Finovate Alumni News– October 25, 2012

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  • TIBCO Software named to Software Magazine’s 500 Largest Software Companies in the World.
  • SoMoLend and GATE Global Impact make a deal that will facilitate investing in business expansion and job growth.
  • Goodwill to provide HelloWallet subscription to employees as well as community members with disabilities and unemployed.
  • Metaforic announces partnership with Appthority to reduce mobile app risks and enhance security.
  • Microsoft’s new Windows 8-style UI now supported by the KonyOne Platform.
  • MSM Media awards eToro Best Social Media Trading Product for its OpenBook platform.
  • Ping Identity recognized as 1 of 5 high-growth businesses at Denver Startup Week.
  • National Gift Card Corp partners with InComm to offer gaming & music eGift cards for businesses.
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.

Alt-Biz-Lenders Kabbage, On Deck Capital and Capital Access Network Disrupting Business Loan Underwriting

image My favorite session at Money2020 Expo, the massive new trade show organized by Google Payments execs(see note 1), was about as far away from the buzzy mobile wallet and payment schemes as one could get.

I was struck by the potential of alt-business lending. The technology could have a more lasting economic benefit, at least in developed countries, than the transition from plastic to mobile payments (note 2).

The session included the three key alt-biz lenders who are leading the way in disrupting the massive global market in commercial credit (note 3):

  • Glen Goldman, CEO, Capital Access Network (FinovateFall 2010 demo)
  • Kathryn Petralia, Co-founder & COO, Kabbage (FinovateSpring 2012 demo)
  • Noah Breslow, CEO, On Deck Capital (FinovateSpring 2012 demo)
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    Like most disrupters, the three are gaining traction in a narrow niche largely avoided by legacy players: sub-$250k non-asset-backed commercial lending. In total, the three are on track to do roughly $2 billion in total lending next year. While impressive, that’s not the big story. The disruptive piece is the technology the three use to underwrite the loans.

    They are redefining the borrower-lender relationship with real-time, ongoing electronic monitoring. Instead of borrowers providing static financials after the fact, these lenders have been granted access to the daily receipts of the business (via online banking), so the lenders know every day whether they should expand or contract the loan amount authorized. The lenders also get repayments frequently, sometimes daily, which helps reduce risk. 

    The result is that these companies are able to provide credit to businesses that are unable to get a loan elsewhere because they are just too small and/or the entrepreneurs don’t have the necessary personal FICO scores (note 4).

    Capital Access shared an interesting story on stage. Apparently, they were pitching their service to a very large U.S. bank. Capital Access had extended $245 million in loans to the bank’s customers which came as quite a surprise to the bank. However, when they found out the FICO scores of the biz owners were terrible (in the 500s), the bank said those could not be good loans. But it turns out the Capital Access loans had a 2.2% charge-off rate, bettering the bank’s rate on its “lower-risk” borrowers.

    Given that the short-term loans were made at rates of 15% and up, that is one massive chunk of lost revenue.

    I talked to Noah Breslow, CEO of On Deck Capital, later that night, and he said they are seeing huge upticks in demand, which they are now able to meet with much cheaper capital recently acquired from Goldman and others. He said their 10-month-old program looking at US Bank business-card declines was showing great dividends for all parties. And they continue to actively seek more bank partners which can participate in a variety of ways.

    Bottom line: I believe that eventually most business credit (from banks and others) will be managed with this real-time transparency into the borrower’s finances. It allows the lender to better price the risk, which assuming sufficient competition, allows more credit to be granted, at better overall prices. Banks, you don’t have to do this all at once. But at least start working with one or more of these companies to give your loan declines a second look (note 5).

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    Notes:
    1. Money2020 organizers, Anil Aggarwal and Jonathan Weiner, are serial entrepreneurs behind payments startup TxVia which Google acquired this spring. Money2020 (v1) attracted more than 2,000 attendees to its inaugural 3-day event held in Las Vegas. It was an amazing turnout, which speaks to the interest in Google Wallet, mobile payments, and Finance 2.0 in general. Kudos to the team that pulled together a mind-boggling 300+ speakers across 5 tracks over 2 and a half days.
    2. And I’m not downplaying the impact of the mobile-payments revolution, which has the potential to save billions in fraud and waste while creating enormous opportunities with card issuers large and small in advertising, loyalty, and so on.  
    3. I should also commend moderator Nick Holland (Yankee Group) who fed the participants great questions.
    4. The lenders all addressed the small-business owner “credit catch 22.” Certain things that can lead to business growth, such as quitting your day job and maxing out your credit cards, kill personal FICO scores, even though they are exactly what the entrepreneur should do to maximize business results.
    5. According to CEO Glen Goldman, Wells Fargo is currently referring customers it can’t help to Capital Access Network.   
    6. For more info on small biz online/mobile banking and lending, see our Online Banking Report on micro and small businesses (subscription, published Oct 2009).

