Alumni News

FintechOS Raises $10 Million to Help Banks Deliver on Financial Inclusion

FintechOS Raises $10 Million to Help Banks Deliver on Financial Inclusion
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Fintech OS, Funding

London-based financial services technology provider FintechOS secured $10 million in funding from the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. The investment is part of the company’s $60 million Series B round, announced in April, and will support FintechOS’ goals of promoting financial inclusion by helping FIs expand access to financial services to un- and underbanked communities.

Many fintechs talk the financial inclusion talk. But even those companies committed to serving overlooked individuals and communities, often discover that actually “walking the walk” on financial inclusion can be more difficult than it seems at first. Speaking to this conundrum, FintechOS co-founder and CEO Teodor Blidarus said, “today financial technology is too often an inhibitor rather than an enabler of inclusion. Financial institutions both large and small simply don’t have the right tools at the right price point to meet market demands.” Blidarus highlighted enabling technologies like low-code, but lamented that these solutions remain under-utilized. “And this impacts those at the bottom of the (financial) pyramid most acutely,” he added.

For financial institutions eager to undergo digital transformation, FintechOS offers an alternative to what it calls “painful rip-and-replace” approaches to the transformation journey. Instead, FintechOS provides a low-code, plug and play strategy that enables banks and insurance firms to take advantage of digital end-to-end services, automated processes, and personalized, customer-centric solutions “in weeks, not months.”

FintechOS made its Finovate debut in 2018, demonstrating its platform at FinovateEurope in London. More recently, the company released its Configuration Management update, which boosts FintechOS’ scalability and helps pave the way for full Git integration. Git is a change-tracking software that helps developers collaborate during the source code writing process. The technology enables distributed teams to write code, test new functionalities, and securely deploy new versions.

“Configuration Management will make life easier for developers and streamline the wider operation of the FintechOS platform,” Blidarus explained. He added that full Git integration “will help our clients self-serve and customize their enterprise-grade solutions based on our technology.”

Recognized last month as the 2021 Microsoft Romania Partner of the Year, FintechOS includes Reliance Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, Societe General, and Vienna Insurance Group among its more than 40 partners around the world. This spring, the company’s founders, who hail from Romania, became the first Romanians to join Endeavor’s global community supporting “high-impact entrepreneurs.”

“For the Romanian entrepreneurial ecosystem, the selection of FintechOS in the Endeavor Network is a confirmation of the value and the huge development potential of Romanian companies in a truly global setting,” Endeavor Romania board chair Marius Stefan said. “We are eager to discover together other innovative companies and other entrepreneurs as focused and enthusiastic as (co-founders) Teodor and Sergiu (Negut) and enhance their development with the help of Endeavor.”

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CuneXus Inks Pact with Origence to Streamline Digital Lending

CuneXus Inks Pact with Origence to Streamline Digital Lending
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, CUneXus, CUneXus Solutions, Daily news

A strategic partnership between digital lending solution provider CuneXus and lending technology company Origence will give more than 1,100 credit unions the ability to offer their members access to personalized, pre-approved financing offers.

“We are focused on changing the way credit unions interact with their members, and this means tearing down old, and painful banking experiences” CuneXus co-founder and President Dave Buerger said. “We’re empowering people with unrivaled transparency and convenience, and this partnership with Origence makes that easily accessible to many more credit unions and consumers. Together we can provide the modern seamless lending experience that members deserve, one that equips them for financial excellence.”

The partnership allows credit unions to access CuneXus’ digital storefront, which leverages a proactive, “Perpetual Approval” approach that continuously analyzes hundreds of internal and external data points to ensure that qualified borrowers can get personalized loan offers, while simultaneously helping keep the credit union “top of mind” whenever one of its members has expressed an interest in securing financing. The methodology exchanges the typical credit application process for an ongoing automated credit approval that make the financing process less complicated for credit union members.

