ChargeSmart Archives

Finovate Alumni News– March 23, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on March 23, 2012
Categories: AcceptEmail, CashStar, ChargeSmart, Credit Karma, Dynamics, Lighter Capital, Meniga, Monitise, PayPal, SaveUp, Zecco

eMudhra partners with Monitise to help launch mobile payments service.

Credit Karma profiles SaveUp. Come see SaveUp at FinovateSpring in May.

David Stone, CashStar CEO, named business leader of the year.

VentureBeat explores PayPal Here’s packaging.

ChargeSmart blog looks at what’s behind Dynamics smart cards.

Zecco releases Android app.

AcceptEmail and PostNL enter into a strategic partnership.

Meniga takes its PFM to Australia.

Lighter Capital makes borrowing even easier by launching Design-A-Loan.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News– January 16, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 16, 2012
Categories: CashStar, ChargeSmart, Dwolla, FeeFighters, LearnVest, Lending Club, PayPal, Prosper, SmartyPig, Transparency Labs

SmartMoney (Feb 2012) article, “Attack of the 6.5-point Typeface” cites research from Transparency Labs.

Rescuecom asks if Dwolla can become the new PayPal.

CNN Money names SmartyPig “Best Savings Alternative”.

Missouri News channel KY3 recommends using Prosper and Lending Club as a creative way to fund your business.

Bangor Daily News profiles CashStar.

NY Times blog talks about LearnVest as a financial planner for the middle class.

AARP lists ChargeSmart as a future way to pay bills using unwanted gift cards.

FeeFighters hosts webinar about ecommerce on January 16.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni Website Traffic in September

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on November 2, 2011
Categories: Adobe, Andera, Betterment, Bill.com, Billeo, BillFloat, Bills.com, Boku, BrightScope, Bundle, Cardlytics, CashEdge, CashStar, ChargeSmart, Check Point, CheckFree, Cortera, Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, Credit.com, DebtGoal, Discover, Doxo, Equifax, eRollover, eToro, Expensify, Experian, FeeFighters, findabetterbank.com, Fiserv, Google, HR Block, Infosys, Intuit, Jack Henry, Kabbage, Kapitall, Kasasa, Leadfusion, LearnVest, Lending Club, Lendio, MasterCard, Metavante, Mint.com, MoneyAisle, Motley Fool CAPS, MyBankTracker, Offermatic, Online Resources, Outright.com, Pageonce, PayPal, Prosper, Receivables Exchange, S1, Sears Credit Score, Seeking Alpha, Simple, Simple Tuition, smartcredit.com, SmartyPig, Standard Chartered Bank, Stocktwits, Striata, Sybase 365, TradeKing, TransUnion Interactive, Truaxis, TrustedID, TSYS, VISA, Wall Street Survivor, Weemba, Wesabe, Wikinvest, wipro, Yodlee, Zecco

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete.

Out of 268 alumni, 80 had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in September 2011 and are included in the tables below. Of those, 33 (41%) had more visitors in September than August. Year-over-year, 42 (52%) had traffic increases.

Private Companies

Seeking Alpha and Cortera had the highest traffic in September with 2.1 and 2.0 million unique visitors, respectively. Cortera also had the highest increase in number of unique year-over-year visits with over 1.5 more visits in 2011 than in 2010.
Kabbage had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, up 280x.
Weemba saw the highest monthly growth percentage with more than 7.5 times the number of unique visitors in September compared to August.
SmartCredit.com had the highest increase in number of unique year-over-year visitors, growing by 126,000.

Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 26, 2011

1) The previous month recorded was August 2011

2) Sears Credit Score is powered by CreditKarma.com

3) Truaxis was formerly BillShrink

4) Kasasa is powered by BancVue

Public companies

CheckFree had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, with over 7 times the number of visitors this year than last year.
Intuit had a notable increase in number of unique, year-over-year visitors, increasing by 300,000 visits.
Check Point had the highest month-over-month percent growth, with 41% more visitors in September than in August.

Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 26, 2011

1) The previous month recorded was July 2011.

_______________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 268 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed.

3. NM = not measurable

4. t= tie

5. Compete estimates online visitors based on the activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic and may undercount at-work usage.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News, October 21, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 21, 2011
Categories: billFLO, BillFloat, ChargeSmart, DoughMain, Dwolla, Prosper, Weemba

After being acquired by Taulia, billFLO announces its services will be shutting down Dec 1, 2011.

Fox Business News mentions ChargeSmart’s mortgage payment solution.

DoughMain explains how to ease children’s financial fears.

Business Insider uses BillFloat and Prosper.com as examples of alternative financing companies.

Dwolla now integrated with Active Merchant for use in Shopify.

Weemba seeks to help with cash-flow issues during the holiday season.

Prosper’s September volume is four times larger than 2010.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni Website Traffic in August

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on October 20, 2011
Categories: Adobe, Andera, Betterment, Bill.com, Billeo, BillFloat, Bills.com, BillShrink, Boku, BrightScope, Budgettracker, Bundle, Cardlytics, CashEdge, CashStar, ChargeSmart, Check Point, CheckFree, Cortera, Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, Credit.com, DebtGoal, Discover, Equifax, eRollover, eToro, Experian, findabetterbank.com, Fiserv, Geezeo, Google, HR Block, Infosys, Intuit, Jack Henry, Kabbage, Kapitall, Kasasa, Leadfusion, LearnVest, Lending Club, Lendio, MasterCard, Metavante, Mint.com, MoneyAisle, Motley Fool CAPS, MyBankTracker, Offermatic, Online Resources, Outright.com, Pageonce, PayPal, Prosper, S1, Sears Credit Score, Seeking Alpha, Simple Tuition, smartcredit.com, SmartyPig, Standard Chartered Bank, Stocktwits, Striata, Sybase 365, TradeKing, TransUnion Interactive, Truaxis, TrustedID, VISA, Wall Street Survivor, Wesabe, Wikinvest, wipro, Yodlee, Zecco

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete.

Out of 268 alumni, 75 had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in August 2011 and are included in the tables below. Of those, 41 (55%) had more visitors in August than July. Year-over-year, 45 (60%) had traffic increases.

Private Companies

Seeking Alpha — the most-trafficked in August with 2.5 million unique visitors — also had the highest increase in number of unique month-over-month visits with 300,000 more visits in August than in July.
Budgettracker.com saw the highest monthly growth percentage with more than 6.5 times the number of unique visitors in August compared to July.
Betterment had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, up 88x.
Cortera had the highest number of unique year-over-year visitors, growing by 1.5 million.

Source: Compete.com retrieved week of October 3, 2011

1) The previous month recorded was July 2011

2) Truaxis was formerly BillShrink

3) Sears Credit Score is powered by CreditKarma.com

4) Kasasa is powered by BancVue

5) Checkingfinder.com is powered by BancVue

Public Companies

Fiserv had the highest month-over-month percent growth, with 50% more visitors.
CheckFree had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, with over 5 times the number of visitors.
S1 also had a high percentage growth year-over-year, doubling its visitors.

Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 3, 2011

1) The previous month recorded was July 2011.

_______________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 268 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed.

3. NM = Not measurable

4. t= Tie

5. Compete estimates online visitors based on the activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic and may undercount at-work usage.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni Website Traffic in July

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 29, 2011
Categories: Adobe, Andera, BancVue, Betterment, Bill.com, Billeo, BillFloat, Bills.com, BillShrink, Blippy, Boku, BrightScope, Bundle, Cardlytics, CashEdge, ChargeSmart, Check Point, Cortera, Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, Credit.com, DebtGoal, Discover, eRollover, eToro, Expensify, Experian, FIS, Fiserv, Infosys, Intuit, Jack Henry, Kapitall, Kasasa, Leadfusion, Lending Club, Lendio, Metavante, Mint.com, MoneyAisle, MyBankTracker, Online Resources, Outright.com, PayPal, Prosper, S1, Seeking Alpha, Simple Tuition, smartcredit.com, SmartyPig, Standard Chartered Bank, Sybase 365, TransUnion Interactive, TrustedID, Wesabe, Wikinvest, wipro, Yodlee, Zecco

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete.