    Dynamics ePlate Card Now Available to Public Through UMB Financial Corp.

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    Intelligent payment card company Dynamics, announced yesterday at the Money2020 Expo in Las Vegas that its ePlate payment card is now publicly available. Missouri-based UMB Financial Corp. will offer the card for a $99 annual fee.

    Dynamics first announced the ePlate card in April of this year.

    On its website, Dynamics offers a “test drive” experience of the card. The test drive allows consumers to choose their payment experience as they would on the app, push a button on the virtual card to select between two experiences, and virtually swipe the ePlate card.

    To get a card, consumers register with Dynamics, choose between an ePlate card and a Black Gold card (limited to 5,000 devices), and is redirected to UMB to fill out a credit application. Contingent upon approval, they will be sent the card within 1 to 2 weeks.

    To learn more about Dynamics, watch its FinovateFall 2012 demo.

    Finovate Alumni News– October 24, 2012

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    • PayPal Starts Selling PayPal Here at AT&T Stores, Teams Up with MoneyGram.
    • Finextra reports Clear2Pay and Backbase join forces on customer experience.
    • Forbes looks at Dwolla’s business model.
    • Equifax partners with Lender Processing Services.
    • CU Insight covers DigitalMailer.
    • CNBC interviews Alastair Lukies, Monitise CEO and co-founder.
    • Xconomy lists peerTransfer as 1 of 5 startups to watch.
    • CU Broadcast chats with Mitek’s Daniel Simon.
    • American Banker features BankersLab’s CollectionLab.
    • peerTransfer First to Help Chinese International Students Pay in Renminbi.

    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.

    PayPal Starts Selling PayPal Here at AT&T Stores, Teams Up with MoneyGram

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    Online payments platformPayPal made two key announcements earlier this week.

    First, it announced that PayPal Here is being sold at 1,800 AT&T stores nationwide. The payment dongle costs $15, but you can recoup that money after signing up for a PayPal Here account. In comparison, PayPal Here competitor, Square, sells for $10 with a $10 credit.

    Second, the payments company announced a partnership with MoneyGram, a global money-transfer service.

    Through this partnership, PayPal users will be able to deposit cash and withdraw funds from MoneyGram’s 280,000 brick-and-mortar locations worldwide. Using MoneyGram, underbanked consumers can load their PayPal account with cash and pay online using PayPal instead of with a prepaid card.

    PayPal expects to piloted this service in the U.S. in early 2013, and roll it out gradually after that.

    To learn more about PayPal, watch its FinovateEurope 2012 demo.

    Finovate Alumni News– October 23, 2012

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    • Dwolla upgrades iPhone app and adds ability to pay money requests.
    • The Receivables Exchange appoints Henry Allen as New CEO.
    • SimpleTuition launches Private Student Loan Refinance Center.
    • Xero and Bill.com enable integration, ease transactions and cash management.
    • Now Plastyc’s UPside Visa customers can add cash to cards instantly at Walmart.
    • NFU Mutual automates paper processes with Tibco. Check out Tibco’s live demo at FinovateAsia.
    • Equifax selected byIRS as one of first eTranscript Pilot Vendors.
    • ModoPayments and Alliance Data partner to offer mobile solutions to retailers and U.S. Consumers.
    • Bill.com wins Sleeter ‘Awesome Application’ Award.
    • San Diego North County Times reports StockTwits: Howard Lindzon takes stock talk to new level.
    • Bridge2 Solutions and Affinity Solutions launch mobile app.
    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.

    FinovateAsia 2012 Sneak Peek: Part 2

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    Here is the second and final look at the companies that will demo at FinovateAsia on November 6 in Singapore. Each company provided a short summary of the innovation they will debut on stage. In case you missed it, check out Sneak Peek Part 1.

    Don’t miss the opportunity to experience the hottest innovations in financial technology at the very first FinovateAsia. Get your FinovateAsia ticket here.

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    ayondo shows the newest and third generation of their web application which will be the next 

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    generation of social trading. Simply follow the best traders automatically with your brokerage account.
    Innovation type: Banking, investing, PFM

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    Backbase delivers Bank 2.0 Portal software that provides a new user experience layer on top of underlying infrastructure and IT systems. It gives financials the opportunity to create interactions that link customers to relevant information and applications to fit their needs and preferences. With its modern, widget-based architecture, Backbase Bank 2.0 Portal provides the flexibility and speed to create modern portals that truly empower the customer.