VP of Strategic Alliances at Origence, Aleks Bogoeski, said that the partnership with CuneXus comes at an opportune moment as consumer behavior and spending begins to rebound in the wake of COVID-19. “Our partnership with CuneXus provides a timely opportunity for credit unions to implement a dynamic digital experience that further simplifies the lending process, as member spending returns to a normal, post-pandemic pace,” Bogoeski said. “We are happy to have partnered with CuneXus to bring this service to our credit unions.”

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Santa Rosa, California, CuneXus made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2014. In the years since, the company has grown to serve more than 145 of the biggest lenders in the U.S. with its digital storefront, helping these institutions increase wallet share, generate branch revenue, and grow non-interest income. CuneXus clients represent more than $400 billion in combined assets and serve 20 million customers and members.

CuneXus was acquired by CUNA Mutual Group in the fall of last year. Announcing the move, CUNA Mutual president and CEO Robert N. Trunzo highlighted CuneXus’ “growth trajectory” – as well as its expertise and products – as features that would enhance CUNA Mutual Group’s opportunity for growth. “We are continuing our journey into a more diverse, digital-first world,” Trunzo said. “Our company is committed to using technology to enhance consumers’ access to financial solutions that work for them and create a more equitable financial system and society. This is a top priority for all of our core businesses.”

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Behalf Raises $100 Million Debt Facility for B2B BNPL Offering

Behalf Raises $100 Million Debt Facility for B2B BNPL Offering
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Blend, Daily news, Funding

Now more small businesses can get in on the Buy Now Pay Later game just like retail consumers.

Courtesy of a new $100 million debt facility, small business financing company Behalf will be able to make its In-Purchase Financing offering available to a broader range of B2B merchants and their small business customers. In-Purchase Financing gives B2B merchants the same sort of Buy Now Pay Later benefits that retail consumers enjoy, and includes a range of features designed especially to meet the needs of B2B commerce. The facility was provided by funds managed by Ares Management Corporation.

Behalf also announced $19 million in new venture financing led by MissionOG, Viola Growth, Viola Credit, and Vintage Investment Partners. Migdal Insurance and La Maison Partners also participated in the round. Behalf’s total funding now stands at more than $250 million.

Describing the B2B e-commerce market as more than ready for transformation, Behalf CEO Rob Rosenblatt said that in-purchase financing gives merchants the opportunity to source new revenues. The offering also gives small and medium-sized businesses access to an affordable financing alternative.

“Even as the U.S. economy is improving, SMBs continue to seek financial assistance to purchase critical supplies, inventory and equipment,” Rosenblatt explained. “Oftentimes they lack the requisite spend capacity on their personal or business credit cards. By offering In-Purchase Financing with flexible terms, B2B merchants can increase average order size by as much as 50-80 percent while reducing their risk, improving cash flow and driving operational efficiencies,” he said.

Among the features included in Behalf’s In-Purchase Financing solution are:

  • Seamless checkout to improve CX and customer loyalty
  • Easy integration with existing point-of-sale systems
  • Advanced underwriting and scoring models to handle the complexity and risk of SME lending

The solution scales to enable merchants to serve a range of business customers, from small to large, and supports financing for transactions of “significantly greater” average order value relative to consumer financing options.

“We think there is a great market opportunity for a B2B offering targeting the more complex, real-time financing needs of SMBs,” Ares Credit Group Partner Jeffrey Kramer said. “We are excited to provide a debt facility that will help support the company to achieve its growth objectives.”

Founded in 2011, Behalf made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall three years later. Since then, the company has enabled its B2B merchant partners to achieve an 83% increase in Average Order Value (AOV), an 80% gain in purchase frequency, and 44% growth in sales revenue.

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B2B Payments Innovator Paystand Secures $50 Million in Series C Funding

B2B Payments Innovator Paystand Secures $50 Million in Series C Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Funding, PayStand

In a round led by new investor NewView Capital, blockchain-based commercial payments innovator Paystand has raised $50 million in funding. The company leverages the cloud and the Ethereum blockchain to power its Paystand Bank Network, a no-fee, digital B2B payment system used by more than 250,000 companies to make payments.

