Kony Solutions Acquires Australia-Based Sky Technologies

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Yesterday mobile app development platform provider, Kony Solutionsannounced it will make its first acquisition: Sky Technologies, an Australia-based mobility solutions provider.

This acquisition is Kony’s first, and will help it tap into the Australian market, as well as give it access to Sky Technologies’ SAP expertise. It will also expand Kony’s current customer base of around 70 to approximately 170.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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

Finovate Alumni News– August 22, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAcculynk raises $3.5 million.
  • SmartyPig blog describes how you can use Manilla to reach your savings goals. Check out Manilla at FinovateFall.
  • CREALOGIX recognized in Gartner Hype Cycle report for widget-based internet banking & online PFM.
  • TechCrunch reports: PayPal partners with Discover to bring in-store payments platform to 7mil merchants in 2013.
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.

Discover Card Gives Away an iPad per Day to Paperless Cardholders

image After adding my Discover Card to Google’s mobile wallet, I was automatically logged off after a period of inactivity (or what I prefer to call blogging). On the resulting page, the card issuer explained what happened on the left side and told me about their current estatement incentive program on the right (see first screenshot below).

Discover is giving away an iPad every day to its paperless customers (landing page) from June 1 to Nov 30. That’s a total of 183 iPads (official rules). Both new enrollees and existing ones are eligible.

Since I’m a sucker for online sweepstakes, I pressed the button, only to find out that I was already enrolled (see second screenshot). Not only is this annoying and somewhat confusing (am I still in the running for the iPad?), it could be counterproductive. Users are given the option on this page to turn paper statements back on. So customers might mistakenly turn the paper back on thinking that’s how you enter the sweeps. To prevent that, Discover needs to reinforce the sweeps on this page. 

Bottom line: Periodic paperless incentives are a win-win. You show gratitude to existing paperless customers while pushing a few more paper holdouts over the edge. However, be careful how you handle already-enrolled users.

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Discover Card logoff screen publicizing its iPad giveaway to paperless customers (17 Aug 2012

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After clicking on the "Go Paperless" button I was sent to this screen
Note: Discover should remind me that I’m still eligible for the prizes

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Discover publicizes the winners (link)

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Note: For more ideas, see our report on paperless billing and banking (Nov. 2010, subscription).

E-Loan Partners with Credit Karma, Lending Club, and SimpleTuition

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Late last week online loan institution, E-Loan, made public that it has partnered with Credit Karma, Lending Club, and SimpleTuition after rebranding itself.

Here’s what the integrations look like on E-Loan’s site:

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Credit Karma demoed at FinovateStartup 2009, Lending Club demoed at FinovateStartup 2009, and SimpleTution demoed at FinovateStartup 2008.

Finovate Alumni News– August 21, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgThreatMetrix announces availability of the latest ThreatMetrix Cybercrime Defender Platform.
  • Dashlane wins Two Awards for Innovation in Data Privacy and Personal Data at DataWeek. Come to FinovateFall to see Dashlane’s demo.
  • PaySimple appoints Sue Heilbronner as Chief Revenue Officer. See PaySimple’s demo at FinvoateFall next month.
  • Taulia provides e-invoicing & supplier self-service capabilities to a select group of suppliers for large enterprises, free of charge.
  • Credit Union Times reports Geezeo reaches 100 clients.
  • 2 Minute Finance interviews TASCET at FinovateSpring 2012.
  • E-Loan partners with Credit Karma, Lending Club, and SimpleTuition.
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.

FinovateFall 2012 Sneak Peek: Part 2

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Here’s part 2 of the sneak peek of the companies that will demoing at FinovateFall on September 12 and 13 in NYC. Each company provided a short summary of the innovation they will debut on stage. We published 20 last week and we will complete the preview next week.

Don’t miss the opportunity to experience the hottest innovations in financial technology. Get your FinovateFall ticket here

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Stock Panorama brings what matters to an investor’s portfolio – combination of 
Thumbnail image for aSparkLogo.jpg“relevant and key” market data, analyst sentiment and social intelligence to your mobile device. Today, you seek this information. Stock Panorama reduces the homework and brings it to you when it matters so that you are never surprised!
The app “follows” key events and information for your stocks and integrates them into your personal calendar – so you can see what’s ahead for your investments. You get the right information anywhere, anytime.
Innovation type: Mobile, PFM, sales