    Innovation type: Marketing, mobile, online
    BankBazaar.com will demo its 7-minute Credit eApproval 

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    process highlighting the platform’s real-time integration with underwriting engines, loan origination systems, net-banking systems, and online payroll management tools. Combined with a full service CRM system powering credit and sales work flow management, the platform delivers 7-minute eApproval via online, mobile, and tablet interfaces.
    Innovation type: Lending, mobile, online

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    Clari5 iRM brings extreme real-time intelligence to Relationship Managers (RMs) on the move. Typical RM mobile apps are screen extensions of CRM and are not connected in real-time to the underlying core systems. Consequently RMs are the last ones to know when a significant moment of truth event happens. 
    Clari5 iRM is a next generation product that interprets customers’ structured/unstructured events in real-time and provides an inference instantly empowering RMs to provide more personalized services. Clari5 iRM also leverages the full power of the device by using its real-time push, GPS, voice recognition, video, and screen sharing capabilities.
    Innovation type: Marketing, mobile, sales

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    Can publicly available information gleaned from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other online sources 
    help financial institutions predict financial risk?
    DemystData helps financial institutions tap into the explosive growth of online, social, and internal data to make better customer decisions. Our latest innovation navigates some of the world’s newest data sources to provide our clients with a deep, holistic view of the modern day consumer, and then uses this information to assess consumer risk and behaviour.
    Innovation type: Identity, lending, marketing

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    Need an onboarding tool that increases customer engagement? Figlo offers a complete solution to gain insight in financial matters on a consumer level. Financial planning is now accessible to everyone on any device anywhere.
    Innovation type: Marketing, online, PFM

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    See how financial institutions can save millions by implementing BankFiling, a new innovation from Luminous that delivers short ROI yet requires limited investment. A whole new approach to commercial and business banking. A must see for all financial institutions!
    Innovation type: Banking, lending, small business
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    Pandai.cn delivers next generation peer-to-peer 2.0 lending services in China by answering what the future of peer-to-peer lending should be. It should be safe, transparent, inclusive and easy-to-understand. 
    You’ll see how easy it is to invest in creditworthy borrowers that have passed our robust credit risk management system.
    Innovation type: Investing, lending, PFM

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    Can you tag your financial position, identify the cross vertical exposure by currency, industry, issuer, region real-time; on-demand? The last 30 years have seen amazing advances in technology that have transformed the world. In the world of financial technology, all of this power has been applied to develop more complex instruments – derivatives, swaps, CDO’s CDS’s – faster and faster trading platforms – “flash trading” and co-location, and risk analytics and trading models.
    But, the ability to track and account for this explosion of trading vehicles and volumes is right where it was 30 years ago. Not anymore, come see the future of transparency.&n
    bsp;
    Innovation type: Back office, insurance, investing

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    PocketSmith is the comprehensive personal finance app with cashflow forecasting. 
    We think that the best way to organize and control your money is to relate it to events in your life by using a calendar. This way, financial planning becomes a part of your daily routine rather than a chore.
    As you plan, PocketSmith’s calendar shows you the progress of your money over time, so you will better understand how your financial decisions affect your future.
    Innovation type: Mobile, online, PFM

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    Want to know the secret to getting 60% of your customers to say yes to eBilling? All it takes is 7 minutes to see why email delivery of bills and statements is what gets customers to turn off paper forever.
    Join Striata as we demonstrate our powerful interactive bill which is encrypted, has integrated eConsent, shared password security, instant dispute capability, and mobile one click pay.
    With registration-free push email billing, you can drive traffic to your portal, cut your costs and deliver bills and statements right into your customers’ hands. Convenient, secure, mobile ready.
    Innovation type: Communications, payments

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    In the last 4 years, Tagit Mobility Platform Mobeix has been adopted by several leading enterprises. But, we believe mobility should be for all– large, medium and small enterprises. 
    With this vision, we started our journey to build the Mobeix Open Platform through which enterprises can build, launch and manage apps on their own. Using the Tagit Open Platform, merchants and enterprises will be able to develop and deploy apps for their customers and employees in no time. We will demonstrate how easy it is for anyone to register and start building apps.
    Innovation type: Banking, mobile, security