“With this new funding, Paystand is uniquely positioned to bring the benefits of blockchain to commercial payments so businesses can be more agile and competitive in the post-pandemic landscape,” Paystand CEO Jeremy Almond said. “Our vision is to create an open financial infrastructure that delivers a self-driving money experience for businesses and provides radically better economics for the industry itself.”

The investment takes Paystand’s total capital to more than $78 million. Also participating in this week’s financing were SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund, King River Capital, Industrious Ventures, and Transform Capital. As part of the investment, NewView Capital’s Jazmin Medina will join Paystand’s board of directors.

Paystand’s innovation is to automate the entire cash lifecycle to enable businesses to enhance the overall customer experience with seamless, B2B payment options. The company’s technology helps businesses accelerate time-to-cash, lower DSO (daily sales outstanding) by 60% or more, as well as reduce fraud and chargebacks thanks to real-time fund verification. And instead of charging businesses a percentage on each transaction, Paystand’s business model relies on subscriptions which the company says allows businesses to scale their payments operations without having to worry about dramatically increased fee-per-transaction expenses.

An alum of our developers conference, FinDEVr, Paystand was among the many fintechs who was able to turn the crisis of the global pandemic into an opportunity to support businesses that suddenly found themselves sprinting toward digital transformation. In a blog post discussing the challenges facing businesses during this time, Almond noted that while many companies had already migrated to the cloud for their “systems of record” (i.e., CRM, ERP, etc.), the “critical component” and “last mile” of digital transformation – revenue – was left underaddressed.

“Finance teams found themselves forced to return to the office at the height of COVID-19 outbreaks just to pick up checks and deal with cash flow,” Almond wrote, “something that clearly exposed the backwards nature of the legacy payment system.”

In May, Paystand inked a partnership with cloud business management solution provider Sage to enable a “Venmo for Businesses” like service via Paystand’s B2B payment network. The following month, the Scotts Valley, California-based fintech launched its Smart Lockbox, a digital-first alternative to traditional lockbox services. Smart Lockbox enhances the ability of businesses to transition away from paper-based payments to faster, less expensive, digital options, and makes migration easy with a seamless, one-click process.

“Smart Lockbox is the key tool that helps companies seamlessly bring their mission-critical revenue into the digital age,” Almond said when the solution was announced. “In a post-pandemic world, everything looks very different. COVID supercharged the push for digital transformation across the board for businesses, and there’s no question that this shift is here to stay. Now, with Smart Lockbox, finance teams can turn their biggest headaches into a newfound source of power.”

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AuthenticID Scores $100 Million in New Funding

AuthenticID Scores $100 Million in New Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, authenticID, Daily news, Funding

AuthenticID, an identity proofing solution provider for the enterprise, has raised $100 million in funding from Long Ridge Partners. The investment will help the company continue to bring innovative identity proofing solutions to its customers in financial services, telecommunications, government, and other sectors.

“Our platform is relied upon by a majority of the U.S. wireless carriers and various identity platform to securely establish identity,” AuthenticID CEO Jeff S. Jani said. “Our differentiator is the significant ROI we deliver to customers, from stopping more fraud to converting more sales than our digital identity competitors. Our mission is to improve the security for all of our collective identities.”

Union Square Advisors, a boutique technology-focused investment bank, served as AuthenticID’s financial advisor in the transaction.

AuthenticID gives businesses the ability to conduct document-centric identity verification with a high degree of accuracy and fast processing times. The 100% automated solution helps companies increase conversion rates and eliminate fraud at a time when businesses are seeing a surge in the volume of customers who need to be digitally onboarded in order to use their services. AuthenticID leverages machine learning algorithms, AI-powered neural networks, and state-of-the-art computer vision to determine when photos and faces do not match, whether identification documents are fraudulent, and if either the name or face being analyzed has been associated with suspicious activity in the past.

