Conferences

35 Financial Tech Companies Already on Board to Participate in FinovateStartup 2009

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conferences, Finovate, Launches

imageOne month ago we announced the 2009 version of our Finovate Startup Conference. Since then, we’ve been busy talking to FinTech startups from around the world. We are glad (and a bit relieved) to announce that we already have 35 committed to demo at the event. There is still an enormous amount of activity and energy in the banking and financial technology sector (note 1).

We are several months out from the deadline, so we expect in excess of 50 startups, along with several hundred bankers, investors and other industry execs to convene April 28 at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center (note 2).

While last year’s FinovateStartup was dominated by social-media plays (see logos below), this year we have more diversity, with companies from the following categories:

  • Alt payments
  • Financial shopping/comparison tools
  • Investment management/tools
  • Mobile banking & payments
  • iPhone/Android applications, personal financial management/tools
  • Peer-to-peer lending
  • Personal credit management tools
  • Other technologies

Participating companies will be named beginning Feb. 1, but you can save by reserving a ticket now.

Super-early-bird prices that are easy on the budget
We’ve tried to make the conference as affordable as possible recognizing that travel and conference budgets are under constraints. You still have nine days left to snag super-early-bird tickets for $695. Current Online Banking Report subscribers, including anyone in the same company as an existing subscriber, can grab tickets for even less, just $445 each until Jan. 31 (note 3).

Attendees may register here. More information on the event is here.

FinTech companies interested in participating/demoing should email Eric Mattson .


FinovateStartup 2008 presenters (videos of all 2008 demos are here)

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Notes:
1. See our post, “Why financial technology still matters,” here.
2. The venue is about two miles south of the San Francisco financial district.
3. If you don’t know if your company subscribes to Online Banking Report, email info@netbanker.com to find out. If qualified, we’ll email your subscriber discount code to you.

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Announcing the Finovate 2009 Conference Series: FinovateStartup and Finovate2009

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conferences, Finovate

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We know 2009 promises to be a challenge, but if history is any judge, more lasting innovations will be put in place next year than any year this century. Necessity truly is the mother of invention, especially for startups. 

Next year, we will again showcase the best and brightest ideas at our Finovate conferences:

imageFinovate Startup:
San Francisco – 28 April 2009
The conference features the launch of new companies in financial tech, as well as young companies launching major new products and features. Last year, we had 40 startups participate (see first screenshot below), and this year we expect even more (see demos from 2008).

imageFinovate 2009: 
New York City – 29 Sept. 2009
We head to NYC for the third year in a row to showcase the best of 2009 in the online and mobile space. Company size is irrelevant; it’s all about what’s new and what’s hot (see demos from 2008, 2007).

Attend a Finovate conference in 2009
About 700 of the most innovative execs in banking, finance and technology attended a Finovate event in 2008. The events are fast-paced, just a single day, and allow you to network with the presenting execs along with the decision makers in the audience. Both attendees and presenters love the format.

If you want to join the excitement, you can sign up up now at deeply discounted prices. Tickets are transferable, and refundable, so the risk is low. If you want to bring your entire team, email Eric Mattson, eric@netbanker.com, for a team price.  

Present in 2009: FinTech startups
If you have a young company involved in the online or mobile finance area, there is no reason not to be at FinovateStartup. This year, we are opening the floor to any qualifying startup. So, for the price of a single ticket, you are ensured a table at the event to show off your company and a chance to demo on stage (see previous FinovateStartup demos). 

The earlier you apply, the more benefits you receive. Please check out the Presenters page or email to eric@netbanker.com.

Present in 2009: other FinTech companies
At Finovate2009 in NYC, we’ll put the best two dozen ideas on stage regardless of the size or location of the company. Last year, we had popular demos from large companies including Intuit and CheckFree/Fiserv as well as startups, Mint, Credit Karma, NeoSaej and others (see previous demos from Oct. 2008 and Oct. 2007).

If you have a dynamite new product and are interested in launching it at Finovate NYC, please email eric@netbanker.com or check out the presenters page.

Press
Last year, more than 50 financial, technology and personal finance press and analysts attended the Finovate conferences. If you’d like a press pass for either event, please email me at jim@netbanker.com.