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    TradeHero empowers ordinary people to make money from the financial markets. Traders are able to place real-time virtual trades against stock exchanges and TradeHero generates performance rankings of the trader community. 
    Members of the TradeHero community can follow the top-ranked traders for a fee. Traders can build a following around themselves and monetize off their trade-feeds while those following get relevant, pertinent and timely financial trading tips and feeds.
    Innovation type: Investing, mobile, payments

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    The world is increasingly adopting smartphones and social media. Leading FIs are beginning to leverage these seismic shifts in communications for competitive advantage, reducing costs and generating new revenue streams. Smartphones change user expectations about online banking services, functionality, and interactivity. They also present new risk vectors that cannot be ignored. 
    Zighra’s patent pending mobile technology provides unique interactivity, building closer customer relationships by increasing security, trust, and satisfaction while significantly reducing fraud and associated costs.
    Innovation type: Communications, mobile, security

    Dwolla Launches MassPay, Enables Users to Pay Up to 2,000 People at Once in Three Steps

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    Payments platform Dwolla launched a new feature today called MassPay that will allow users to pay up to 2,000 other Dwolla users at one time.

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    Here’s how it works

    Step 1
    The user enters:

      • Their Dwolla PIN
      • The account from which they want draw the funds 
      • Their email address

    Step 2
    The user uploads a CSV file with two columns, one with the amount they wish to pay, and the other with the payee’s email address, phone number, or Dwolla ID.

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    Step 3

    The user defines which columns in the file are the headers, and which contain the payee and payment amount information.

    As with all Dwolla payments, any transaction under $10 is free, and for anything over that there is an additional 25 cent fee per transaction.

    To promote MassPay, Dwolla will reimburse your first 5 MassPay batches made through November 30 in exchange for feedback about the user experience.

    To learn more about Dwolla, watch its FinovateSpring 2012 and FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

    Finovate Alumni News– October 22, 2012

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    • Equifax announces Spectrum Verification Services Platform, which helps verification through underwriting, QA & closing.
    • Credit Sesame blog features Manilla as a way to digitize finances.
    • Dynamics to nationally launch ePlate credit card device tomorrow via live webcast with 30+ payment apps.
    • Investment News reports Stockr offers social-media site for those passionate about stocks.
    • HelloWallet updates web app with bulk edit transactions, auto categorization, & re-organizing action steps.
    • VentureBeat explains how Kapitall gamifies stock trading.
    • Tenants Can Now Pay Rent Using Cash with PayNearMe’s Cash-Payment Solution.
    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.

    Tenants Can Now Pay Rent Using Cash with PayNearMe’s Cash-Payment Solution

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    Earlier this week, cash-payment platform PayNearMe partnered with property management software company, AppFolio, to allow tenants to pay their rent in cash.

    AppFolio’s software will provide another payment option for unbanked, underbanked, and cash-preferred individuals to pay rent online with cash by using a printed bar code or a bar code on their smartphone that they can take into a local, brick-and-mortar 7-Eleven store.

    According to CEO Danny Shader, 20% of rent payments are made using cash or money order, so this was a logical move for the California-based company.

    To learn more about PayNearMe, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

    Finovate Alumni News– October 19, 2012

    • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgReadyForZero unveils ReadyForZero Plus.
    • Informilo names The Currency Cloud one of Europe’s top 25 hottest early stage companies.
    • Trading Forex Foundation reviews ayondo. Come see Ayondo’s live demo at FinovateAsia on Nov. 6 in Singapore.
    • Braintree Rakes in $35 Million in Series B Funding.
    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.

    Come see the future of global financial technology debut live at FinovateAsia and FinovateEurope!

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    Over the next few months, we’re very excited to be organizing not just one, but two showcases of the best new global financial and banking technology innovations.

    First, on November 6 (that’s less than 3 weeks away!), we’re holding our first FinovateAsia in Singapore. Thanks to the help of our awesome sponsors & partners, we have a top-quality audience gathering to watch 36 cutting-edge companies debut their latest innovations. Tickets are still available but going fast so please register today to lock in your seat! 

    btn1_ov.pngAfter FinovateAsia, our focus will shift to London in February 2013 where we are running our 3rd annual FinovateEurope to showcase the best new fintech innovations from and for the European market.

    This year, we’ve expanded the conference to 2 days to be able to put even more interesting ideas and companies on stage. Judging from the early flood of high-quality applications and ticket sales, it promises to be our biggest and best European event ever.

    If you’re interested in doing a demo in London, please email us at europe@finovate.com. If you’re interested in attending, super-early bird tickets are on sale through this Friday at a significant discount.

    We hope you’ll consider joining us at one of these international events to watch the best new global fintech innovations debut live!