Founded in 2001 by Blair Cohen, AuthenticID made its Finovate debut two years later at FinovateSpring. In the years since, AuthenticID has brought its technology to ten companies in the Fortune 100, three of the top U.S. banks, two of the top three credit reporting agencies, and three of the top five telecommunications companies in the U.S., as well as several international banks and companies around the world. Earlier this month, the company announced that it had reached a new milestone with the launch of its new enterprise-grade SaaS system that can process nearly 35 million identity proofing transactions in a day and more than one billion in a single month.

“AuthenticID has built a market-leading computer vision system to meet the ever-growing requirements of this market,” AuthenticID Chief Technology Officer Richard Huber Jr. said when the milestone was announced. “Our system sets a new standard for reliably and accurately verifying anyone’s identity from anywhere in the world.”

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India and Nigeria Consider CBDCs as Study Shows Strong Consumer Enthusiasm and Trust

India and Nigeria Consider CBDCs as Study Shows Strong Consumer Enthusiasm and Trust
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Finovate Global

Two of their respective regions’ most powerful economies are moving closer to the issuance of Central Bank Digital Currencies or CBDCs. In India, Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Shri T. Rabi Sanker said that the bank is working toward a “phased implementation strategy” that would further the country’s multi-year effort to transition its citizens away from cash. India’s efforts to remove cash from the economy, including innovations like the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the RuPay network have become increasingly accepted by Indian citizens. But both, as far as Sanker are concerned, face challenges from the persistence of cash and the promise of CBDCs.

With regard to the latter, Sanker has encouraged observers to envision a UPI system based on CBDCs rather than bank balances. In such a framework, there would be no need for interbank settlement and payment systems worldwide could benefit from greater cost efficiencies and faster, even real-time, transaction settlement. As far as the persistence of cash is concerned, small value transactions still make up most cash purchases in the country. But even here Sanker believes that with certain guarantees like transaction anonymity, CBDCs could be efficiently used for these transactions, as well.

Meanwhile in Africa, Rakiya Mohammed, Formation Technology Director for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) told an audience recently that the country will launch its CBDC pilot on the first of October. The project, called Giant, has been in development since 2017 and runs on the open source blockchain Hyperledger fabric. The bank hopes that a CBDC will help support macro and growth management – as well as cross-border trade – and facilitate financial inclusion. Mohammed reportedly cited FOMO – fear of missing out – as one reason why the CBN could not risk sitting on the sidelines while other central banks around the world launched CBDC-related projects and initiatives.

The demand for CBDCs remains an open question to some degree. But proponents of the technology can take heart in a recent study conducted by European deep tech company Guardtime. The firm took a look at opinions toward CBDCs in ten countries including countries in Europe and Asia, as well as in the United States and the UAE. The study revealed that a majority of adults (64%) said that they would be likely to use a digital currency offered by their country’s central bank, with 33% saying they would be “very likely” to use a CBDC. Only 10% of respondents said they would “never” use a CBDC. The CBDC favorable position maintained a healthy lead over CBDC rejection both when it came to converting savings to CBDCs (59% support versus 11% “never”) and being paid in CBDCs (57% support versus 12% “never”).

Summing up the positive results for CBDCs suggested by the study, Guardtime Head of Strategy Luukas Ilves observed, “it is fascinating to see that 64% of people would be willing to use CBDCs – even though they have not been launched yet – and are happy to support and trust Central Banks to ensure digital currencies are delivered.”

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

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Currencycloud Valued at $963 Million On News of Visa Acquisition

Currencycloud Valued at $963 Million On News of Visa Acquisition
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Acquisition, Alumni News, Currency Cloud, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, VISA

Global payments platform Currencycloud is the latest fintech to catch the eye of Visa, which announced this week that it has agreed to acquire the London-based fintech in a deal that values the company at $963 million (GBP 700 million). The acquisition announcement noted that the pact builds on a partnership that extends back to 2019 and bolsters Visa’s foreign exchange capabilities, enabling them to better serve FIs, fintechs, and other partners, as well as help them explore new use cases and payment flows.