Presenters at FinovateStartup 2008

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Presenters at Finovate 2008

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Highlights from BAI Retail Delivery 2008

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Alt Payments, BAI Retail Delivery, Conferences

image BAI’s Retail Delivery Conference is an annual rite for bank tech geeks from around the world. Although attendance was down 20% or so from last year, causing some grousing on the trade-show floor, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here’s my personal list of highlights from the show (see note 1). 

The Netbanker awards:

  • Most audacious business plan: Alt-payment startups Moneta and sister company Acculynk which are looking to disrupt online payments at the point of sale
  • Most likely to succeed: mobile anything 
  • Biggest “wow” factor: Cardless ATMs by Wincor Nixdorf  
  • Best demo of something that actually exists: Bank of Montreal’s demo of its new branch locator using Microsoft Virtual Earth (shown at the Microsoft’s booth)
  • Coolest solution looking for a problem: Microsoft Surface
  • Product most likely to be used in our company: Bankserv remote deposit integrated with QuickBooks 
  • Product least likely to be used in our company: Wii banking from Wincor Nixdorf (but it’s very cool)
  • Best presentation: Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics and Growing Up Digital 
  • Best buzzword comeback: Push banking (mobile apps, widgets, alerts)
  • Best trade floor freebie: Free espresso from ClairMail 
  • Best financial screenshot during a keynote: PayPal CEO Scott Thompson showed PayPal Mobile from Chase Bank, a pilot program running on several college campuses (Ohio State), where Paypal Mobile is bundled with banking services from Chase Bank
  • Worst financial screenshot during a keynote: Don Tapscott used Zopa USA as an example of a promising new Web 2.0 financial company (Zopa pulled out of the U.S. market last month)
  • Biggest jinx: Second Curve Capital CEO Tom Brown, who Tuesday afternoon explained why he is so bullish on bank stocks; the NASDAQ bank stock index proceeded to drop 200 points (10%) over the next two days (note 2)
  • Most amazing stat: In his keynote, CEO Arkadi Kuhlmann said ING Direct (USA) had originated more than 100,000 mortgages worth $36 billion, and initiated foreclosures only 15 times
  • Best time: Dinner with Trey Reeme and the gang from TDECU who are not only some of the nicest people you could ever meet, but also provided absolutely stimulating conversation and some great laughs

image Best of show: Drum roll please. After dozens of amazing conversations over three days, the company that most intrigued me is alt-payments startup Moneta (note 3). 

Notes:
1. I visited with only a couple dozen of the 300 or so companies in Orlando, so comments here are not meant to be an overview, just the highlights of my experience. As usual, I spent most of my time looking for new ideas and ended up spending half my time talking to mobile providers.
2. To his credit, Mr. Brown did not say bank stocks had bottomed; in fact, he said they could very well go lower. But by this time next year, he expects a substantial turnaround. It was a great presentation.
3. Moneta didn’t have a booth, but board member and investor Ashish Bahl was in attendance and briefed me on his firm. We’ll provide more details on the company later. 

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Notes from BarCampBankBC

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: BarCamp Bank, Conferences

imageI attended my second BarCampBank Saturday in Vancouver BC. I was part of the first North American camp in Seattle last July (coverage here).

For me, this one was more interesting. There were more people (50-60 compared to 30-40 in Seattle) and more financial institutions represented, including both credit unions and banks. HSBC Direct even helped sponsor the event.

image First a note of thanks to organizers William Azaroff of Vancity; Tim McAlpine, creator of Common Wealth CU’s Young and Free program and  founder of Currency Marketing; and Gene Blishen, CEO of Mt. Lehman Credit Union who has the coolest graphics in the whole world (see inset). 

If you want to see session notes, check out the weekend entries at William’s blog. He did an amazing job facilitating the sessions and live blogging. You can also watch archived video streams of five of the sessions, courtesy of Brent Dixon, posted at his Open Source CU blog (turn on the embedded player and click the “on demand” button in the lower bar). 

