Bling Nation Archives

PayPal Taps into Bitcoin by Adding Wences Casares to Board

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 13, 2016
Categories: Bling Nation, PayPal

PayPal today announced it has selected Wences Casares, founder and CEO of bitcoin wallet Xapo, to its board of directors.

Casares will serve on PayPal’s Compensation Committee and is the ninth member of PayPal’s board.

Before founding Xapo, which released a bitcoin debit card last fall, Casares was head of Lemon mobile wallet (sold to LifeLock in 2013). He also founded Finovate alum Bling Nation, a mobile payment and merchant-rewards solution for the pre-smartphone era (if you’d like to see some retro fintech, check out Bling Nation’s FinovateFall 2010 demo). Though the startup gained traction with PayPal and a number of banks, Bling Nation closed its doors in 2011 after failing to land merchant partnerships.

PayPal debuted its Instant Account Creation at FinovateEurope 2012. PayPal’s Braintree presented at FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 and will show off what’s new for developers at FinDEVr New York 2016 in March.

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Alumni News — Week of July 11, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 18, 2011
Categories: Aptys Solutions, Balance, Bill Guard, BillFloat, Bling Nation, Boku, BrightScope, Cardlytics, ChargeSmart, ClairMail, Continuity Control, Cortal Consors, Cortera, Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, Currensee, Dwolla, Dynamics, Expensify, Guardian Analytics, ID Analytics, iPay Technologies, Lending Club, Lodo Software, mFoundry, Mitek, Monitise, Prosper, Q2ebanking, Receivables Exchange, SecondMarket, Standard Chartered Bank, TILE Financial, TradeKing, Tyfone, Wikinvest, Wonga, Yodlee, Zopa

Last week, AlwaysOn released its 2011 AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies List that represents the top emerging companies Worldwide. Twelve Finovate Alumni were selected:

BillFloat
Bling Nation
Boku
Cardlytics
ClairMail
Expensify
IDAnalytics
Lending Club
SecondMarket
Wikinvest
Wonga
Yodlee

_________________________________________________________________________

In other Alumni News:

Aptys Solutions

Aptys Solutions announced that the ACH functionality in its PayLogics payment platform provides same-day settlement. Link

Balance Financial

Balance Financial launched Balance Certified Pro, a new software that is geared toward professionals. Link
Balance Financial released an iPhone App. Link

BillGuard

TechCrunch reported that BillGuard’s “Anti-virus for Bills” is now completely free for users. Link

BrightScope

CNNMoney’s article, Simplify Your Retirement Savings, pointed to BrightScope to provide a clear understanding of retirement savings. Link

ChargeSmart

ChargeSmart announced that its Bill Payments customers can now pay many of their utility bills with an American Express card. Link

Continuity Control

Continuity Control raised $1.1 million in financing from convertible promissory notes and warrants. Link

Cortera

The Miami Herald reported that Cortera’s Risk Data and Reporting is now an SAP-endorsed business solution. Link

Cortal Consors

Institutional Investor ranked Oliver Le Grand, CEO of Cortal Consors, number 13 of 50 in its Tech 50 ranking of financial tech leaders and innovators. Link

Credit Karma

Credit Karma’s new feature, Credit Alerts is available for free to the first 200 people to click the link. Link

Credit Sesame

The Hands On Home Buyer blog recommended Credit Sesame for its interactive property taxes tool. Link

Currensee

The Business Insider reported that Currensee plans to launch its Trade Leaders program in China. Link

Dwolla

The E-News publication, Business Record, commented on Dwolla’s positive impact on Iowa’s startup culture. Link
Financial Plus Credit Union adopted Dwolla’s FiSync integration. Link

Dynamics

Dynamics revealed its angel investors in Series A and Series B funding rounds. Link

