Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Quantopian Receives Undisclosed Amount from Steve Cohen’s Point72

On FinDEVr.com

  • Venmo Enables Payments in Merchant Apps

Around the web

  • Kontomatik introduces Financial Health Indicator for small- and medium-sized lenders.
  • Venmo’s in-app payments technology emerges from beta.
  • Kantox processed $100 million in transactions in the six months since the debut of its API.
  • Kony launches MobileFabric, which features a model-driven approach to mobile app development using microservices.
  • American Banker’s Association features results from banks using Fiserv, Buzz Points and Larky for customer loyalty and rewards.

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.

 

Buzz Points Unveils New Online Dashboard, Buzz Insight

Buzz Points Unveils New Online Dashboard, Buzz Insight

BuzzPoints_homepage_July2016

One month after picking up a $1.8 million investment, Austin, Texas-based Buzz Points is unveiling its new online management portal, Buzz Insight for its rewards and marketing platform. Buzz Points CEO Dwayne Spradlin says that Buzz Insight will “enable community banks and credit unions to better comprehend how their customers and members are interacting within their communities, giv[ing] them the power to implement more targeted and effective campaigns and offers.”

Buzz Insight is geared toward community financial institutions (CFIs) like credit unions and smaller banks, giving them visibility into customers’ and local business data. With the Insight dashboard, CFIs will get real-time program management and reporting, as well as cardholder analytics, behavior, and other metrics, making it easier for CFIs to enroll and engage with their customers. “With Buzz Insight,” Spradlin said, “in-depth analysis and innovation come together to drive revenue and retention.”

BuzzPoints_stage_FF2015

Director of Product Michael Hall demonstrated the Buzz Points Mobile App at FinovateFall 2015 in New York.

More than just a rewards and loyalty program, Buzz Points seeks to empower local commerce by incentivizing its members to buy locally produced goods and services. At the same time, Buzz Points’ technology helps those local businesses better understand the preferences of consumers in their communities and successfully compete against national and regional chains. The goal is to create a “pro-local message” that creates an “emotional connection” between cardholders and local merchants. Emotion aside, Buzz Points reports its users are bigger debit card users than the national average (52% above), have 26% higher average monthly spend, and yield $5 in interchange fees per account each month.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Buzz Points demonstrated its mobile app at FinovateFall 2015. The company joined Jack Henry’s Symitar vendor-integration program earlier this month and in May, Buzz Points announced a partnership that will bring its loyalty rewards program to the “customer-owners” of  credit union service organization (CUSO), Xtend.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Buzz Points Unveils New Online Dashboard, Buzz Insight
  • Mudra Bank Chooses i-exceed’s Appzillion for Mobile Banking App
  • Finovate Debuts: Student Loan Genius Gives Employers Tools To Help Millennial Workers Tackle Debt

Around the web

  • Bank of the Ozarks deploys instant card-issuance solution from Entrust Datacard.
  • IBM unveils secure, online service to help businesses conduct blockchain testing.

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

  • Ping Identity Unveils Security, Usability Upgrades to IDaaS Platform.
  • defi SOLUTIONS to Launch Full-Service Analytics and Reporting Platform by Year’s End
  • Coinbase Lands $10.5 Million in Strategic Investment from Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ

Around the web

  • Misys honored by Celent Model Bank Awards for its work with Russia’s Alfa-Bank.
  • Holvi launches new debit card, Holvi Business MasterCard.
  • Risk Ident CEO Roberto Valerio writes about fighting account-takeover fraud.
  • Ixaris helps Amadeus build prepaid B2B wallet.
  • WattzOn unveils three new web and mobile tools for monitoring and managing utility bills.
  • The Street: Lending Club ‘Platform Investors’ Are Slowly Returning Despite Recent Hiccups
  • Buzz Points joins Jack Henry’s Symitar Vendor Integration Program.
  • iSignthis integrates with XM.COM to deliver due diligence Digital KYC service.
  • ProfitStars Ranked Among Top-50 Providers in MSPmentor 501 Global Edition.

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.

Buzz Points Lands $1.8 Million in Funding

Buzz Points Lands $1.8 Million in Funding

BuzzPointsHomepage

BuzzPointsMobileCommunity-focused rewards program Buzz Points pulled in $1.8 million from seven unnamed investors this week according to the company’s Form D filing with the SEC. This brings the Austin-based company’s total to $28.3 million since launching in 2009 as fisoc, Inc. Previous investors include Greycroft Partners and Discover Financial Services.

The company debuted the Buzz Points mobile app at FinovateFall 2015. The app offers targeted marketing campaigns that enable community bank customers to use their mobile device to purchase, manage, and redeem points and offers with local businesses across the country. Consumers receive discounts based on their personal spending habits and Buzz Points uses geolocation to determine nearby, relevant offers.

The company boasts partnerships with Discover and Malauzai and recently added Thrive Credit Union as a client. According to a 2014 article in the Wall Street Journal, Buzz Points had a valuation of $65 million at the time of its $19 million Series D round in 2014.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Finovate Debuts: Payment Ninja Provides Free Payment Processing, Programmatic Remarketing for SMEs.
  • Alpha Payments Cloud Selected for Wells Fargo Spring Startup Accelerator.
  • Check out this week’s FinDEVr APIntelligence.
  • DriveWealth Brings Robo-Advisory to China in New Partnership with CreditEase.
  • Buzz Points Lands $1.8 Million in Funding.