Out of 255 alumni, 59 (23%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in July 2011 (see tables below). Of those, 19 (32%) had more visitors than in the previous month and 25 (42%) were flat. Year-over-year, 26 (44%) had an increase, 10 (17%) were flat, and 23 (39%) were down.

Private Companies

Notable successes:

Seeking Alpha had the most traffic in July with more than 2 million unique visitors.
eToro saw the highest monthly growth percentage with 3 times the number of unique visitors in July compared to June.
Bundle had the highest increase in number of unique month-over-month visits, with 450,000 more visitors in July than in June.
eRollover had the highest percent year-over-year traffic increase, with 260,000 more visitors from last July.

Source: Compete.com retrieved week of August 15, 2011

1. The previous month recorded was May 2011

2. Sears Credit Score is powered by CreditKarma.com

3. Kasasa is powered by BancVue

Public Companies

Notable successes:

PayPal had the highest number of U.S. visitors in July, with more than 30 million visitors.
Jack Henry & Associates saw the highest monthly growth with twice as many visitors in July than June.
Wipro Technologies had the highest year-over-year growth, with 3 times as many visitors this year compared to last year.
FIS Global and Online Resources also doubled their traffic compared to last year.

Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of August 15, 2011

1. The previous month recorded was May 2011.

_______________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 255 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed.

3. NM = Not measurable

4. Compete estimates online visitors based on the activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic and may undercount at-work usage.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News — Week of August 1, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 8, 2011
Categories: Bobber Interactive, BrightScope, ChargeSmart, Check Point, ClairMail, Clovr Media, Credit.com, Doxo, Dwolla, edo Interactive, eToro, eWise, Expensify, Kony Solutions, Lending Club, Lendio, Mitek, Monitise, On Deck Capital, Robot Dough, SafetyPay, SecondMarket, Striata, The Receivables Exchange, TradeKing, Wonga, Xero

Bobber Interactive

Tech Flash interviewed Eric Eastman, Bobber Interactive’s CEO, on how the gamification of money management aims to help Generation Y better manage their money. Link

BrightScope

BrightScope released a report detailing the top 12 small-cap funds in America’s 401k plans. This report is part of a series that provides insight into the top funds and managers in the retirement marketplace. Link

ChargeSmart

Discover is offering an instant rebate to customers who pay their utility bills using a Discover Card on ChargeSmart’s website. Link

Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point enhanced its Software Blade Architecture by releasing R75.20, a comprehensive approach to security that includes a URL filtering Software Blade, SSL inspection, and data loss prevention. Link
The Wall Street Journal discussed Check Point’s ZoneAlarm SocialGuard that helps parents protect children on Facebook in a non-intrusive manner. Link

Clairmail

Clairmail announced record growth this quarter, with more than a 60% increase in bookings from last quarter. Link

Clovr Media

BostInnovation stated that Clovr Media is changing the way consumers collect loyalty rewards through its Card-Linked Ads that allow consumers to access rewards by clicking on an advertisement. Link
Mass High Tech’s weekly Startup Watch listed Clovr Media as one of five startups to follow. Link

Credit.com

EQuicknews listed Credit.com as a free way to check your credit score with no strings attached and highlighed the Credit Report Card feature. Link

doxo

The Appvita blog profiled doxo, noting insider tips and practical uses, such as comparing bills on a month-to-month basis. Link

Dwolla

Bank Technology News looked at the players in the mobile payments space and listed Dwolla as a formidable competitor. Link