Guardian Analytics

American Banker reported that Guardian Analytics is planning to launch an outsourced fraud prevention service that will help financial institutions meet new FFIEC guidelines. Link
Guardian Analytics introduced its FraudDESK service to provide fraud analytics support to financial institutions. Link
Guardian Analytics is hosting a free webinar on Tuesday that will explore FFIEC guidance. Link

iPay Technologies

iPay Technologies helped Generations Community Federal Credit Union increase bill pay adoption and its number of transactions. Link

Lending Club

San Francisco ABC News Channel 7 explained the benefits of P2P loans from Lending Club. Link
Finextra news blog discussed Lending Club’s success. Link
American Banker reported that, in June, Lending Club saw an increase of 7% in loans originated that totaled a record $20 million. Link

Lodo Software

The Silicon Prairie News reported that Lodo Software is seeking to raise $5 million in a round of Series D funding. Link

mFoundry

Columbia Credit Union announced that it deployed mFoundry’s mBanking, a mobile banking platform. Link

Mitek

MSN Money reported that Mitek Systems began a NASDAQ market listing on July 14th, and is trading under the symbol MITK. Link

Monitise

CNBC reported that Monitise’s ReliaCard will be offered to U.S. Bank’s Visa cardholders in some states. Link
Monitise, US Bank, and FIS announced that they are planning to offer a mobile app for Visa’s ReliaCard users. Link

Prosper

San Francisco’s ABC News Channel 7 explained the benefits of P2P loans from Prosper. Link
Finextra news blog discussed Prosper’s success with its P2P lending service. Link

Q2ebanking

Q2ebanking’s director of security solutions, Ward Howell, published an article detailing a Credit Union’s perspective of the FFIEC guidelines in The Credit Union Ti
mes. Link

Receivables Exchange

Institutional Investor ranked Justin Brownhill and Nicolas Perkin, Co-Founders of The Receivables Exchange, as number 42 of 50 in its Tech 50 ranking of financial tech leaders and innovators. Link

Standard Chartered

Institutional Investor ranked Jan Verplancke, CIO of Standard Chartered, as number 37 of 50 in its Tech 50 ranking of financial tech leaders and innovators. Link

TILE Financial

Daily Finance interviewed Amy Butte, CEO of TILE Financial. Link

TradeKing

TradeKing announced the public availability of its API. Link

Tyfone

CoVantage Credit Union chose to implement Tyfone’s mobile wallet solution. Link

Zopa

Zopa founder Giles Andrews was interviewed on BBC’s The Bottom Line. Link
Finextra news blog discussed Zopa’s success as a P2P lending service. Link

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Alumni News — Week of March 28, 2011

By finovate Posted on April 4, 2011
Categories: Betterment, Bill.com, Bling Nation, Bobber Interactive, Capital Access Network, eRollover, mFoundry, Mint.com, Silver Tail Systems, Sybase 365, Xero

To follow Finovate alumni news in real time, follow us on Twitter here.

Bill.com and Doxo recognized as “AlwaysOn OnDemand 100 Top Private Company.” http://bit.ly/finovate329114 http://bit.ly/finovate329115

Bling Nation launches Social Connect platform. The platform allows Bling users to connect online with social rewards features from their favorite merchants. http://bit.ly/finovate328113

Bobber Interactive garners $1.1 million Series A funding round. This funding round was led by PEAK6 Investments. http://bit.ly/finovate41113

Capital Access expands remittance program to include Puerto Rico and 21 more countries. The Capital Access platform is designed for “daily” remittances and revenue-sharing programs. http://bit.ly/finovate329111

COCC selects mFoundry as mobile banking partners. The company has selected mFoundry’s mobile INSIGHT product for multi-mode mobile banking services. http://bit.ly/finovate328114

Mint.com launches “Quest for Money” online game. The game is intended for middle school students and is available to play online. http://bit.ly/finovate411111

Morningstar to provide mutual fund Platform to eRollover. eRollover users will have access to Morningstar’s historical information and comparison tools for mutual funds. http://bit.ly/finovate329113