Here’s what I highlighted in my notebook: 

  • Mobile could be more game-changing than we give it credit for. The ability to communicate in real-time as consumers engage in shopping, bill payment, and so on is so powerful, it’s difficult to grasp the long-term implications. 
  • Social media tools like Twitter could be used to harness customers’ reactions in real time, a virtual sentiment meter as one of the campers said (was that you Brent?) Why not have a “what are you thinking” box displayed after customers login. The responses could be aggregated and trended to see how the bank is performing over time.
    They could also be broadcast to all customers to build community.
  • Even in this progressive group, only two of the financial institutions are blogging: Vancity’s ChangeEverything which is really more of a platform for social change than a true broadcast-type blog and Verity Credit Union (note 1). Reasons for not blogging seemed to be some variation of “lack of resources.” It’s hard to argue with that. But basic blogs such as UW Credit Union or Piedmont Credit Union, both of which I think are very effective, can be put together in just a few hours per week.
  • Financial literacy, or lack thereof, was a common theme and there seemed to be a consensus that the industry should help schools and parents do a better job preparing youth to handle money and debt. This is what iThyrv, which debuted at TechCrunch50 last week, is using as their primary market-entry strategy (previous post here). Andrew Taylor, Jwaala CEO, participating remotely via the live webcast, threw out the the idea of a financial literacy score similar to FICO. Again, that’s part of the iThryv model. It’s a good idea if it were to catch on, although that seems like a long shot.  

Note:
1. Many (most?) of the credit union representatives had personal blogs.

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My Best Interest Announces Rate Surfer from TechCrunch50 DemoPit

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conferences, Credit/Debit Cards, Rate Surfer

image In addition to the 51 companies chosen in advance to demo at TechCrunch’s annual conference, 120 more companies (note 1) are in the DemoPit. The DemoPit is an area outside the main hall where the companies that didn’t make the final cut to be on stage have a table where they can showcase their companies to attendees. And one lucky company, the one that collects the most tokens from attendees, will appear as company number 52 on stage in the last session tomorrow.

There were several financial services companies in the DemoPit Monday including Billeo, Expensify, and LoanKrunch. Today, there was just one, Rate Surfer from My Best Interest. Although the service will not go live until its debut at Finovate next month, the company today showed it to the public for the first time. It also added a downloadable demo program to its website if you want a sneak peek (note 2).

What it does
Rate Surfer is a credit card manager. It uses account-aggregation technology to import balance and rate data from all your credit cards. It then uses that data to help users initiate and track credit card balance transfers across their credit cards. Although not without rough edges still to work out, it could potentially save users hundreds of dollars in interest every year by helping them take advantage of transfer opportunities.

Main Rate Surfer page from its demo software (9 Sep 2008) 

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Notes:
1. There are 120 total companies, but each gets just a 12-hour day in the DemoPit, so there are 40 companies each day. Although, the Monday companies were given an extra day due to a wifi outage that plagued the hall much of Monday. In addition to these companies, there were 33 exhibitor tables and 22 TechCrunch alumni with tables, including Cake Financial and last year’s winner Mint.

2. It’s a 67MB download.

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Shryk Launches iThryv, Online Banking for Youth, at TechCrunch50

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conferences, Launches, Personal Financial Management

imageimage

Two huge tech conferences opened today in California with 124 companies launching new products this week in front of a combined audience of more than 2,500 (see note 1). At DEMOfall in San Diego, 72 companies are launching new products today and tomorrow. In San Francisco, 52 companies launch at TechCrunch50 today through Wednesday.

Eight of the 124 companies are related to financial services:

We’ll cover several of these companies, plus several in the TechCrunch50 DemoPit, starting with iThryv.

iThryv kicks of TechCrunch50
imageI made it down from Seattle this morning just in time to catch the first demo. I’m glad I got up early because it just so happened to be the only personal finance/banking-related finalist. Oklahoma City-based Shryk kicked off TechCrunch50 (note 2) by unveiling its online banking platform aimed at the 12- to 20-year-old crowd. The new service is called iThryv and it will be marketed directly to banks and credit unions who will customize and brand it for their own customer base.

iThryv will be integrated directly to the bank, or its core processor, so that real-time banking data can be displayed in various widgets. In addition to account info, iThryv also includes the following modules and features:

  • Goal-oriented savings, including rewards for reaching milestones
  • A spending & savings score that does for savings what a credit score does for loans
  • Make $ area where budding entrepreneurs can learn more about starting a business
  • Learn area for financial education

The company has a two-fold approach to getting iThryv into the market:

  • Licensing the platform to banks for a fixed fee plus per-user fees
  • Giving the platform to schools to incorporate into their curriculum

According to the founders, the service is currently being considered by several financial institutions, but it is not yet available online.

iThryv homepage (8 Sep 2008)

iThryv homepage 8 Sep 2008

 iThryv savings score graphed (8 Sep 2008)

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iThryv “Make $” tab (8 Sep 2008)

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Notes:
1. TechCrunch reported approximately 1,700 attendees; DEMOfall, 800.