Around the Web

  • Cater Allen Private Bank to implement new core banking system from Temenos.
  • Top five Israeli banks to build mobile check-deposit solution based on mobiFLOW SDK from Top Image Systems.
  • Zopa named Moneyfacts Personal Loan Provider of the Year 2016.
  • Trulioo enhances address validation in Global Gateway.
  • MX to power Homeownership Preservation Foundation’s digital money management app.
  • Tradestreaming profiles Payoneer and its role in online payments.
  • Banking technology from Infosys Finacle to help support payments and deposit products for Paytm.

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

  • “Social Trading Company ayondo Appoints New CFO Prior to Reverse Takeover IPO”
  • “Ignite Sales Taps Ex-Fiserv SVP as New CEO”
  • “VoicePIN Launches New SaaS Model for SMEs”
  • “Realty Mogul Reaches $200 Million in Funded Real Estate Transactions”

Around the web

  • Markit adds Federal Republic of Germany to derivatives trade-management service.
  • FIS introduces Banking by Appointment with TimeTrade.
  • Zopa partners with UNSHACKLED.com to offer cell phone financing.
  • RegTech event sponsored by BBVA features presentation by Ayasdi.
  • Infosys wins five-year contract with Commerzbank.
  • Temenos welcomes new core banking client, BMO Asia Pacific.
  • Fiserv adds ten years to its loan processing, private-label credit partnership with John Deere Financial.
  • Buzz Points and Xtend partner to provide new loyalty rewards program to credit unions.
  • Bloomberg features TradeSafe, a distributed ledger from Standard Chartered and DBS Group that uses Ripple.
  • eSignLive unveils new UX featuring responsive design.
  • TechCrunch column on APIs features Signifyd, Plaid, and Twilio.
  • The Law of Startups interviews B.J. Lackland, Lighter Capital CEO.
  • WorkFusion earns recognition from Gartner in its “Cool Vendors in Smart Machines” 2016 report.
  •  Guardian Analytics introduces a certification program to help fraud examiners become familiar with the Guardian Analytics platform.
  • Crowdfund Insider interviews Emmanuel Marot, LendingRobot CEO.
  • Comarch launches prototype of wealth management app for virtual reality.

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.

Buzz Points Helps Users Earn and Redeem Rewards at Local Businesses

Buzz Points Helps Users Earn and Redeem Rewards at Local Businesses

This post is part of our live coverage of FinovateFall 2015.

BuzzPointsLogoBuzz Points demonstrated how its app lets users redeem local offers:

Buzz Points’ recently launched mobile app enables users to purchase, manage, and redeem points and local, personalized offers from their mobile devices and explore new local businesses close to home or across the country. Among its innovative features, the app utilizes geotargeting to identify and recommend nearby locally owned businesses, which enables users to earn and use points not only in their own local market, but also throughout the country as they travel.

Exclusive discounts and offers are personalized based on the individual’s spending habits according to transaction data. The Buzz Points mobile app is available to individuals nationwide who are enrolled in Buzz Points through their community financial institution.

Presenter: Director of Product Michael Hall

IMG_9894

IMG_9896

Product Launch: May 2015
Metrics: $26.5 million
Product distribution strategy: Through financial institutions

HQ: Austin, Texas
Founded: 2012
Website: buzzpoints.com
Twitter: @BuzzPointsBanks, @BuzzPointsCUs

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Buzz Points

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Buzz Points

BuzzPoints_homepage_Aug2015

The Sneak Peek series looks at the innovators demoing live on stage at FinovateFall 2015. Be sure to pick up your tickets to our annual autumn conference, and we’ll see you in New York!

Buzz_Points_logo_FF2015Buzz Points is a localized banking-rewards program and innovative mobile app. Sophisticated geo-targeting and gamification engage cardholders, influencing their profitable behaviors.

Features:

  • Proven to drive significant lift in interchange revenue
  • 46% lower attrition rate among Buzz Points enrollees
  • Ongoing marketing and cross-sell campaigns provided and delivered entirely by Buzz Points

Why it’s great
Buzz Points is the only rewards program to strengthen local, community connections while incorporating sophisticated technology that customizes the experience to the cardholder’s current location.

PresenterBuzzPoints_MHall

Michael Hall, Director of Product Marketing
Hall has spent the last 10+ years in startups developing, marketing, and delivering new products to the financial technology and social media markets. Sometimes at the same time.
LinkedIn

 

FF2015BannerNoDate

 

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: Slice Introduces Intelligent Shopping API”
  • “Arxan Technologies Drafts Joe Sander as CEO”

Around the web

  • Kasasa reaches milestone: 300+ community FIs now offer Kasasa to members, a total of 823,000 accounts.
  • NY Times lists Betterment, Coinbase, Wealthfront, ZenPayroll as companies that may be the next startup unicorns.
  • Crowdfund Insider: Zopa tops £1 million in loans, a U.K. first for peer-to-peer lending.
  • Global News interviews Karl Martin, Nymi CEO and founder.
  • Trustly bolsters team with appointments from H&M and Klarna.
  • FIS launches financial inclusion lab in India.
  • SME Insider interviews CurrencyTransfer.com‘s CEO Daniel Abrahams.
  • Silanis to deploy eSignLive technology with TransGuard and Occidental Fire & Casualty.
  • Puerto Rico-based Evertec to enable mobile e-commerce courtesy of Acculynk’s PaySecure.
  • Payoneer wins contract with Dailymotion.
  • NPR interviews Pindrop Security‘s CEO Vijay Balasubramaniyan.
  • Selling Power ranks OnDeck 17 out of 50 on its list of 2015 Best Companies to Sell For.
  • Nostrum Group receives FCA authorization for debt administration to cover its involvement in customer loan accounts and debt collection.

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.