Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • SpyCloud Scores $21 Million in Round Led by Microsoft’s M12.
  • Temenos Partners with Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank.
  • Tymebank Goes Live with Core Banking Tech from Mambu.

Around the web

  • NICE Actimize partners with crypto finance company Circle to deploy its market surveillance technology.
  • Silvergate Bank to deploy Finastra’s Total Payments, leveraging the API-enabled solution to support payment processing.
  • Leading Vietnam-based consumer finance firm, FE Credit, chooses Vymo’s AI-powered personal sales assistant.
  • Bambu and CredoLab earn spots on Fintech News Singapore’s 29 Hottest Fintechs in Singapore 2019 roster.
  • GreatHorn announces capability to detect credential theft involving Microsoft Office 365 and Google G Suite.
  • Identitii joins the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BAIN).

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.

FinovateAfrica Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateAfrica Best of Show Winners Announced

The votes have been cast and tallied – and the winners of FinovateAfrica’s Best of Show awards have been named. Congratulations to Bambu and OUTvest!

Finovate’s first foray into the African fintech scene has been a huge success. The companies that demonstrated their technologies live on stage this week showed us innovations in everything from automated regtech and small business lending, to customer engagement and AI-enabled credit assessment.

Yet the two companies whose live demos made the greatest impressions on our FinovateAfrica audience were firms focused on one of fintech’s earliest – and most persistent – disruptions: the rise of the robo-advisor. For these companies, wealthtech is still fertile ground for fintech innovation. And improving the way individual investors and their advisors build and manage personalized, investment portfolios is as important today as it has ever been.

Bambu for its goal-based, white label robo-advisor offering that gives investors a natural and effortless experience in finding the right investment strategy for their client’s needs.

 

 

OUTvest for its hybrid robo-advisor that uses an evidence-based approach to help everyone build and mange their own investment strategy.

 


Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The two companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2018 conferences are below:
FinovateEurope 2015
FinovateSpring 2015
FinovateFall 2015
FinovateEurope 2016
FinovateSpring 2016
FinovateFall 2016
FinovateAsia 2016
FinovateEurope 2017
FinovateSpring 2017
FinovateFall 2017
FinovateAsia 2017
FinovateMiddleEast 2018
FinovateEurope 2018
FinovateSpring 2018
FinovateFall 2018
FinovateAsia 2018

FinovateAfrica Sneak Peek: Bambu

FinovateAfrica Sneak Peek: Bambu

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAfrica on November 27 and 28, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Register today and save your spot.

Bambu is a leading robo-advisor technology provider, transforming digital wealth globally. The company enables businesses by making saving and investing more straightforward and intelligent for their clients.

Features

  • Customizable, goal-based robo advisor platform
  • Natural and effortless experience
  • Combination of personalization advice, investment strategies and the latest technology

Why it’s great
A smarter way to invest and save for the future.

Presenters

Ned Phillips, CEO and Founder
Former MD and now an entrepreneur, Phillips is the founder and chief executive officer of Bambu. Based in Asia for the past 25 years, he started his journey in fintech in 1999 with E*TRADE.
LinkedIn

 

Nick Wood, Senior Representative, Middle East and Africa
With over 20 years of work experience in the international financial services environment, Wood is a successful business builder with extensive South African and global contacts and track records.
LinkedIn

 

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Thought Machine Announces Strategic Partnership with Lloyds Banking Group.

Around the web

  • OutSystems announces its partner of the year awards.
  • A €5.5 billion independent French bank will deploy Ambit Focus, a regulatory reporting as a service solution from FIS.
  • eToro invests $1 million into cryptocurrency experiment, GoodDollar, designed to reduce wealth inequality.
  • Dell Small Business’ BetaKit interviews Finn.AI co-founder and COO, Natalie Cartwright.
  • Signicat launches new B2B document signing solution, Signicat Business Signature.
  • Backbase names Capgemini its Global Solution Partner of the Year.

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

On Finovate.com

  • CardFlight Launches SwipeSimple Customers to Support Card Data Management.
  • Roostify Teams Up with Ellie Mae to Boost Efficiency in Mortgage Lending.