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Backbase Launchpad is a new and unique banking experience, based on Backbase Portal technology. 
Launchpad offers the latest innovations and best practices in user experience design and cross-device customer journeys. The goal of Launchpad is to drastically bring down time-to-market for online and mobile projects.
Launchpad is immediately optimized for use on regular browsers, tablets and smartphones and is entirely manageable by the e-business and digital teams using the Backbase Portal Manager. Launchpad is seamlessly integrated with the Backbase App Center and includes apps such as: Accounts Overview, Payments, PFM, Stock Portfolio Manager, Message Center etc.
Innovation type: Communications, marketing, mobile, online

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Bolstr is the first crowdfunding platform focused exclusively on main street small businesses and the only platform able to legally operate pre-JOBS Act. 
Bolstr’s innovative platform empowers communities to invest in local, small businesses. We believe that local investment is the key to economic growth. Through Bolstr, we have created a marketplace where individuals can invest in and support the local small businesses that make their communities home.
Innovation type: Small business

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Cachet’s patent-pending CheckReview helps financial institutions identify potential check fraud with the ability to view and validate the check image in real time. In the past, financial institutions could only view a check image after it had been cleared for deposit. By allowing access to the images before clearing, Cachet gives clients greater control in mitigating check fraud.
Innovation type: Back office

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Previously, when offering new financial products and services, the only two options available were to buy or build. You’ve tried buy, but now your business structure can’t sustain innovation and integration is an absolute nightmare. You’ve tried build, but the industry moves quickly and you can no longer keep up. Both options cost a fortune in maintenance. Now there is a third option. 
Open Development Banking Platforms are the new kid on the block and are promising to be transformational for the financial services industry. Let us show you why.
Innovation type: Back office, cards, payments

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Personal finance cannot be properly assessed in a vacuum. Credit Sesame will introduce its new financial fitness indicators, designed to help a user fully understand and optimize their individual financial situation. 
Users can take advantage of current market trends and identify financial successes of their peers to better their financial future, preventing consumers from leaving money on the table by identifying ways to grow their wealth.
Innovation type: Identity, lending, PFM

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Dashlane’s mobile apps enable instant checkouts, registrations, and logins universally across the web without any merchant-side integration. This is powered by proprietary real-time semantic analysis of webpages and a super-secure, locally-encrypted personal data vault. 
Its disruptive apps allow consumers
to conduct keyboard-less transactions on any website from their mobile devices – a critical game-changer on a device that lacks a keyboard. Mobile shopping cart abandonment is over 90% today. Its goal is to slash that down and unlock mobile commerce at scale with a product that is simple, secure, and universal.
Innovation type: Marketing, mobile, payments

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Customers are becoming increasingly integrated with their financial institutions. ACH payments are up about 5% each year. Online and mobile banking continues to rise and nearly two-thirds of online customers are using bill pay. Yet, this integration leaves consumers feeling trapped. 
In a recent Consumer Reports survey, 63% of respondents said concerns about transferring automatic payment and deposits were keeping them from switching banks. Are you prepared to reach this highly integrated customer base? The Switch Is On!
Innovation type: Online, payments, sales

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Emida’s Mobile Wallet (CAT) allows consumers to apply cash to their virtual mobile account without requiring an existing bank account or credit card collateral. Account holders can load value to their Cash and Transact account and then transfer cash or pay for goods and services with anyone, anytime, from anywhere. The Cash and Transact vision is to create a borderless community connected by transactions via the Cash and Transact mobile wallet.
Innovation type: Mobile, payments, PFM

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The U.S. is moving to EMV (Chip & PIN) no later than 2015 meaning the biggest overhaul of payment infrastructure since the introduction of the plastic card.
Handpoint presents a mobile payments platform for developers. It´s simple and secure and allows developers to easily add EMV payments to their applications and get paid for transactions made through their apps. The platform can be white labeled to larger partners, e.g. acquirers and MNOs so they can offer branded mobile POS solutions.
The platform erases all PCI issues, even for large merchants, by using state of the art security measures including Point-to-Point encryption.
Innovation type: Mobile, payments, security

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Ignite Sales is launching the world’s first Bank Product Concierge which will change the way retail banks are able to sell financial products consistently to consumers and to manage their branch network. The solution is turning bank branches, call centers and websites into account opening machines, helping them easily and cost effectively reach their customers to upsell and cross-sell products consistently across channels. 
The Concierge Analytics Dashboard, the first in the industry, provides the only way for bank executives to determine what products should be sold based on eligibility data.
Innovation type: Marketing, online, sales

