Eight Alums Earn Spots on CNBC’s Disruptor 50

Eight Alums Earn Spots on CNBC’s Disruptor 50
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Hats off to eight Finovate alumni for winning spots on CNBC’s Disruptor 50.

2014 marks the second year of CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list. The selection credits companies for being “forward-thinking” and working to discover untapped markets en route to becoming “billion-dollar businesses.” Read more about CNBC’s selection methodology here.
CNBC’s David Spiegel wrote: 
“All of these companies entered traditional sectors and turned them upside down … It’s the power of a company to displace the established incumbents in its own industry, prompting a ripple effect throughout its economic ecosystem.”

See CNBCs inaugural Disruptor 50 here. The 2013 list included alums boku, CircleUp, Lending Club, and Wealthfront.

Finovate Alumni News– April 11, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgFinovateSpring 2014 Sneak Peek: Part 6 is now up.
  • Jumio partners with IdentityMind to provide anti-money-laundering Bitcoin compliance for exchanges.
  • FIS launches GenNOW to make it easier for mobile and prepaid card users to access their funds from FIs.
  • Aon Hewitt and HelloWallet partner to help employers bring financial wellness to their workforce.
  • PayPal partners with Samsung to enable users to pay with their fingerprint, launches app for smartwatches.
  • Blackhawk Network recognized for Best Prepaid Innovation at Innovation Project 2014 conference awards.
  • CU Times looks at Citizens Business Bank’s success with Guardian Analytics’ fraud prevention tools.
  • App Developer Magazine looks at Lighter Capital’s RevenueLoan.
  • Birdback and Affiliate Window bring the ease of online offers to offline retailers based in Europe.
  • Betterment’s mobile app makes mobile PIN login available for users.
  • Bill.com wins Monarch Innovation Award in Innovative Industry Partner category.
  • BizJournals profiles Kabbage co-founder and COO, Kathryn Petralia.
  • American Express Open Forum takes a look at ZenPayroll. See them demo at FinovateSpring in San Jose.
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.

Eleven Finovate Alums Win Awards at PYMNTS Innovation Project 2014

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The votes are in. The judges have decided. And 11 Finovate alums have earned awards at the 2014 PYMNTS.com Innovation Project, including three gold medals.

Finovate alums won awards in a diverse range of categories, from “B2B Innovation” to “Best Comeback Story.” Areas where alums dominated included “Best Credit Innovation,” where Credit Karma, Lending Club, and Klarna swept the field, as well as “Best Innovation via ACH” and “Best Check Innovation.”

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The Innovation Project is “powered by PYMNTS.com,” a joint venture between BusinessWire and Market Platform Dynamics. The event is in its second year, and was again held at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
A total of 49 awards were presented. Gold, silver, and bronze in fifteen categories, plus singular Catalyst, Women Driving Innovation in Payments, Lifetime Achievement, and Best in Show awards. 

Also announced were three inductees to the Payments Hall of Fame.
See how the rest of the Finovate family fared below.




Catalyst Award 
  • International e-commerce payments and money transfers
  • Finovate demo video: Europe 2012
Gold
  • Best B2B Innovation
  • Cash flow management solution for business integrating electronic payments, accounting, digital documents, and more
  • Finovate demo video: Spring 2012
  • Best Credit Innovation
  • Aggregates consumer financial data from bank accounts and credit scores to mortgage loans in one location
  • Finovate demo video: Startup 2009
  • Best Check Innovation
  • Enables check payments without having to write paper checks
  • Finovate demo video: Spring 2012
Silver
  • Best Credit Innovation
  • Online, peer-to-peer lender
  • Finovate demo video: Startup 2009
  • Best Cash Innovation
  • Cash transaction network 
  • Finovate demo video: Spring 2013
  • Best New Technology
  • Open-source, distributed payment protocol
  • Finovate demo video: Spring 2013
  • Best Innovation via ACH
  • Best Check Innovation
  • Send money to a Venmo account, bank account or supported debit card for free
  • Finovate demo video (with Braintree): Spring 2013
Bronze
  • Most Innovative Company
  • E-commerce solution mitigates credit and fraud risk for online merchants 
  • Finovate demo video: Spring 2012
  • Most Disruptive Innovation
  • Best Comeback Story
  • Peer-to-peer lending
  • Finovate demo video: Finovate 2007
  • Best Credit Innovation
  • Best Innovation via ACH
  • Solution leverages mobile device camera to enable check deposit, account opening, and bill pay.
  • Finovate demo video: Fall 2013

