aSpark, DCisions Both Acquired in Separate Deals

Recently, two Finovate alums announced that they had been acquired. We were excited to see two successful exits:

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aSpark, an idea-incubation company that generates cloud-based mobile solutions for FIs
Founded: 2011
Acquired byLiquidHub, provider of management and IT consulting
Finovate demo: FinovateFall 2012

Co-founder and CEO, Raj Patil, and his team will now continue operating under the company name LiquidHub.

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DCisions, data analytics company that operates InvestorBee, a consumer-based service that provides investment data
Founded: 2005
Acquired by: Interactive Investor, a guide to UK finance and investing
Finovate demo: FinovateEurope 2012 and FinovateSpring 2012

DCisions will conclude independent data services on December 31, 2012, at which point the FTSE DCisions Index Series and InvestorBee service will stop.

FinovateFall 2012 in the Press

Here’s a look at the press coverage from FinovateFall 2012 held September 12 and 13 in New York:
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ABA Banking Journal
Bank Technologists Meet American Idol
by John Ginovsky

AdvisorOne
Stock Picking Goes Social as Stockr, aSpark Debut
by Joyce Hanson
American Banker
Apple Effect Evident at Innovator Gathering
by Mary Wisniewski
Dynamics Adds Another Option for Its High-Tech Cards
by Daniel Wolfe
Payfone Aims to Make Mobile Payments Pain-Free
by John Adams
PreCash to Debut Mobile Wallet for the Underbanked
by Daniel Wolfe
Reporter’s Notebook: Day 1 FinovateFall Favorites
by Mary Wisniewski

The Top 10 Tweets of Finovate

Andera blog
Finovate Takeaway: User Experience in Retail Transactions
by Andrea Hunter

Bank Innovation
Finovate Fall 2012: Demo Performance Scores and Reviews
by JJ Hornblass

Wade Arnold, CEO of Banno, Presents Grip
by Phillip Ryan

Bank Systems & Technology
5 Hot Bank Technologies From FinovateFall 2012
by Bryan Yurcan
Banno Releases Updated Grip Product
by Bryan Yurcan
MasterCard Forms New Rewards Program Partnership with Linkables Networks
by Jonathan Camhi
Mobile Commerce Company Payfone Debuts Checkout Solution
by Bryan Yurcan

Business Insider
Financial Planning Startup LearnVest Already Has Millionaire Clients
by Alyson Shontell

The Business Review 
To save or buy is ImpulseSave’s question

Celent
FinovateFall 2012 Recap
by Jacob Jegher

Consumer Reports 
Finovate Fall 2012: A solution to the mortgage crisis?
by Tobie Stanger
Finovate Fall 2012: Help with students’ loans and seniors’ bills
by Tobie Stanger

Finovate Fall 2012: Making, managing and keeping money
by Tobie Stanger

Finovate Fall 2012: Now maybe you’ll switch banks
by Tobie Stanger

Contactless News
Dynamics unveils Triple Interface, battery-powered payment card

Credit Sesame Blog
Check Out the Newest Way to Measure Your Credit and Loan Health!
by Erin Renzas

CreditUnions.com
Finovate Dispenses Inspiring Ideas (Part 1)
by Aaron Pugh

Finovate Dispenses Inspiring Ideas (Part 2)
by Aaron Pugh
The Currency Cloud blog
Finovate NY – Video & Photo Diary
by Nasir Zubairi 

CU Soapbox
GUEST POST: Innovation Unveiled In The Big Apple
Alix Patterson

Daily Finance
A Digital Wallet for the Unbanked: Mobile Finance Goes Downmarket
by Ross Kenneth Urken

The Digital Mailer Blog
FinovateFall 2012: A Recap

Discerning Technologist
Best of Show Locked Up? @MoneyDesktop Demo At #Finovate
by Bradley Leimer
Dough Roller blog
The Best Way to Track Your Investments Online (and it’s Free!)
by Rob Berger