See Betterment.com on NBC New York. http://bit.ly/finovate328111

Silver Tail Systems wins Emergent Technology Award. The award, given by the Merchant Risk Council, is rewarding the company’s innovative security systems. http://mwne.ws/finovate328112

Sybase argues NFC is “way overhyped.” In VentureBeat Sybase President Marty Beard argues that it isn’t proven that NFC really is better than the other technologies available. http://bit.ly/finovate41112

Xero launches integrated payroll solution. http://bit.ly/finovate329112

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Alumni News — Weeks of January 24, 31, and February 7, 2011

By finovate Posted on February 15, 2011
Categories: Betterment, Bling Nation, Cardlytics, CashEdge, DebtGoal, eRollover, Fiserv, Guardian Analytics, Lending Club, mFoundry, Mint.com, Mozo, On Deck Capital, Plastyc, PopMoney, Silver Tail Systems, SmartyPig, The Receivables Exchange

To see Finovate alumni company news in real-time, follow our feed on Twitter here.

Betterment and Mint.com partner for “set it and forget it” investment accounts. The accounts have no minimum balance. http://bit.ly/finovate210111

Bling Nation rolls out the “fan connect” platform in Chicago. The Chicago rollout is part of a broader national rollout to come. http://bit.ly/finovate210112

Cardlytics and NetSpend partner to bring reward offers to the underbanked. The partnership will create opportunities for targeted offers to reach users of prepaid debit cards. http://bit.ly/finovate28112

Cardlytics wins Red Herring Global 100 winner. — Cardlytics is a pioneer in in-statement merchant-funded rewards. http://bit.ly/finovate27114

CashEdge and NYCE join forces to provide person to person payment technology. Popmoney will now be available to 3,000 NYCE financial institution clients. http://bit.ly/finovate211112

ClairMail announced that revenue tripled in 2010. The company attributes the growth to the launch of their mobile connectivity architecture in early 2010. http://mwne.ws/finovate28115

DebtGoal launches OWEing.com. The new site acts as the flagship domain and provides a tools and content supporting debt reduction. http://bit.ly/finovate131112

eRollover launches Advisor Center. Ask retirement questions online in the new Advisor Center. http://bit.ly/finovate124112

Fiserv and WorkLight partner to make mobile application deployment and development faster. http://bit.ly/finovate125111

Frost and Sullivan names mFoundry “Entrepreneurial Company of the Year” in the mobile banking category. http://bit.ly/finovate121114

Guardian Analytics announces 150% growth. The company attributes the rapid growth to the success of its FraudMap technology. http://bit.ly/finovate210113

Jack Henry’s ProfitStars.com launches new services to help small businesses accept online payments. http://bit.ly/finovate211111

Lending Club increased the maximum loan amount from $25,000 to $35,000. http://bit.ly/finovate27113

mFoundry launches standalone mobile deposit solution that can be implemented at a financial institution within 30 days. http://bit.ly/finovate28114

Intuit’s Mint and TurboTax team up to make taxes easier. http://bit.ly/finovate121111

Mozo launches Money Q & A portal where users can ask questions or answer questions posed by others. http://bit.ly/finovate211113

On Deck Capital secures $15 million Series-C funding. The funding round was led by SAP Ventures. http://bit.ly/finovate131111

Plastyc closes $2 million strategic investment from Core Innovation Capital. Core Innovation Capital is the investment partner for the Center for Financial Services Innovation. http://bit.ly/finovate28111 http://www.silvertailsystems.com/

Silver Tail Systems announces the addition of a user-specific monitoring system. http://bit.ly/finovate124111

SmartyPig.com adds sixty new online retailer cash-back partners, and six more gift card partners. Expedia, Hotels.com, Cabela’s and Babies R Us are included in this latest offering. http://bit.ly/finovate131113

SmartyPig’s cash rewards card wins Paybefore award twice. http://bit.ly/finovate12112

The Receivables Exchange partners with Biz2Credit, an online loan-matching portal. http://bit.ly/finovate125113

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Weekly Updates — Week of November 8, 2010

By finovate Posted on November 15, 2010
Categories: Bling Nation, Dynamics, eRollover, Jemstep, Jwaala, Rudder.com, Silver Tail Systems

Here’s the news from the Week of November 8, 2010. To see our updates real-time, follow us on Twitter.