Finovate Alumni News — January 10, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgKBC Bank Ireland embraces Temenos T24 core banking.
  • Accounting Technology takes a look at Bill.com and its integration with Tax1099.com.
  • Google Play Editor’s Choice features the Manilla Android app.
  • BellaDati adds four new features.
  • Trustly providing direct account payment solution for Groupon users.
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– January 3, 2014

  • FinovateLOGO.jpgFinovate alumni raise $825 million in 2013, up 79%.
  • PayPal extends lending opportunities to 90,000 of its U.S. merchants.
  • Mint launches weekly $500 lottery award to users for updating or building a new budget using the app.
  • P2Binvestor co-founder and COO Krista Morgan talks small business lending with author Matthew Lesko.
  • Bill.com teams up with TechAtlantis to offer automated 1099-MISC e-filing via Tax1099.com.
  • San Francisco Business Times features Prosper.
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 Raise $825 Million in 2013, Up 79%

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Cheers to a new year! After ringing in 2014, we wanted take a look back at the capital raised by Finovate alumni in 2013. It was quite a year, with alums pulling in $825 million, $365 million more than in 2012 for an increase of about 80%.
2013 funding summary:
    • 62 companies raised $825 million
    • Q4 had the most capital, with a total of $294 million raised by 17 companies (more than half by Xero, which landed $150 million). 
    • October was the busiest month, with $177 million raised (mostly Xero’s $150 million)
    • May was second highest with $91 million raised by 7 companies
2012 comparison
Last year Finovate alums took in almost twice as much as 2012, when 44 Finovate alums collectively raised $460 million. The chart below shows the quarter-by-quarter comparison for both years.
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Quarter 1 — blog post
More than $155 million raised by 14 companies
January — $57 million raised by 6 companies
February — $56 million raised by 5 companies

March — $42 million raised by 4 companies


Quarter 2 — blog post
More than $205 million raised by 15 companies
June — $81.7 million raised by 6 companies
May — $91.5 million raised by 7 companies
April — $32 million raised by 2 companies

Quarter 3 — blog post
More than $171 million raised by 22 companies

July — More than $63 million raised by 8 companies
August — More than $26 million raised by 6 companies
September — $82 million raised by 9 companies
Quarter 4
More than $294 million raised by 17 companies

October— $177 raised by 6 companies
November — More than $87 million raised by 7 companies
December — More than $30 million raised by 6 companies

Note: Funding that companies received before they first appeared at Finovate was not counted. Questions? Comments? Email us at julie@finovate.com or david@finovate.com.

Bill.com Rakes in $38 Million in Series E Funding from Long List of Investors

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Bill.com, the company that brings online invoice, cashflow management, and bill pay solutions to its 275,000 users announced today that it raised $38 million in Series E funding.

Among the many investors in this round are:

    • American Express
    • August Capital
    • Bank of America
    • Fifth Third Capital
    • Peter Knight, founder of CheckFree (acquired by Fiserv in 2009)
    • Scale Venture Partners

This funding, combined with Bill.com’s previous rounds, brings the Palo Alto-based company’s total funding to over $70 million.

Bill.com, which manges more than 10 million bills per year worth more than $12 billion, will use the new installment to enhance its growing banking channel and accelerate its payments network.

Bill.com demonstrated its CashView product at FinovateSpring 2012.