EDO Interactive

EDO Interactive received $20 million in Series B funding to grow its Prewards platform that enables advertisers to offer digital deals and incentives that consumers redeem by using their existing credit, debit, or prepaid cards. Link

eToro

eToro began a trading contest for users with both demo and live trading accounts. Traders who accumulate the greatest gains will win each round. Link

eWise

eWise added Renasant Bank to its customer base, providing Renasant customers access to Secure Vault Payments, an alternative payment method. Link

Expensify

Expensify added a new feature that provides QuickBooks users a way to easily identify billable expenses to add to invoices. Link
The Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal listed Expensify as one of ten business apps for empowering your inner geek. Link

Kony Solutions

Tower Group, in its Review of North American Consumer Mobile Banking Technology Vendors, ranked Kony Solutions among the top mobile banking technology vendors. Kony excelled in the feature/function and customization categories. Link

Lending Club

TechCrunch highlighted Lending Club’s announcement of $25 million in Series D financing from Union Square Ventures and other existing investors. Link

Lendio

Lendio added Cardinal Bank to its network of lenders providing clients with more options in finding equipment loans, business lines of credit, acquisition financing, commercial real estate, SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 loans. Link

Mitek Systems

Mitek Systems launched Mobile Imaging Cloud Service that captures, extracts, and routes information contained in documents. The service helps app developers create smartphone and tablet apps that use a camera input function. Link

Monitise

Monitise Asia Pacific launched its mobile banking, payments, and commerce services in Indonesia and signed a joint venture agreement with PT Astra Graphia Information Technology, an information and communication business. Link

On Deck Capital

On Deck Capital raised $19 million of its own in a Series C round of funding. Link

RobotDough

RobotDough founder, Wilton Risenhoover, revealed why he started RobotDough and how it works. Link

SafetyPay

SafetyPay received a Payment Services Directive License to provide cross-border payments throughout Europe strengthening its position in that market. Link

SecondMarket

BostInnovation used SecondMarket’s alternative investments platform to discover top Boston companies. Link

Striata

Baton Rouge Water Company selected Striata, along with payment services company Western Union, to provide email billing with integrated electronic payment service. Link

The Receivables Exchange

Treasury & Risk profiled The Receivables Exchange, describing the process companies use to sell their receivables on the online platform. Link

TradeKing

TradeKing launched a $100 bonus for new customers who open an account by August 31, 2011. Link

Wonga

Smarta interviewed Wonga director, John Moorwood, about Wonga’s growth over the past 12 months. Wonga is now issuing over 1.5 million short-term loans. Link

Xero

Xero released Xero Touch, its new accounting app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News — Week of July 18, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 25, 2011
Categories: ChargeSmart, CheckFree, Credit Karma, Doxo, Dwolla, eToro, Expensify, GoalMine, HelpMyCash, IDTheft 911, iPay Technologies, Lending Club, Lendio, mFoundry, Mint.com, Monitise Americas, peerTransfer, Prosper, SmartyPig, ThreatMetrix, TradeKing, Tyfone, Wikinvest, Xero, Zecco

ChargeSmart

AOL’s Daily Finance highlighted Chargesmart’s secondary gift card market that allows

consumers to pay for bills in exchange for gift cards. Link

CheckFree

Family Wealth Report stated that CheckFree is leading the way in UMA processing. Link

Credit Karma

CBS Money Watch discussed Credit Karma’s data on America’s debt. Link
Fox Business News listed Credit Karma’s credit score simulator tool as a 15-minute fix for your credit score. Link

doxo

Practical Ecommerce listed doxo as one of 17 apps for productivity. Link

Dwolla

Dwolla hit $1 million in payments per day and Ben Milne, CEO, shared a sneak peak of future plans. Link
Ace Community Credit Union provided customers with access to Dwolla through its site.
Dwolla CEO Ben Milne explained why starting a business in Iowa isn’t hard. Link
Dwolla introduced a new Autoload feature. Link
Dwolla was listed on The Next Web as one of eight awesome ways to pay with your phone. Link

eToro

eToro Partners began testing a new foreign exchange affiliate tool called Custom Links. Link