Bling Nation partners with the southern USA’s largest grocery chain, Brookshire Grocery. — Bling Nation users can now pay, redeem and earn rewards with their mobile device at Brookshire and Super 1 stores. http://bit.ly/finovate11121

Donate to charity with SwipeGood and Blippy. — Purchases are rounded up to the nearest dollar and the difference is donated to the charity of your choice. http://bit.ly/finovate1185

Card 2.0 from Dynamics wins “Best in Show.” — The high-tech credit card was named the best innovation in personal electronics in a pre-show contest sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). http://bit.ly/finovate11101

See how eRollover makes rolling over a 401k simple . http://bit.ly/finovate1192

Jemstep announces the Jem 5. — Each week Jemstep will list its top 5 mutual funds. http://bit.ly/finovate1182

Michican First Credit Union adds Jwaala online banking services. — Michigan First has 80,000 members and $550 million in assets and was founded in 1926. http://bit.ly/finovate1193

Jwaala partners with iPay to provide bill-pay solutions. http://bit.ly/finovate1102

Rudder.com shut down its online PFM service on Nov 3. http://bit.ly/finovate1183. — A conversion guide is available to those who wish to move to MoneyStrands. http://bit.ly/finovate1184

See Silver Tail’s “federation service” in action. http://bit.ly/finovate1181

Silver Tail Systems won a contract to provide behavior analytics to US Government websites. http://bit.ly/finovate1191

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Weekly Updates — Weeks of Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, 2010

By finovate Posted on November 9, 2010
Categories: Bill.com, Bling Nation, Blippy, CashEdge, Continuity Control, Credit Karma, Dynamics, Expensify, Finsphere, Ixaris, Kabbage, Lending Club, Mint.com, Outright.com, SafetyPay, The Receivables Exchange

From PayPal X Conference: Bill.com uses PayPal business payments to transform how businesses get paid. http://bit.ly/finovate10273 and gets a makeover. http://bit.ly/finovate10255

From PayPal X Conference: Bling Nation launches “FanConnect” platform. FanConnect helps consumers and businesses to connect at checkout via social media platforms like Facebook. http://bit.ly/finovate10272

Blippy and Sephora work together to spread the word about cosmetic products via Twitter. See TechCrunch’s story. http://tcrn.ch/finovate10271

Continuity Control and uMonitor partner for compliance automation. http://bit.ly/finovate11334

TechCrunch recognizes Credit Karma. http://tcrn.ch/finovate10262

Dynamics Inc. is profiled in “the future of credit cards” in the New York Times. http://j.mp/finovate102510

From PayPal X Conference: Expensify announces support for expense reimbursement via PayPal. See a demonstration: http://bit.ly/finovate1142.

How Finsphere is helping to prevent identity theft with geo-location and mobile check-ins. http://rww.to/finovate10281

Ixaris partners with Apigee to create payment application development API platform. — The new platform will be named Ixaris Opn (pronounced “open”). http://bit.ly/finovate1121

From PayPal X Conference: More on Kabbage’s service to provide working capital for eBay Sellers. http://bit.ly/finovate10276

Lending Club welcomes North Carolina and Kansas. Peer-to-peer personal loans are now available in 42 states. http://bit.ly/finovate1141

Mint.com launches MintData to delve into the spending habits of Mint’s 4 million users. The data is anonymous and provides insight into the pocketbooks of customers in 300 U.S. cities. http://tcrn.ch/finovate1122

From PayPal X Conference: Outright.com launches free accounting app in PayPal apps marketplace. http://bit.ly/finovate10274