Around the web

  • Experian and Close Brothers Retail Finance pilot Mobile for Credit service for U.K. gamers.
  • New Penn Financial goes live with Portfolio Underwriter from Loan Scorecard.
  • PasswordPing earns finalist spot in 2018 “Innovation Quotient” IQ Awards.
  • Ukraine’s Akhmetov Bank leverages Corezoid’s cloud-based operating system.
  • ebankIT and Enterprise Engineering forge strategic partnership for the North American market.
  • Bambu, Eltropy, Moxtra, and Onfido are among the startups selected for Plug and Play Singapore’s inaugural fintech and insurtech program.
  • TECHdotMN profiles Sezzle founder and CEO, Charlie Youakim.
  • Forbes Middle East highlights Ayasdi and ThetaRay in look at how AI is helping solve financial crime.

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

On Finovate.com

  • DefenseStorm Forges Strategic Partnership with Alogent.
  • FinovateFall 2018: Be There … In Times Square.

Around the web

  • Ripple reaches milestone as its RippleNet network is now live in more than 40 countries across six continents.
  • Bambu, Exate Technology, and Market IQ are among the seven startups selected for Plug and Play ADGM’s three-month accelerator program.
  • AlphaPoint appoints Moishe Gubin to its board of directors.
  • CallVU to provide an international credit company with biometric authentication via its digital engagement platform.
  • Enveil and Payfone earn spots on the 2018 SINET 16 Innovators roster.
  • Fifth Domain features Hacker One in a look at how white hat hackers could help improve voting machine security.

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.

DriveWealth and Bambu Join Forces on Roboadvisory Tool

DriveWealth and Bambu Join Forces on Roboadvisory Tool

Two wealthtech companies from opposite sides of the globe have built upon their partnership this week. New Jersey-based DriveWealth and Singapore-based Bambu have collaborated on the launch of a white-label, roboadvisory platform for U.S. wealth managers.

While the two have worked together for the past three years on products for overseas markets, this is their first joint offering in the U.S. Robert Cortright, DriveWealth CEO, described the new platform as “a streamlined product for wealth managers seeking to offer a unique, easy-to-use investing platform directly to their retail customers.”

The solution is the result of an integration between DriveWealth’s suite of wealth management APIs, which facilitate everything from customer onboarding to U.S. stock market ordering and reporting; and Bambu’s roboadvisory software, which automates financial planning, saving, and investing for end consumers. More simply, the new offering pairs DriveWealth’s fractional share technology with Bambu’s front-end user interface.

The new platform has three major components:

  • An advisor dashboard that provides an overview of client activities and alerts, and tracks invested capital and cash balances.
  • A CIO dashboard with portfolio-building capabilities that assist in simulating, creating, and rebalancing portfolios.
  • A client application that allows them to adjust investment goals, access investments, and perform investment analyses.

Ned Phillips, CEO of Bambu said, “We are confident that this end-to-end service for financial institutions in the U.S. will be a game changer in simplifying investing.”

Founded in 2012, DriveWealth’s clients include MoneyLion, a lending and wealth management app, and INVSTR, a U.K.-based stock trading application. At FinovateAsia 2016, the company released a new API to enable partners to offer a roboadvisory product suite and a self-directed equity investing platform. Earlier this year, DriveWealth closed a $21 million investment, bringing its total funding to $30 million.

At FinovateAsia 2017, Bambu won Best of Show for its demo of People Like Me, a tool that leverages machine learning to help users define their financial goals. Last month, the company raised $3 million in funding and earlier this year it expanded into London.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Feedzai Brings Automated Machine Learning to the Fraud Fight.
  • DriveWealth and Bambu Join Forces on Roboadvisory Tool.

Around the web

  • Your Legacy Federal Credit Union to deploy core account processing technology from Fiserv.
  • CYBG (Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank) partners with The ID Co. to integrate DirectID into CYBG’s B mobile banking app.
  • Coinbase unveils crypto plugin to make it easier for e-commerce merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments.
  • Bloomberg: Quantopian makes $50 million allocation to one of its quants.
  • OurCrowd named Most Active Venture Investor in Israel by PitchBook.
  • Jack Henry & Associates and Mastercard deliver Priceless Surprises campaign to 1.8 million cardholders.

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.

Best of Show Winner Bambu Raises $3 Million in Series A

Best of Show Winner Bambu Raises $3 Million in Series A

In a round led by Franklin Templeton Investments, B2B robo advisor Bambu has raised $3 million in Series A funding. The capital will be used to fuel the Singapore-based fintech’s global expansion.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support of all our existing and new investors and customers in helping us to build a leading global Robo-advisory technology company,” Bambu CEO and founder Ned Phillips said. He noted that the company already had topped growth targets for the year, and pointed to seven new clients in Asia and the U.S. that were slated to go live soon.