2. iThryv was originally scheduled to present third, but were moved up to first when Ashton Kutcher was late for his scheduled demo of his startup, Blah Girls.

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Finovate 2008 Conference Demo Lineup Announced

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conference Calendar, Conferences, Finovate

image After looking at more than 100 companies, we’ve selected 24 finalists to present at our second annual Finovate Conference Oct. 14 in New York City (registration here). Three will emerge as Finovate Best of Show companies joining  last year’s winners: Mint,Mortgage Marvel from Mortgagebot, and Prosper (note 1).  

In a single action-packed day, we’ll see several financial startups launch, a few major product overhauls revealed, and a pile of new features shown to the public for the first time. It could be the single biggest “news day” in the history of online finance. Besides the amazing presenter lineup, the audience will contain many well-known industry analysts, members of the press, and banking and technology execs. Here are the subjects that will be covered:

  • Person-to-person lending
  • Lead generation in financial services
  • Personal financial management and online banking
  • Mobile banking and payments
  • Payments/billing
  • Investing and retirement planning online
  • Security technologies
  • Social media and Web 2.0

Finovate 2008 Lineup (alphabetic order, note 2)
Below is a list of all 24 companies. In all, seven of the companies presented at our sold-out Finovate 2007; three are graduates from Finovate Startup last April; and 14 are new to Finovate. But all 24 will be demonstrating substantial new products and/or features. 

Companies announced Sept. 16 and Sept. 23, 2008:

About Finovate 2008

Press: Members of the media should contact Jim Bruene, jim@netbanker.com to secure a press pass.

Note:
1. Winners are selected by audience vote.
2. The list does not include two stealth startups and one company to be named later.

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Links from My Metavante User Conference Presentation

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conferences, Metavante

metavante_logo I delivered a presentation on Online Banking Innovations at Metavante's annual user conference in Milwaukee yesterday. As promised, here are the links to the companies and products mentioned. Thanks to everyone that attended and thanks to Metavante for having me.

Blogs:

Personal finance:

Investment communities

Lending communities (P2P lending)

Mobile

Fees:

Lead Generation

Archives

Health Care Expense Management

Retirement Planning

Mobile Payments

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FinovateStartup Set to Launch

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conference Calendar, Conferences, Finovate

image It will be interesting to look back at this post five years from now and see how many of the 40 startups presenting at our first annual FinovateStartup conference are thriving, holding on, or have moved on.

I know one thing for sure, there will be five years' worth of innovative ideas served up on April 29. I am really looking forward to it. If you can make time in your busy spring schedule, I hope you'll consider attending. You can still save a hundred bucks by registering here by Monday, March 31.

The press release follows.

——————————————————

Online Banking Report Announces Final Demo Lineup for
FinovateStartup Conference

28 March 2008

Seattle, WA: Times may be tight in the credit markets, but the financial services technology area is still hopping with startups. Forty of the most promising will gather in San Francisco April 29 to prove to an auditorium filled with bankers, VCs, tech gurus, and the press what makes each the next big thing in finance.

No slides. No speeches. No wasted time. Finovate serves up 100% demos with plenty of networking time to speak with start-up founders and execs.

The main threads will be online personal finance (5 startups), online savings/checking (3 startups), social finance/investing (7 startups), lending/credit (5 startups including 3 person-to-person lenders), comparison shopping for financial services (3 startups), security (6 startups), and mobile banking/payments (4 startups).

Several stealth companies plan to launch at the conference, and a number of startups will be introducing significant product improvements or new services. We expect to see plenty of Web 2.0, including social-media-inspired investing, widgets and Facebook apps, and next-generation financial search. It will be an amazing day.