Citi takes CashEdge’s Popmoney Service live. FinVentures breaks it down. http://bit.ly/finovate1123

The Receivables Exchange Co-Founder and CEO Justin Brownhill was named one of Silicon Alley Insider’s “Silicon Alley 100.” The list covers New York’s “Coolest Tech People in 2010.” http://bit.ly/finovate11335

SafetyPay pioneers new ways to provide micropayments in the gaming industry. http://bit.ly/finovate10277

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FinovateFall 2010 Demo Videos Now Available

By finovate Posted on November 7, 2010
Categories: ActivePath, Backbase, Betterment, billFLO, BillFloat, BillShrink, Blaze Mobile, Bling Nation, Bundle, Capital Access Network, ClairMail, Credit Sesame, Dynamics, Emue Technologies, FinovateFall 2010, Finsphere, FIS, Fiserv, Geezeo, Guardian Analytics, Hidden Levers, Ixaris, Jack Henry, Kapitall, Kashoo, Kiboo, Kony Solutions, Leadfusion, MatchFund, mFoundry, Micronotes, Mortgagebot, mShift, oFlows, Optirate, Outright.com, Pageonce, PayNearMe, Plantly, Plastyc, PopMoney, Receivables Exchange, SapientNitro, SecondMarket, SecureKey, Segmint, Silver Tail Systems, SmartyPig, Standard Chartered Bank, The Receivables Exchange, Thwakk, TouMetis, Unience, Wonga, Worklight, Yodlee

We’re pleased to announce that the demo videos from FinovateFall 2010 are now available for free download (or immediate consumption) from the Finovate archives.

This fall’s NYC conference showcased 56 handpicked companies doing 7-minute demonstrations (no slides allowed) of their latest technology innovations to a sold-out audience of 650 financial & banking executives, venture capitalists, press, analysts and entrepreneurs.

Check out these cutting-edge ideas in financial, banking, payments, mobile, lending, investing and security technologies today for inspiration and your next edge on the competition!

(P.S. If you’re interested in joining us at the next Finovate event, tickets are now on sale for FinovateEurope (Feb, 1, 2011 in London). It is going to be an amazing showcase of European and global fintech innovation!)

Eric Mattson is CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. He can be reached at eric@netbanker.com.

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FinovateFall 2010 Demo Lineup Revealed

By Eric Mattson Posted on August 17, 2010
Categories: ActivePath, Backbase, Betterment, billFLO, BillFloat, BillShrink, Blaze Mobile, Bling Nation, Bundle, Capital Access Network, CashEdge, ClairMail, Credit Sesame, Emue Technologies, FinovateFall 2010, Finsphere, FIS, Fiserv, Guardian Analytics, Hidden Levers, Ixaris, Jack Henry, Kapitall, Kashoo, Kiboo, Kony Solutions, Leadfusion, MatchFund, Micronotes, moneyStrands, Mortgagebot, mShift, oFlows, Optirate, Pageonce, PayNearMe, Plantly, Plastyc, Receivables Exchange, SapientNitro, Seeking Alpha, Segmint, Silver Tail Systems, SmartyPig, Standard Chartered Bank, Thwakk, TouMetis, Unience, Wonga, Worklight, Yodlee

We’re very excited to reveal the 56 cutting-edge companies that have been selected to demo their latest technology innovations on October 4 and 5 in New York City at FinovateFall.

Over the show’s two days, attendees will get to watch the future of fintech and banktech unfold on stage via fast-paced demos (28 each day) from these innovators. And then have a chance to interact with top executives from each of the demo companies during intimate networking sessions.

Without further delay, here’s the list of companies we’re excited to showcase:

If you’re interested in attending the conference, registering now will save you $100 on your ticket via the early-bird discount and reserve your spot (space is limited and we’re expecting to sell out). We’ll see you in New York!

Eric Mattson is CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. He can be reached at eric@netbanker.com.

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