Finovate Alumni News– November 7, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAmerican Banker reports: Bill.com Updates Banking Platform.
  • FIS, Fiserv, BancVue, & IND Group included in 2013 FinTech 100 rankings.
  • U.S. News and World Report wonders if FlexScore will replace credit scores.
  • Leaf earns a spot on BostInno’s “50 on Fire Finalists for Tech”.
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.

App Store, Configurable Notifications Featured in Next Generation of Bill.com’s Banking Platform

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Bill.com announced today its new, “next-generation” banking platform that works to return banks to their role as “the focal point of all their customer’s transactions.”

The new platform is geared toward solving two specific problems for banks and their clients: monetizing cash management and helping small and medium-sized business integrate and automate their financial processes.

Among the key new features of the platform is the App Center. This resource makes it easier for businesses to tap into and integrate a variety of third party applications. These apps include everything from document digitization and expense reporting solutions to major accounting systems like Sage, Xero, and QuickBooks. The ability to connect multiple third party apps and integrate them via the App Center enables banks to offer a number of cash flow management solutions to their business clients.

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Improving communication via configurable notifications is another goal of the new platform. Being able to set-up and control the kind of information and approvals that are issued on an account-to-account basis means better, more personalized and efficient service for businesses. And for banks? Said Bill.com founder and CEO René Lacerte, “The more banks can offer their customers to make their lives easier, the more loyal and happy their customers will be.”
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Bill.com has been a Finovate alum since 2010, and last demoed as part of the FinovateSpring 2011 show. 

Bill.com’s Two-Factor Authentication Brings Security to SMBs

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Bill.com announced today that it has brought two-factor authentication to customers using its Bill.com Banking Platform. The company is an innovator in the field of integrating bill pay, custom invoicing, and cash flow management for small and medium-sized businesses.

Available for banks and built into the platform for small businesses, the technology is compatible with existing authentication methods, and can be readily integrated. Said CEO Rene Lacerte, “banks can offer small businesses one more reason to trust all of their business needs to one bank.”

Bill.com stresses the unobtrusive nature of their authentication solution. The technology uses a risk-based model to monitor all activity and determine when a request for further authentication from the user should be made. This, according to Bill.com, helps prevent workflow interruptions that can take place when authentication processes are triggered whenever any change is made.

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Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Bill.com won Gold at the 2013 PYMNTS.com Innovator Awards in the “Best Innovation via ACH” category. The company recently announced that it had converted more than 40% of its customers from checks to electronic ACH transactions.
Bill.com presented its technology as part of the FinovateSpring 2011 show in San Francisco. See the company’s demo here.

Finovate Alumni News– June 20, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgTitan Bank and Congressional Bank now buying loans through the Lending Club platform.
  • Nexonia integrates its expense reports solution with Bill.com.
  • Mexican Airline Volaris adds SafetyPay to payment method options.
  • Prosper reduces maximum loan percentage to 50% for investors in any one loan.
  • Geezeo signs Corporate America Family Credit Union.
  • Andera’s oFlows platform will be the new account opening technology for Intuit’s financial institution clients.
  • Check (formerly Pageonce) announces expedited payments.
  • Consumer Reports takes a look at the growth of Better ATM Services.
  • Wallaby releases version 2.0 for iPhone with new interface, Foursquare integration.
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– April 26, 2013

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgSeventy2Minutes reviews TransferWise as a PayPal alternative.
  • Wallaby Financial to participate in Frequent Travel University educational event. See them demo at FinovateSpring.
  • Credit Agricole’s social media bank celebrates its second year.
  • Social investment network eToro reaches 50 million trades.
  • Access Softek and Geezeo partner to integrate Access Softek’s mobile banking with Geezeo’s PFM.
  • Guardian Analytics unveils FraudMAP Wire product to prevent wire tap.
  • San Francisco Business Times names Taulia one of the 2013 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area.
  • VentureBeat reports Bill.com has converted more than 40% of its customers from checks to electronic ACH transactions.
  • American Banker reports: Actiance Updates Social Media Management Software.
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.