“At Currencycloud, we’ve always strived to deliver a better tomorrow for all, from the smallest start-up to the global multi-nationals,” Currencycloud CEO Mike Laven said. “Re-imagining how money flows around the global economy just got more exciting as we join Visa.” Laven added that bringing Currencycloud’s expertise in fintech to Visa’s network will “enable us to deliver greater customer value to the businesses moving money across borders.”

Currencycloud will continue to operate out of its London, U.K. headquarters and its current management team will remain intact.

The acquisition news comes just a few weeks after the Currencycloud announced a partnership with Global Processing Services (GPS) to expand access to cross-border payments. The collaboration will give fintechs the ability to enhance their current product offerings with products like multi-currency digital wallets and services like point-of-sale foreign exchange.

“For Fintechs, building a multi-currency solution requires a huge effort across multiple functional and regulatory domains,” Currencycloud co-founder and VP of Partnerships & Enterprise Stephen Lemon explained when the collaboration was announced in June. “By working with Currencycloud and GPS, fintechs can reduce the complexity involved and get to market much more quickly for a fraction of the cost of self-building, while vastly reducing ongoing operational risk and overhead.”

A Finovate alum for more than six years, Currencycloud most recently demonstrated its technology on the Finovate stage in 2018, where the company presented its Global Collections product. Since then, Currencycloud has grown into a platform whose APIs have enabled processing of more than $100 billion in transactions for companies ranging from neobanks to financial services corporations. Currencycloud currently supports nearly 500 bank and fintech customers, reaching more than 180 countries.

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Dwolla Secures $21 Million in Funding to Innovate B2B Payments

Dwolla Secures $21 Million in Funding to Innovate B2B Payments
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Dwolla, Funding

In a venture round led by Foundry Group, modern payments platform Dwolla has raised $21 million in new funding. The capital takes the company’s total funding to more than $70 million according to Crunchbase, and will help fuel the Des Moines, Iowa-based fintech’s growth initiatives, enhance its partner relationships, and drive the company’s product roadmap.

Also participating in the funding were Park West Asset Management LLC, Union Square Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Firebrand Ventures, and Next Level Ventures. Individual investor Jeremy Andrus, CEO of Traeger, also participated in the round.

The investment in Dwolla comes in the wake of a surge in transaction volume over the past year – due largely to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. With an increase of 80% in transaction volume since the beginning of the crisis, Dwolla sees itself on track for more than $30 billion in transaction volume this year. The company noted that this week that it has onboarded approximately three million end users on its payments platform in the first six months of 2021.

“We continue to be excited at the speed of innovation and demands from the marketplace,” Dwolla CEO Brady Harris said in a statement announcing the investment. “We continue to see significant client and payment volume growth due in part to our new products like Real-Time Payments, Push-to-Debit, and our low-code solutions. This funding will allow us to fully capitalize on the momentum we’re experiencing, as we continue to scale our tech stack with innovative solutions and invest in go-to-market capabilities with international expansion and technical integrations with exciting fintech partners.”

This spring, Dwolla added real-time payment options to its platform. Powered by Cross River Bank, the Real-Time Payments solution uses the RTP Network to send money directly to bank accounts in seconds. The partnership enabled new businesses integrate Dwolla’s payment API to connect with RTP-enabled FIs and send money, while Dwolla’s current customers were able to begin using the technology simply by changing a single line of code.

“Today is game-changing,” Harris said when the new offering was announced in April. “Not just for adding real-time payments to Dwolla’s payments technology. But because of how we collaborated with a forward-thinking financial institution to make real-time payments easily accessible to businesses of all sizes. The immediacy of real-time payments will fundamentally change how businesses operate.”

Check out our profile of Dwolla from earlier this year. The company was founded by Ben Milne in 2008. Milne served as CEO of the company through March of 2020.

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Best of Show Winner Lendsmart Inks Integration Deal with Freddie Mac

Best of Show Winner Lendsmart Inks Integration Deal with Freddie Mac
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Daily news, Lendsmart

Lendsmart, which took home Best of Show honors in its FinovateFall debut last year, announced a new partnership with Freddie Mac this week. The digital lending platform has integrated with Freddie Mac Loan Product Advisor, the firm’s automated underwriting system, to improve the loan origination process for both lenders and borrowers by reducing processing time.

