayNearMe, for launching the white-labeled version of its cash payments platform
IMG_2157.JPG
TipRanks, for its solution that brings transparency to individual investors, helping investors decide who to trust
TipRanksLogo.jpg
TipRanksIMG.jpg

We’ll have the videos of all 72 demos posted on Finovate.com in a few weeks.

Thanks to everyone who joined the audience and came to be a part of our largest show so far. And thanks to the 77 innovators* who braved the Finovate stage. 

——————————————————————

*Five demos hosted a co-presenting company, including Visa, MasterCard, USAlliance Credit Union, Intuit, and Paydiant

Notes on methodology:  
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.     
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.    
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”  
4. The five companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named Best of Show.  
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners.

Finovate Alumni News– May 16, 2013

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  • FamZoo, LendUp, Money Desktop, PayNearMe, and TipRanks win Best of Show honors at FinovateSpring 2013 in San Francisco.
  • Blaze Mobile earns three NFC mobile payment patents.
  • OpenCoin announces completion of an angel funding round from Google Ventures and IDG Capital Partners.
  • ForexThink interviews QuantConnect founder and CEO Jared Broad.
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.

Prestadero’s Peer-to-Peer Lending Platform Places Borrowers in Complete Control

This is a part of our live coverage of FinovateSpring 2013.

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Closing out FinovateSpring for us this afternoon, 
Prestadero demoed its peer-to-peer lending platform:
“Prestadero uses its proprietary management software to originate loans in an extremely efficient way. Our platform allows us to parse out declined loans in seconds and determine rates for approved loans in less than 1 minute.  
Our web interface allows lenders to view their entire portfolio in detail. Lenders can also view specific graphs and scorecards that allow them to make better investment decisions, even if they are not investment professionals. We provide lenders with tools, such as our “diversification index,” which quickly and comprehensively lets them know their risk exposure depending on the diversification of their loans. Our software also enables lenders to select multiple loans at once by filtering through the user’s selected criteria. They can also choose to reinvest their returns based on the same or a different set of criteria.
Through their online account, borrowers have full control over their loan’s entire process, from filling out the application to paying it off completely. We also charge the borrower’s bank accounts directly when their payments are due, diminishing delinquencies and providing a better service for our customers. The entire process is streamlined and coded with peer-to-peer finance in mind, reducing human interaction on the back-end of the technology and providing more accurate, up-to-date information on our front-end.”
Product Launch: June 2012
HQ: Mexico City, Mexico
Founded: April 2011
Metrics: 4,000+ registered users, $70M pesos in loan requests, $400K raised
Twitter: @prestadero
Presenting Gerardo Obregon (CEO & Founder) and Alejandro Ramos (Partner)

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Plastyc Demos the Backend of its BankingUP Platform

This is a part of our live coverage of FinovateSpring 2013.

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Next up this afternoon, Plastyc showed off the administrator-facing side of its BankingUP platform:
“Plastyc is demonstrating the administrator-facing side of the BankingUP platform, allowing issuing banks and program managers to:
    • Monitor and analyze cardholders’ financial activity in real time;
    • Monitor and analyze cardholders’ non-financial activity; e.g., usage of mobile apps and web, customer support interactions;
    • Communicate instantly with programmable subsets of cardholders via web inserts and smartphone push notification for marketing/upselling and product alerts.
This is a departure from traditional batch mode financial-transactions only reporting obtained from processors.”
Product Launch: November 2012
 
HQ: New York, NY
Founded: 2006
Metrics: 5K direct-to-consumer opened to date; platform deployed for a 3M card portfolio; 10 employees; $10M raised so far
Website: plastyc.com
Twitter: @ibankup
Presenting Patrice Peyret (CEO) and Colette Oliver (Director, Marketing)

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