Dwolla Blog

Dwolla at FinovateFall
by Caitlin
Financial Planning 
LearnVest Becomes an RIA, Plans to Hire Advisors
by Elizabeth Wine
Finextra
EToro launches social trading index
PreCash introduces mobile wallet for underbanked
Fintech Marketing blog
William Mills III, CEO William Mills Agency Live Blog from Finovate Fall NYC 2012-DAY ONE
by William Mills III
William Mills III, CEO William Mills Agency Live Blog from Finovate Fall NYC 2012-DAY TWO
by William Mills III
FintechToday
TOP TEN AT FINOVATE 2012
by Walt Cox
Forbes blog
4 Great New Tools to Manage Your Money
by Richard Eisenberg
Gonzobanker Can Make FinTech Amusing
by Tom Groenfeldt
LearnVest Reinvests In Its Mission: Financial Planning For The 99%
by Meghan Casserly
If You Want to Really Raise Capital, Try This Company and Not KickStarter
by Mark Fidelman
The Problem with Finovate
by Helaine Olen
GigaOM
Forget Mint, LearnVest’s new platform takes aim at financial planning industry
by Ki Mae Heussner
Locaid bolsters location service with IP address data
by Ryan Kim
Gonzo Banker
Vendor Dirt: 2012 Finovate Fall
by Scott Hodgins
Huffington Post Money Blog
Online Financial Planning: The Chilling Thing I Found Out About My 70th Birthday
by Catherine New
JP Nicols Blog
Finovate Fall 2012 Best of Show Winners
by JP Nicols
Keeping Nickels
My Tweets from #Finovate
by Nichelle Stephens
Moment NYC blog
Finovate Fall 2012: Less tech, more desire.
by Alexa Curtis
MyBankTracker
Dashlane: Finally Something that Might Actually Make Online Shopping Easier
Dynamics Introduces Card Capable of Swipe, EMV, Contactless Payments
Finovate Wrap-Up: What Can FinTech Do for You? Really?
by Willy Staley
Ideon Choice Unveils Platform for Customer-Created Savings Products
ImpulseSave: Another App to Help You Save
LearnVest Gets SEC Certified, Announces Mobile App, Upgrades
by Willy Staley
Linkable Networks, MasterCard Expand Card-Linked Offers
by Simon Zhen
Locaid: Enter the Digital Panopticon!
MoneyDesktop Connects PFMs Across Multiple Devices
mShift’s AnyWhereMobile Wallet Actually Adds Value
by Willy Staley
New Technologies Are Coming for Unbanked, Underbanked
by Simon Zhen
PayTap Debuts Shared Bill Payment Portal
PreCash Announces FlipMoney at Finovate: Mobile Money for the Underbanked
by Willy Staley
SwitchAgent: Bank-Switching Made Easy
by Simon Zhen
Tuition.io — It’s a Pun, Get It?
The New York Times Blog
LearnVest Dips Its Toes Into Investment Advice
by Ann Carrns
Next Avenue
4 Great New Tools to Manage Your Money
by Richard Eisenberg
NYConvergence
FINOVATE: Mobile and Social FinTech Innovations Dominate
by Lauren Keyson

PandoDaily
The Consumerization of Life’s Ickiest Chores Continues: LearnVest Injects Its Financial Planning Tools With Steroids
by Erin Griffith
PaymentEye
Payfone launches a mobile commerce checkout solution
PaymentsJournal 
MasterCard Keeps Investing in Rewards, This Time With Linkable Networks
PaymentsNews 
FinovateFall 2012 – Best of Show Winners
Payfone To Launch Mobile Commerce Checkout Solution
PayTap Launches Social Bill Pay Service
PreCash Introduces FlipMoney Mobile Wallet for Underbanked Consumers
The Paypers
Banno adds new features to Grip financial aggregation app
Payfone makes 1 Touch Checkout available, partners CardinalCommerce
PC World
New web apps tackle business finance problems
by Yardena Arar
PYMNTS
Banno Unveils New Features for Grip, Strengthens the Mobile Banking Standard with Pre-Transaction Insights
Silicon Prairie News
Banno unveils upgraded interface, new analysis tools for Grip
by Michael Stacy
Snarketing 2.0
SedUIced
by Ron Shevlin

Advice For Finovate Presenters
by Ron Shevlin
TechCrunch
Credit Sesame Adds Social Comparison Tools, Lets You See How Your Debt Compares With People Like You
by Sarah Perez
Dashlane’s Password Management Service Now Alerts Users When Their Accounts May Be Hacked
by Sarah Perez
It’s Not Just For Women Anymore: LearnVest Brings Financial – And Now Investment – Planning To Everyone
by Sarah Perez
Money Management Service Personal Capital Wants To Manage Your 401K
by Leena Rao
Telecompaper
Payfone launches m-commerce checkout service
Tier One blog
Finovate: Day One in Review
by Kathy Wilson
FinovateFall Part Two! All about Savings, Security and Slick New PFM Tools
by Sue Parente
The Next Web
eToro launches Social Trading Index for learning from other traders and sharing top techniques
by Jamillah Knowles
LearnVest launches redesigned tools, new financial plans and teases its upcoming iPhone app
by Harrison Weber
Thomson Reuters 
EPAM Systems and Thomson Reuters announced a partnership to develop and host an App Store solution
Upstart Business Journal
Financial planning, iPad app among best at Finovate
by Kent Bernhard, Jr
Get a 401(k), win an iPhone5
by Kent Bernhard, Jr 
LearnVest targets masses for professional financial advice
by Teresa Novellino 
No need to wait for crowdfunding
by Kent Bernhard, Jr
Personal Capital aims to disrupt 401(k)
by Kent Bernhard, Jr
Sci-fi meets finance at Finovate
by Kent Bernhard, Jr
VentureBeat
Financial planning for all: LearnVest gets its biggest update yet
by Devindra Hardawar

Locaid launches Internet and mobile location-tracking service
by Dean Takahashi
Be sure to check back because we’ll add more coverage as it is published throughout the week.

aSpark Launches Stock Panorama

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Next, aSpark launched Stock Panorama to give users a 360 degree view of relevant information about their personal stocks:
“Stock Panorama brings what matters to an investor’s portfolio – combination of 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 around these events 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.”
Product Launched: September 2012
HQ Location: New York, NY
Company Founded: December 2011
Metrics: $750K raised to date, 50 employees based in New York, NY and Mumbai, India
Website: aspark.com
Twitter: @aSparkInc
Finovate demo videofinovate.com/fall12vid/ (demo video will be posted next week)
Introducing Raj Patil (CEO) and Rajul Rana (CTO)
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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.