“Lendsmart’s software predicts the credit and underwriting conditions required in the loan origination process by pinning them to a borrower’s data in real-time rather than making the borrower wait 45 days to get an email from the underwriter,” Lendsmart founder and CEO AK Patel explained. “We’re also shaving off weeks in the letter of explanation process.”

Headquartered in New York City, Lendsmart combines an AI-powered digital lending platform with a home buying marketplace to save lenders time, help them increase productivity, and grow their profits while providing both the lender and the homebuyer with a “next-generation digital experience,” in the words of Lendsmart COO Philip Gem George.

Lendsmart’s platform centralizes and unifies all parties in the mortgage process while automating manual tasks to ensure accuracy, reduce risk, and keep costs low. George noted during the demo of Lendsmart’s technology at FinovateFall that the automation ensured that homebuyers are only asked for information that cannot be readily accessed from the documentation. This further accelerates the process and relieves some of the burden typically felt by homebuyers during the origination process.

And as Freddie Mac VP of Business Partner Integration Kevin Kauffman added, technology like that available from Lendsmart helps financial institutions keep up with the expectations of their increasingly digital-first customers. “Today’s lenders and borrowers expect a seamless digital process that isn’t burdened with administrative tasks or excessive timelines,” Kauffman said. “Partnering with Lendsmart allows Freddie Mac to provide the latest technology that satisfies out mutual clients’ needs.”

Founded in 2019, Lendsmart was among the many fintechs that helped facilitate PPP funding during the COVID-19 pandemic, partnering with Griffin Technologies to offer banks and credit unions an end-to-end solution to enable them to process more loan applications while identifying and pursuing qualified small business leads. “With financial institutions struggling to manage the high number of applications and small businesses in need of immediate funds,” Patel said when the partnership was announced last spring. “We saw an opportunity to speed up and simplify the mostly manual process by using our existing technology.”

Lendsmart began the year raising an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from INV Fintech. In addition to its New York headquarters, the company also has an office in India.

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Digital Investment Platform Munnypot Acquired by Cairngorm Capital

Digital Investment Platform Munnypot Acquired by Cairngorm Capital
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Munnypot, Partnership Outlook

Sometimes a partnership is not enough and only a full-fledged union will suffice.

This is the approach taken by Cairngorm Capital, a U.K.-based private equity firm that announced this week that it had acquired FinovateMiddleEast alum Munnypot – along with investment management services provider Whitefoord – in order to launch a new digital wealth management firm, Verso Wealth Management.

“Our firm believes that the parallel trends of the increased complexity of consumers’ advice needs, their growing adoption of digital services and rising automation in wealth management will endure over the long term,” Cairngorm Capital’s Neil McGill explained. “The combination of award winning technology, high quality advice, and an exceptional management team ensures that the Verso Group is well placed to capitalize on this.” 

Founded in 2015 and making its Finovate debut three years later in Dubai, Munnypot was developed to serve both mass market investors who struggle to secure traditional financial advice, as well as existing investors looking for a goal-based, low-cost, digital alternative. Munnypot offers Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), General Investment Accounts (GIAs), and Junior ISAs (JISAs) that enable parents to make investments on behalf of their children. Designed for investment and savings goals that are at least five years in the future, Munnypot analyzes the investor’s objectives and other key details to provide tailored advice on the most suitable investment plan to meet those goals

The new firm will be run by Munnypot CEO Andrew Fay and Managing Director Simon Redgrove, who will take identical positions in leadership for Verso. Also joining Verso’s executive ranks will be Whitefoord Chief Executive Vince Whitefoord who will lead the firm’s discretionary investment management business. Verso will operate as a combination of human expertise from its client advisors and investment professionals with an automated investment advice capability. This approach is designed to appeal to a broader range of potential customers, including small savers and those new to equity investing.