“This proves our B2B business model is working, as there is real global scalability without large capital requirements,” Phillips said. “Our next ambitious goal is to get a million end users on the platform by 2019.”

Also participating in the round were Singapore family office Octava and Japanese fintech investor Mamoru Taniya. Speaking on behalf of Franklin Templeton Investments, which made its first investment in the company last year, Managing Director and Head of Retail Harshendu Bindal praised Bambu’s ability to “drive constant innovation in the digital wealth management space” and called the company “a great long-term partner for us.”

The funding takes Bambu’s total capital to more than $4 million.

Bambu won Best of Show at FinovateAsia 2017 for its demonstration of People Like Me, a machine learning model that goes beyond traditional roboadvisory to make it easier for users to identify and reach their financial goals. The previous year, the company made its Finovate debut with a demo of its Robo and Intelligent Digital Advisory platform. The platform reimagines robo advisory by providing specific solutions for different market segments: a mobile private banker for the rich, a traditional robo advisory portfolio tool for the mass affluent, and a “robo saver” for retail customers.

This spring, Bambu opened offices in London and announced a number of new additions to its team – including a new Managing Director in Europe, Nick Wakefield. The company also made a trio of new hires who will fulfill roles in AI, design, and front-end development.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Best of Show Winner Bambu Raises $3 Million in Series A.
  • Bill.com Launches International Business Payments.

Around the web

  • Onfido to provide identity verification for HBUS, the strategic partner of cryptocurrency exchange Huobi.
  • Jack Henry migrates 66 FIs to its JHA Card Processing Solutions.
  • Avaloq to help U.K.-based financial services firm Smith & Williamson deliver investment management services to clients.
  • PYMNTS.com looks at Emailage and its expansion into the Canadian market.
  • Jumio and Backbase partner to improve customer onboarding with online identity verification technology.

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.

Bambu Goes Global, Launches London Office, Adds Technical Talent

Bambu Goes Global, Launches London Office, Adds Technical Talent

The news that robo advisor Bambu has opened a new office in London and won its first American client is a reminder that, in fintech, when the going is good, the good go global.

“We would like to announce a new client project based in America that we landed recently,” the Finovate Best of Show winning company reported in its blog Thursday morning. “We are looking forward to working with them on building a robo solution for their region and will update you all with more details as we get closer to launching it.”

Bambu also announced that the company will open its new London office in April at Level39, Europe’s largest fintech accelerator space. The company said that the new offices are part of the “Bambu’s long-term growth strategy to offer our services and expertise on a global scale.”

Recently recognized as one of Singapore’s hottest startups, Bambu is a B2B robo advisor that helps businesses make wealth management services a part of their digital transformation. Bambu’s robo advisory provides users with automated, technology-augmented and algorithm-based portfolio management. The company offers Intelligent Advisor, a solution for private banks and wealth managers; a white-label robo advisory service geared toward banks, asset managers, and insurance companies; and the Bambu API developer hub, an API library of independent modules that provides developers with the tools necessary to add functionality to the robo advisor platform.

This week the company also took the time to welcome a quartet of new members to the team. In addition to a new Managing Director in Europe, Nick Wakefield, Bambu will enhance its AI, design, and front-end development efforts with the appointments of Chen Jie Yang, Hui Min Lee, and Tino Sambora, respectively.

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Singapore, Bambu demonstrated its People Like Me machine learning model that helps users identify the financial goals and build a strategy to meet them at FinovateAsia 2017. The presentation by co-founders Ned Phillips (CEO) and Aki Ranin (COO) earned the company a Best of Show award from our audience. Bambu has raised more than $1 million in funding and includes Franklin Templeton Investments and Wavemaker Partners (part of the Draper Venture Network) among its investors.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Bambu Goes Global, Launches London Office, Adds Technical Talent.
  • 3dcart Picks Payoneer for New Cross-Border Payments Partnership.

Around the web

  • Thomson Reuters enhances the investment portfolio risk management functionality of its Eikon solution by integrating MSCI’s RiskMetrics technology.
  • Avaloq announces status as founding partner of FinTech Scotland.
  • IdentityMind Global collaborates with digital shopping platform, Fluz Fluz, to boost KYC and AML compliance.
  • CNH Industrial Capital America (CNH) chooses FIS’ asset finance solution to manage its commercial contract and lease portfolio.
  • SuperMoney surpasses $500 million in loan requests processed since launch in April 2017.

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.