Here’s the complete lineup by company type:

About FinovateStartup Conference

  • Date: April 29, 2008
  • Place: San Francisco, CA (UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center)
  • Cost: $995
  • Agenda: 20 demos in the morning, 20 in the afternoon; each session followed by two hours of networking to meet with the presenters in one-on-one discussions
  • Website: finovatestartup.com
  • For more information on last fall’s sold-out NYC event, see netbanker.com/finovate

Note: Members of the media should contact Jim Bruene, jim@netbanker.com to secure a press pass.

About Online Banking Report
Founded in 1995 by former banker Jim Bruene, Online Banking Report provides in-depth analysis, relevant data, and informed recommendations to financial services executives in 50 countries. Online Banking Report is published by Online Financial Innovations, a Seattle-based research company. For more information and free sample reports, visit onlinefinancialinnovations.com, email info@netbanker.com or call (206) 517-5021. You may also find OFI's blog on the latest in online finance & banking at netbanker.com.

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BarCampBank Season Opens March 29

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: BarCamp Bank, Conferences

image Looking for a low-cost way to generate new ideas and meet like-minded financial geeks? You have three opportunities during the next four weeks:

As of today, there are 34 people signed up for San Francisco, a dozen for New England, and 24 for NYC. Cost is minimal, max of $25. Register in advance on the respective websites.

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FinovateStartup Conference to be Held April 29 in San Francisco

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conferences, Finovate

image Last year we hosted our first industry conference Finovate2007 in NYC (videos here, previous coverage here). It was such a success that not only are we repeating it this year (see note 1 below), we've added a unique new version, FinovateStartup featuring demos of new financial products and technologies from emerging companies.

FinovateStartup will be held April 29 in San Francisco. It will showcase dozens of the hottest financial technology startups – all in a single day. With a fast-paced format that mixes short demos (no PowerPoint slides allowed!) and high-quality networking, FinovateStartup gives attendees a chance to see the future of finance unfold. 

Already, a number of leading financial technology companies have already signed up to demo including: Andera, Boulevard R., Buxfer, Motley Fool CAPS, ClairMail, Credit Karma, First ROI, Jwaala, Lending Club, Mint, Prosper, SmartHippo, Unified Money, and Wesabe. We plan to add more interesting companies to this list during the next few weeks. If you know of an interesting new financial products or technologies that should be shown at this event, please drop me an email. Or if you think your company fits the bill, consult the presenter's page. 

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Tickets for this exciting event are currently $745, $250 off the regular price of $995 (discount ends Feb. 29). And the first 25 NetBanker readers receive an additional $100 discount (use "netbanker25" as your discount code at registration). I strongly encourage you to register today as seating at the event is limited and the last Finovate sold out in six weeks.   

  • What: A chance to see the future of finance & banking unfold at FinovateStartup
  • When: April 29, 2008: 8:00am – 6:30pm. Registration and continental breakfast opens at 7am.
  • Where: The beautiful new U.C. San Francisco Mission Bay Conference Center (just south of downtown San Francisco)
  • Price: Only $745 if you register before March 1 (and first 25 registrants save an additional $100 with discount code "netbanker25")
  • Format: Two action-packed demo/presentation sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Each session contains more than a dozen of the hottest finance/technology startups giving 5-minute demos of their products (no PowerPoint allowed!) followed by several hours to talk with each of the presenters and network with other attendees. The day ends with a happy hour with an open bar and appetizers.
  • Questions: Please contact us at finovate@netbanker.com or 206.517.5021.

I look forward to seeing you in April!

Note: image

  1. Save $250 and register today for our fall flagship Finovate 2008, October 9 in NYC. 

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Ask the CEO: Asheesh Advani of Virgin Money

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conferences, Net.Finance Conference, P2P Lending, Virgin Money

image Next week, I'll be interviewing Virgin Money USA CEO and Founder Asheesh Advani on stage at the Online Innovations in Financial Service Marketing Conference hosted by the Net.Finance (World Business Research) folks in New York City. Our main topic will be "Why consumers aren't buying mortgages online, yet," but I'm sure we'll cover the entire person-to-person lending spectrum in our 35-minute session Thursday morning (24 Jan).

If anyone has any questions for Mr. Advani, leave them in the comments here, or email me. I'll post the response here next week.

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