Expensify

The Info.rmatics blog testified to Expensify’s ease of use. Link
ipCommerce showcased Expensify’s innovation. Link

GoalMine

Mango Money added GoalMine to its list of services. Link

HelpMyCash

HelpMyCash revamped its website to be more consumer-friendly. Link

IDTheft 911

Barnstable County Mutual Insurance Company selected Identity Theft 911 for its LifeStages service. Link

iPay Technologies

TechCrunch reported that Bill Ready, former President of iPay Technologies, joined Accel Partners as an Executive in Residence. Link

Lending Club

ATM Options discussed seven good reasons to invest through Lending Club. Link
Netbanker discussed Lending Club’s record high growth. Link

Lendio

Lendio added TAB Bank to its network of lenders. Link
Reuters reported that Swift Capital and Lendio partnered to help small businesses. Link

mFoundry

American Banker considered Bank of America’s recent investment in mFoundry. Link
Credit Union Journal discussed Colombia Credit Union’s adoption of mFoundry’s mobile banking. Link

Mint.com

Mint.com introduced a manual transactions feature for its iPhone app. Link
TechCrunch reported Mint.com’s debut of a new feature that tracks bills and sends reminders. Link

Monitise

Monitise signed over 6,000 users in Nigeria to a mobile payments trial. Link
TechMarketView discussed Monitise’s financial success. Link

peerTransfer

Yahoo! Finance reported peerTransfer’s growth in international student payment processing. Link

Prosper

Netbanker discussed Prosper’s record high growth. Link
Prosper raised its interest rates by 2.5 percent. Link

SmartyPig

SmartyPig introduced its back-to-school cash giveaway contest. Link

ThreatMetrix

ThreatMetrix announced its upcoming user conference October 9th through 10th. Link

TradeKing

TradeKing launched a new video series to help consumers understand options trading. Link

Tyfone

Oregonlive.com described Tyfone as a major player in mobile payments. Link

Wikinvest

Forex Promos shared an interview with Mike Sha, Wikinvest CEO. Link

Xero

Reuters reported that Xero agreed to acquire Paycycle, a payroll company. Link

Zecco

Wealth Building Tips and Strategies blog shared Zecco’s options trading video series. Link

ZimpleMoney

ZimpleMoney adjusted its services in response to the Dodd-Frank reform. Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

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

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

PayPal and Cortera Take Charge in May’s Web Traffic

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 7, 2011
Categories: Adobe, Andera, BancVue, Betterment, Bill.com, Billeo, BillFloat, Bills.com, BillShrink, Blippy, Boku, BrightScope, Bundle, Cardlytics, CashEdge, ChargeSmart, Check Point, CheckingFinder, Cortera, Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, Credit.com, DebtGoal, Discover, eRollover, eToro, Expensify, Experian, Fidelity National Information Services, Fiserv, HelloWallet, Infosys, Intuit, Jack Henry, Kapitall, Leadfusion, Lending Club, Lendio, Metavante, Mint.com, MoneyAisle, MyBankTracker, Online Resources, Outright.com, PayPal, Prosper, S1, SecondMarket, Seeking Alpha, Simple Tuition, smartcredit.com, SmartyPig, Standard Chartered Bank, Sybase 365, TransUnion Interactive, TrustedID, Wesabe, Wikinvest, wipro, Yodlee, Zecco

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of our alums, using data from Web-analytics company Compete to review the sites they operate.

Out of 255 alumni, 62 (24%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in May 2011 (see tables below). Of the 62 reviewed, 25 (40%) had fewer visitors than in the previous month and 28 (45%) saw a decline year-over-year.

Private Companies
The 44 private companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

Cortera saw the highest number of unique U.S. visitors in May, with almost 2 million hits.
HelloWallet experienced the greatest month-over-month growth, with more than four times as many visitors.
Betterment saw its traffic increase an impressive 38 times from May of last year.