“Verso will make it far easier for advisors to maximize efficiency, reduce compliance risk and increase revenue,” Fay said. “Our goal is to become the leading digitally driven IFA consolidator and there’s no limit to our ambition.”

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Blend Raises $360 Million in IPO; Achieves $4 Billion Valuation

Blend Raises $360 Million in IPO; Achieves $4 Billion Valuation
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Blend, Daily news, IPO

Mortgagetech innovator Blend is the latest fintech to go public. The company, which unveiled its “data-driven mortgage” solution in its Finovate debut five years ago, made its debut as a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange last week under the ticker BLND. Blend raised $360 million in the IPO, earning a valuation of $4 billion.

In a blog post, Blend CEO and co-founder Nima Ghamsari reflected on the irony of launching a mortgagetech business “out of the ashes of the great recession” in 2012. The goal then was to build a solution that leveraged technology and data to made financial services simpler and more transparent, specifically in the “complex and paper-based” mortgage process. Since then, the company has expanded its product portfolio beyond mortgages to include initially home equity loans and lines of credit, before helping streamline origination workflows for financing products ranging from personal loans and credit cards to deposit accounts. This expansion has allowed Blend to enable its financial institution clients to cross-sell personalized offers and services to their customers and members.

“At every step of our journey, our customers have asked us to build more,” Ghamsari wrote. “That’s why this moment means so much to me and everyone at Blend.

A winner of the NAFCU Services 2021 Innovation Award for Best Digital Lending Platform in June, Blend facilitated more than $1 trillion in loans in 2020, an increase of 2x over the previous year. The company also introduced a variety of new platform features in 2020 including a new loss mitigation workflow for homeowners, and a digital portal to process PPP loans. Blend currently has more than 290 lender partners, representing 30% of all mortgage volume in the U.S.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Blend began the year with a $300 million Series G round, featuring participation from Coatue and Tiger Global Management. The funding gave the company a valuation of $3.3 billion. This January investment was less than six months after the company secured a $75 million Series F financing led by Canapi Ventures.

In addition to its debut at FinovateSpring in 2016, Blend is also an alum of our developer’s conference, FinDEVr. At the event, the company’s technical team showed the thinking behind the design of its platform including the importance of automated workflows, data connectivity, and innovation by design.

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American Express Buddies Up to BodesWell to Build Self-Service Financial Planning Solution

American Express Buddies Up to BodesWell to Build Self-Service Financial Planning Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, American Express, BodesWell, Daily news

American Express is getting into the financial planning business – and has partnered with Finovate alum BodesWell do help them do it.

TechCrunch reported today that Amex has launched a pilot of a self-service, digital financial solution called My Financial Plan to a group of 25,000 American Express card holders. The solution was developed in collaboration with BodesWell, whose technology enables banks, insurance companies, and financial advisors to empower their customers and clients to build their own financial plans.

BodesWell’s solution leverages an easy, drag-and-drop interface to support self-directed financial planning. Users have the ability to see income level projections, understand the impact of financially-significant life events like buying a house or sending a child to college, and receive advice and suggestions from Mentor Messages to help them adjust and improve their financial plans and meet their goals.

Making financial planning a part of a company’s financial services offering is an helpful response to the lack of financial planning for many families; BodesWell estimates that 85 million U.S. households do not have a financial planner. But in addition to supporting financial wellness and inclusion by adding financial planning services to their offering, BodesWell partners also benefit from “precious insights into their customers financial needs,” as BodesWell CEO Matthew Bellows pointed out earlier this year at FinovateSpring. This enables companies to better prioritize product development, research acquisition and retention strategies, as well as more accurately target products for revenue-generating up- and cross-sell opportunities.

“When we launched BodesWell at Finovate 2019 we made a promise to you,” Bellows said during his company’s Finovate appearance earlier this year, “we promised that we could provide digital financial planning to millions of Americans who don’t already have a financial planner.” News of the company’s partnership with American Express today is early evidence of promises kept.

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