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Story of My Finances is a completely new approach in digital financial customer service. It takes online banking and PFM to the next level of mass retail financial planning and advice. 
Stories are customer-driven financial life processes, such as “How to spend less”, “Prepare for a rainy day”, “Buy a home” or “Retirement planning”. Stories help end-customers to get financially fit and to have a peace of mind. Stories are the missing link between everyday people and financial products. We believe that we can improve people’s financial life by licensing our white-label technology to financial institutions.
Innovation type: Online, PFM, sales

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Remember the last time you refinanced your mortgage? Or was it so painful, time consuming and costly you’d like to forget it? Imagine if your FI let you click a button on a website and lower your rate with no appraisal, credit or income check, $0 fees added back to your loan and not starting over with a new 30 year term. 
Mortgage Harmony Corp., a financial services company, will demo web-based software which FIs can use to offer a consumer-initiated rate, resetting mortgage with a patented compensation model for their originators. (It’s actually more advantageous for them, too.)
Innovation type: Back office, lending, PFM

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Payfone is the remote mobile commerce company that solves mCommerce checkout by linking mobile identity with the payment process to provide merchants with the easiest, fastest and most secure mobile checkout possible. 
Because it authenticate
s through the bank and carrier network, Payfone mCommerce Service requires no changes to backend systems, no new payment mark and nothing for consumers to download or install.
Innovation type: Identity, mobile, payments

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Today, the people with the least amount of money are charged the most to pay bills and get checks. Plus, they have to jump through more hoops. PreCash Flips that model with mobile. 
Come learn about Flip Money, the first viable mobile app for underbanked consumers with immediate check deposit and free bill pay transactions.
Innovation type: Mobile, payments, PFM

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Imagine a world where, as a consumer, you can use things you already have to enhance your online and mobile experience (your smart phone, bank card, tablet or PC). Imagine a world where, as a bank card issuer, you can minimize card-not-present fraud and provide value-added services based on strong authentication, to your consumers and commercial partners. 
Imagine a world where, as a merchant, you can sell to your clients through extended channels, securely, and with little risk of card-not-present fraud. And imagine a world where online service providers such as governments can actually transact with their constituents after ascertaining their identity, while still transacting anonymously.
Innovation type: Identity, payments, Security

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Segmint’s breakthrough analytics anticipate real-time consumer spending patterns and help FIs deliver a personalized mix of cross-sell and up-sell offers on their public and private websites. 
Segmint’s new and highly-advanced One Button application allows FIs to create customized online product and service campaigns in under a minute – automatically targeting the offer, creating a banner and assigning website delivery locations. With analytics that refresh daily, this One Button application empowers FI marketers to achieve unprecedented speed-to-market and deliver highly targeted cross-sell and up-sell campaigns while increasing campaign ROI.
Innovation type: Banking products, marketing, online

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Thomson Reuters is pleased to introduce their new App Store solution that enables access to the latest innovative capabilities and tools for use across the digital enterprise. 
The Thomson Reuters solution enables financial institutions and third party developers to effortlessly create pioneering market monitoring and investing apps. By seamlessly integrating the combination of Thomson Reuters content assets with a firm’s customer account data and other data sources, Thomson Reuters is helping institutions leverage the providers of financial insight to deliver a differentiated experience for their customers while lowering both development costs and time to market.
Innovation type: Investing, mobile, online, PFM

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Truaxis understands that Big Data is a profitability gold mine for banks if properly gathered, interpreted and acted upon. With its Profitability Analytics module, StatementRewards lets banks easily reach their most profitable customers and create campaigns to further improve customer value and loyalty.
Innovation type: Cards, rewards

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Data is power. Whether you’re managing personal finances or running a business, the right data and tools enable the right decisions. Good data informs, educates, projects, and even anticipates future actions. Who doesn’t want a crystal ball? Yodlee brings data to life. 
At Finovate, you’ll see what that means for Pete, a small business owner running a successful exotic automotive parts business. Parts is parts? Not in our world! Do you have the (data) power? Come find it at Finovate! Yodlee. 
Innovation type: Online, PFM, small business
Stay tuned next week for another sneak peek of FinovateFall 2012 presenting companies. 

Braintree Acquires Venmo for $26 Million, Ranked 415 on Inc 500 List

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Chicago-based payment gateway, Braintree announced yesterday that it acquired social payments platform, Venmo, for $26 million in cash and stock.

Venmo is a consumer-facing technology that processes around $10 million in payments monthly. With the acquisition, Braintree will integrate Venmo’s technology into its existing software so that Venmo users can make transactions with their existing account.

The 23-person Venmo team will maintain its peer-to-peer payment platform from its office in New York.

In unrelated news, Braintree was ranked number 415 in the 2012 Inc 500 list. Here are some stats that Inc. published about the payments company:

    • It has grown more than 10x since 2008*
    • 2011 revenue of $9.9 million
    • 2011 employees numbered 60

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

*Inc. 500 rankings are based on a 3-yr growth percentage.

Finovate Alumni News– August 20, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgSoMoLend launches small business competition.
  • The Next Web features Raphael Ouzan, BillGuard founder and CTO.
  • The Washington Post looks at HelloWallet’s move to D.C.
  • TBA Services Company renews endorsement of Q2ebanking’s services.
  • Credit Union Journal reports Franklin Mint FCU Adds Geezeo.
  • Braintree acquires Venmo for $26 mil, ranked 415 on Inc 500 list.
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 17, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgBen Milne, Dwolla CEO, speaks about payments during TedXDesMoines talk.
  • Los Angeles Times looks at how Kabbage, On Deck Capital, and Capital Access Network work in the microlending space.
  • Bloomberg Businessweek interviews Robert Frohwein, CEO of Kabbage.
  • On Deck celebrates 5th birthday, ranked number 302 on Inc. 500 list.
  • Bank Innovation’s impression of 6 Finovate demo-ers that promise new products.
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.

First Look: Google’s Save-to-Wallet API at Discover Card

image This week, Discover became the first to use Google’s new Save-to-Wallet API to seamlessly add its card to the wallet directly from its secure site. This API supports the recent expansion of Google’s wallet to all US-based credit cards. 

To see how it works, I logged in to my Discover Card tonight and looked through account settings and the Help area for details. Coming up empty, I searched for "Google wallet" within the secure site and found a prominent link to the function (see first screenshot below).

The API worked even better than I expected, taking just 15-20 seconds (after I found the right page). Here’s the 3-step process:

  • Press Add Your Card from within the Discover Card secure site (screenshot #2)
  • Enter your Google password into the Google popup page (screen #3; I was already logged into Gmail, so Google had prefilled my username)
  • Accept the API request from Discover (screen #4)

That’s all it there was to it.

Optionally, users can go back to Google through the link on the Discover page (screen #5) to make it the preferred payment card (screen #6). Finally, Discover closes the loop with an immediate confirmation email thanking me for adding the card (screen #7). Well done.

Bottom line: Unless you are big enough to negotiate financial considerations from Google and/or build your own mobile wallet, you might as well drop this API into your secure site now. It gives your debit/credit card a fighting chance to be the default card in the wallet. While that might provide a slight spending lift, the major benefit is associating yourself with mobile wallets in general and Google in particular.

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1. Search results for "Google wallet" within Discover Card secure card management (16 Aug 2012)

Search results at Discover Card for "google wallet"


2. Landing page at Discover Card for adding it to Google Wallet

Discover Card landing page for adding to Google Wallet


3. Popup to login to Google account (at Google.com)

Login to Google Wallet through your Google account 

4. Authorization screen (at Google.com)

Google "Add Card to Wallet" API confirmation 

5. Confirmation screen with suggestion that cardholder go to Google to make Discover the default payment card
Note: Highlighting and arrow added for emphasis

Confirmation screen that Discover has been added to Google Wallet 

6. My Google Wallet contains the Discover Card on top

Note: The expired MasterCard below is a remnant of the old Google Checkout that has been replaced by the Wallet

Google wallet containing Discover Card 

7. Confirmation and thank-you email from Discover

Email from Discover Card confirming addition to Google Wallet

On Deck Celebrates 5th Birthday, Ranked Number 302 on Inc. 500 List

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Small business lender, On Deck Capital, announced its 5th birthday today.

In celebration of this milestone, the New York-based company provided insight into its history and growth over the past 5 years:

    • Its first two loans averaged $4,000
    • Currently employs over 100 people
    • Has delivered over $250 million to small businesses nationwide since its start in 2007

The graph below illustrates the growth of its loans over time.

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In addition to this news, On Deck was just ranked number 302 in the Inc. 500 list, where it divulged the following information:

    • It has grown more than 13x since 2008*
    • 2011 revenue of $19.5 million
    • 2011 employees numbered 96

To learn more about On Deck, watch its FinovateSpring 2012 demo.

*Inc. 500 rankings are based on a 3-yr growth percentage.