Private Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011

Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

Public Companies
The 18 public companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

PayPal experienced the highest number of U.S. visitors in May, with over 32 million visitors.
TransUnion Interactive saw the highest month-over-month growth with more than two times the number of visitors in May than in April.
Sybase 365 experienced the highest year-over-year growth, with its traffic up almost 80% from last year.

Public Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011

Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

_____________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 255 unique sites. Data was unavailable or irrelevant for 201 sites because:

They had been acquired.
They were no longer available online.
They were not covered by Compete for various reasons (including some that were not U.S. domestic companies).
The number of unique visits was too small to be considered accurate.
They were subdomains of larger websites.

2. Numbers have been rounded to three significant digits.

3. The charts include companies that did not have measurable traffic in May 2011, indicated by “N/A.”

4. Compete draws its information from the online activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic, and may undercount at-work usage.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News — Week of June 6, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 13, 2011
Categories: Andera, ChargeSmart, Check Point, Currensee, Doxo, Dwolla, Enloop, Expensify, FreeMonee, FTRANS, GoalMine, Jemstep, mFoundry, Mitek, Monitise, Prosper, Robot Dough, SecondMarket, Silver Tail Systems, Striata, Sybase 365, ThreatMetrix, TradeKing, UBank, Zopa

Andera

Andera launched FortiFI, a new fraud prevention system. Link
Andera CEO Charlie Kroll discussed the release of FortiFI. Link

ChargeSmart

ChargeSmart launched ChargeSmart Direct to provide customers with additional access to support staff. Link
Fox Business News highlighted ChargeSmart and PlasticJungle’s gift card trading service as a way to make savings fun. Link

Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point announced the 2012 version of ZoneAlarm. Link

Currensee

Forex Crunch outlined the benefits of Currensee, describing its profitability as “significantly high”. Link
The Street highlighted Curensee as a startup that “rocks” the financial house. Link

doxo

Chicago Tribune discussed doxo’s step toward a paperless society. Link
TechCrunch & VentureBeat featured the launch of doxo’s mobile app, a mobile digital filing cabinet. Link and Link
Macworld took a closer look at doxo’s new app. Link

Dwolla

Dwolla released Grid, a feature that protects personal user information. Link
The Street highlighted Dwolla as a startup that “rocks” the financial house. Link
The Next Web interviewed Dwolla about its API. Link

Enloop

StartUp Beat profiled Enloop. Link

eWise

eWise raised $14 million in funding. Link

Expensify

CNNMoney named Expensify as one of five best apps for businesses. Link

FreeMonee

CardTrak.com examined FreeMonee’s gift network. Link

Ftrans

Ftrans raised $650,000 in equity financing. Link

GoalMine

GoalMine won The Core Underbanked Innovators Challenge at the 6th Annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum hosted by Core Innovation Capital. Link

Jemstep

Jemstep launched a new version of its service that features many improvements. Link

mFoundry

The Washington Post reported that mFoundry’s mobile deposit service is its most requested feature. Link

Mitek

Mitek Systems was granted 4 more patents for its mobile deposit feature. Link
Bank Technology News discussed Mitek’s new patents. Link

Monitise

Monitise launched its services in India. Link
The Wall Street Journal covered Monitise’s 5-year agreement with Visa. Link
TechCrunch examined Monitise’s recent deal with Visa. Link

Prosper

Prosper raised $17.5 million in funding from investors. Link

RobotDough

The Street highlighted RobotDough as a startup that “rocks” the financial house. Link

SecondMarket

CNBC interviewed Barry Silbert, CEO of SecondMarket, regarding its role in IPOs. Link

Silver Tail Systems

Silver Tail Systems raised $20M in a Series B funding round. Link

Striata

Striata partnered with POCiT to enable bill payments. Link

Sybase

Sybase was named the most successful database software vendor in China. Link

ThreatMetrix

ThreatMetrix collaborated with USA ePay to provide fraud prevention to online retailers. Link

TradeKing

TradeKing partnered with CoolTrade for automatic stock trades. Link

UBank

UBank voiced that it will change the banking industry by using the web and mobile technology. Link

Zopa

BBC’s Radio 2 interviewed Zopa CEO Giles Andrews about P2P lending. Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News — Week of May 30, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 6, 2011
Categories: Betterment, BrightScope, ChargeSmart, Check Point, ClairMail, Corduro, Credit Sesame, Currensee, Doxo, Dwolla, Enloop, Geezeo, Guardian Analytics, HelloWallet, Hidden Levers, Lending Club, Lendio, PayNearMe, Prosper, Robot Dough, SecondMarket, Simple Tuition, Sybase 365, TradeKing, Tyfone, UBank

Betterment

Medill Reports discussed the benefits of Betterment and Currensee, claiming that the social networking craze changes the way some people invest. Link

BrightScope

BrightScope announced the top 10 treasury inflation protected securities funds in America’s 401ks. Link

ChargeSmart

Fox News’ Studio 10 reviewed ChargeSmart, PlasticJungle, and Bills.com and found a number of money saving tools and ideas. Link

Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point Software Technologies won The Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2011 Award from The Association of Support Professionals for its exceptional web support design, implementation, and customer experience. Link

ClairMail

ClairMail announced record customer expansion with a 300% year-over-year growth in users. Link

Corduro

The New York Times reported that Corduro’s cloud platform challenges PayPal and Square’s mobile payment services. Link

Credit Sesame

The Wisdom Journal depicted Credit Sesame’s services as more than just credit scores. Link

Currensee

See Betterment above.

doxo

doxo explained how to use its online filing cabinet and “due date” alerts to help organize GroupOn, Living Social, and other daily deals. Link
TheFinancialBrand.com discussed Oregon Federal Credit Union’s use of doxo and discussed other usage ideas such as uploading a scan of your passport prior to travelling. Link

Dwolla

Credit Union Times listed Dwolla as a contender in the P2P payment space. Link
Dwolla rallied community efforts to gather donations for the tornado-stricken town of Joplin by selling its t-shirts and accepting donations. Link
Omaha World-Herald covered Dwolla’s arrival into Nebraska. Link

Enloop

About.com highlighted Enloop’s business plan creation service. Link
Forbes blog discussed “How Not to Fail” by using Enloop to assess the potential success of a business plan. Link

Geezeo

Call Federal Credit Union, based in Richmond, VA, selected Geezeo for its PFM solution. Link

Guardian Analytics

Guardian Analytics positioned by Gartner in the “Visionary” quadrant for web fraud detection. Link

HelloWallet

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom urged residents to improve their money management by using HelloWallet. For every five subscriptions purchased, HelloWallet will give away one subscription to a family in need. Link

Hidden Levers

Financial Advisor Blog discussed using Hidden Levers to build better portfolios, highlighting risk management and accuracy of the service. Link

Lending Club

Lending Club exceeded a quarter million dollars in cumulative loans and is offering cash bonuses. Link
Wall Street Journal blog discussed growth of P2P Lending sites Prosper and Lending Club. Link

Lendio

Lendio raised $2 million in debt financing. Link

PayNearMe

PayNearMe founder Danny Shader, in an interview with Vator News, revealed the service is used beyond the unbanked population, including teens who prefer to pay with cash and consumers who would like to keep their online transactions private. Link

Prosper

See Lending Club above.

RobotDough

Dow Jones Financial reports that a UCLA professor backed RobotDough. Link

SecondMarket

The Washington Business Journal discussed SecondMarket’s recent popularity. Link

Sybase

Sybase launched the M-Commerce Guide, a publication for examining global market opportunities for mobile network operators, advisors, and FIs. Link

TradeKing

TradeKing CIO Dan Raju discussed security issues that may arise with the NYSE cloud community, citing its security. Link

Tyfone

Tyfone contracted with Star One Credit Union to use its NFC technology.
Link

UBank

CEO of UBank examined security concerns and competitors during an interview with ZDNet. Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook