Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Credit Karma Teams with American Express to Offer Advance Tax Refund.
  • Insuritas Launches i-Insure Platform with 42 P&C Carriers.
  • Finova Financial’s New Fundraising Process Leverages Cryptocurrency to Serve Non-Accredited Investors.

Around the web

  • Superbcrew.com interviews BRIDGEi2i Analytics Co-founder and CTO Pritam Kanti Paul.
  • Entrepreneur names Kabbage, Cardlytics, BlueVine among top 360 best entrepreneurial companies in America.
  • Bill.com launches Accountant Partner Program.
  • Global Debt Registry earns spot in IBM mentoring program for blockchain app developers.
  • Moven founder and CEO Brett King discusses the AI race between China and the U.S. on CNBC’s Closing Bell.
  • Wall Street Journal leverages Quid to spot fraudulent entries on FCC website during net neutrality debate.

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

  • Ripple Establishes Infrastructure Innovation Initiative.
  • Southern Bank Leverages PicturePay from Malauzai to Offer Digital Payment Service.

Around the web

  • Credit Karma announces former Renew Financial president Gannesh Bharadhwaj as general manager of credit cards.
  • Payworks extends partnership with Verifone.
  • Bluefin issues first Japanese patent for creating fingerprints for encryption devices.
  • RealtyMogul hires Soley Van Lokeren as its first Chief People Officer.

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

  • Token Forges Strategic Partnership with Envestnet | Yodlee.

Around the web

  • ACI Worldwide to provide “technology backbone” for real-time payments platform designed by Payments Network Malaysia.
  • NCR partners with Samsung to launch new all-in-one POS commerce station, NCR Silver Quantum.
  • Grab chooses TransferTo to deliver real-time digital payments to its drivers in Southeast Asia.
  • Meniga wins London Design Awards for brand design experience.
  • PayPal’s TIO Networks suspends operations to protect TIO’s customers.
  • Kinecta FCU to Offer Mortgage Harmony’s CU RateReset products.
  • App Informers lists Credit Karma and Credit Sesame in list of top 5 Identity Monitoring Apps for 2017.

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.

Credit Karma Launches Online Vehicle Center

Credit Karma Launches Online Vehicle Center

Until now, the best way to gauge whether you’re paying too much for auto insurance was to call around to a variety of auto insurance companies. And in order to gain information on your car’s safety recalls, you had to visit the manufacturer’s website. Figuring out what your car is worth was yet another task– usually a visit to KBB.com (or to the library, for luddites).

Consumer credit monitoring and financial health startup Credit Karma has launched a new offering today that changes those routines. The company’s new automotive information center is a one-stop shop for helping consumers to manage and organize their vehicle-related finances and information. Included among the capabilities are an overview of the user’s DMV profile, with vehicle and drivers license information, vehicle value estimations, and manufacturer recall notices.

The two most notable capabilities are the auto insurance score and comparison tool and the vehicle refinancing decision tool. The insurance tool offers up information about consumer’s auto insurance score (see image, right) and enables them to shop around for a better deal on car insurance. Highlighting the value of the refinancing feature, Rory Joyce, director of product for CreditKarma told CNBC, “We started to notice that many of our members have auto loans that were effectively mispriced. We found just bringing awareness of what the calculated APR is, versus what we think they deserve, is eye opening.” In order to keep drivers up-to-date, Credit Karma sends alerts to customers when their credit score makes them eligible for a better car insurance or refinancing rate.

Above: the tool offers vehicle value information and recall notices

Earlier this summer, Credit Karma launched Credit Karma Mortgage, a tool that helps homeowners discover savings opportunities available through refinancing. That same month, the company unveiled Unclaimed Money, a feature that monitors government databases in seven states to notify consumers if they are owed money. Founded in 2007, Credit Karma debuted one of its largest product expansions in 2016 when it launched a free tax filing service. The company’s CEO and founder Ken Lin demonstrated Credit Karma’s technology at FinovateSpring 2009.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Socure Raises $14 Million in New Funding
  • BioCatch Partners with LexisNexis to Leverage Data and Analytics for Better Risk Management
  • Colorado’s PSCU Completes Digital Banking Roll Out Powered by Malauzai Software

Around the web

  • Voice collaboration specialist GreenKey wins patent for speech-to-text technology.
  • NCR deploys Windows 10 IoT Enterprise with major European financial institution.
  • IdentityMind Global announces enhancements to its Enterprise Fraud Prevention platform.
  • Vantiv goes live with its cloud payment API, triPOS.
  • Forbes lists SoFi, Credit Karma and Prosper in its list of the 10 biggest fintechs in America.
  • ABN AMRO selects DemystData for Launchpad Program.

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.

44 Alums Populate CB Insights’ Fintech 250 List

44 Alums Populate CB Insights’ Fintech 250 List

This week, CB Insights unveiled its Fintech 250 list. The research outfit selected 250 emerging, private companies in 17 sub-sectors of fintech that are changing the face of financial services. The roster includes 44 Finovate and FinDEVr alums that were selected using CB Insights’ data-driven process that analyzes company momentum, market participation, funds raised, and investor quality.

The list is in alphabetical order.

Algomi

AutoGravity

Avalara

Behalf

Betterment

Blend

Chain

Coinbase

Credit Karma

Currencycloud

CurrencyFair

Fenergo

Financeit

Gusto (formerly ZenPayroll)

Juvo

Kabbage

Kensho

Kreditech

Klarna

LendUp

Moneytree

PayNearMe

Payoneer

Personal Capital

Plaid

Quantopian

Quovo

Revolut

Ripple Labs

Roostify

Signifyd

SocietyOne

Socure

Tink

Token

Tradeshift

Transferwise

TrueAccord

Trulioo

VATBox

Wealthfront

Xignite

Zooz

Zopa

Finovate Alumni News

Around the web

  • Qumram wins “Most Innovative FinTech” at 4th Annual WealthBriefing Swiss Awards for 2017.
  • Jack Henry presents newlly-resdesigned Banno website.
  • Intuit deploys VersaPay ARC for its SME customers and accountant clients.
  • ChartIQ to provide Fidessa with HTML5 charting options. See ChartIQ at FinDEVr New York next month.
  • Temenos acquires long-time partner Rubik Financial for $50 million.
  • Dwolla looks at how Bento used Access API for ACH-powered fund transfer to develop its platform.
  • Clutch recognizes Softjourn as one of the top web and software developers in the Ukraine. Join Softjourn in New York next month for our developer’s conference, FinDEVr.
  • PYMNTS.com features CSI globalVCard on the eve of its global expansion.
  • Credit Karma unveils new free tax preparation service.

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

  • Nutmeg Closes $14.6 Million Series D Round”

Around the web

  • Taulia reaches supply chain finance into aerospace sector.
  • The New York Times highlights Credit Karma and Mint.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Credit Karma Launches Free Tax Filing Service

Credit Karma Launches Free Tax Filing Service

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Consumer-facing credit monitoring site Credit Karma is celebrating Christmas a bit early this year, but the presents its 60 million users will receive won’t be wrapped. The San Francisco-based company launched a new (and free) tax-return preparation offering this week to complement its flagship, free credit-score monitoring, as well as its loan- and credit-card comparison technology.

The new solution is powered by Credit Karma’s recent acquisition of online tax preparation and filing company AFJC Corporation, which sold co-branded and private-label tax services under the names OnePriceTaxes and Tax Preparer Solutions. New and existing users will have access to free tax filing in January 2017, just in time for tax season. According to Forbes, 90% of Americans will be able to file their taxes using the new tax-filing suite. The remaining 10% have complicated taxes for which the typical 1040 form is not suitable.

In a blog post announcing the service, Credit Karma CEO Ken Lin was eager to highlight that the service is free. He said, “We don’t have a paid version of our product nor are there confusing packages or versions to trick you into paying. It’s just one simple and truly free solution. And over time, we believe the integrations and insights will make your taxes even easier.”

Credit Karma is seeking to position itself as a financial assistant. As Lin explains, “We can monitor your credit, advise you on how to make good financial decisions and suggest better cards, loans and insurance products for you.” Since Credit Karma gets paid when customers sign up for a third-party’s product on its site, it makes sense for the company to offer another product to entice new users and to get existing users to spend more time on its website.

While the new tax offering doesn’t cost much for Credit Karma to maintain, it did take some time and effort to build. The profit will come in the form of client data. By leveraging income data in users’ tax returns, the company can make better recommendations for credit cards and loans to drive sales for partner companies including Payoff and Upstart for loans and Chase and Barclaycard for credit card offers.

Since launching in 2007, Credit Karma has raised $368.5 million and is valued at $3.5 billion. It offers free credit reports from Equifax and Transunion and seeks to serve as a hub for users to monitor their financial health. Last month, Credit Karma expanded operations to Canada, its first market outside the U.S. The company’s CEO Ken Lin debuted its Debt Manager at FinovateSpring 2009.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: BondIT Helps Relationship Managers Focus on the Relationship”
  • “Finicity Scores $42 Million Series B in Round Led by Experian
  • “Credit Karma Launches Free Tax Filing Service”

Around the web

  • Vasco to power multifactor authentication for BankMobile.
  • Engadget interviews Bo Lu, CEO of FutureAdvisor.
  • Micronotes launches Enterprise 4.0 platform that helps convert digital banking traffic into personal conversations and sales.
  • FIS establishes partner network for early-stage fintech companies.
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews Stuart Lacey, Trunomi CEO and founder.
  • Blackhawk Network to integrate gift cards, loyalty, and rewards into Apple Pay.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Western Union Takes Strategic Stake in Walletron

Around the web

  • Fiserv launches Prologue Risk Manager to streamline and simplify compliance.
  • RAGE Frameworks unveils LiveSpread, an AI solution to aid in processing of financial documents for credit analysis.
  • The Beast Apps introduces comprehensive MiFID II compliance-integration solution, Minotaur.
  • Scalable Capital launches Android app in the U.K.
  • Hyperwallet begins 24/7 support amidst launch of new Austin contact center.
  • Xero interviews David Barrett, CEO and founder of Expensify.
  • Heckyl wins Government of Ontario’s Next Big Idea 2016 contest
  • Kabbage named one of the best places to work in the U.S. for 2017.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Five Degrees Raises $10 Million in New Funding”

Around the web

  • Through partnerships with Arvest Bank and First Tennessee Bank, D3 Banking adds 1+ million users to its digital banking platform.
  • Jack Henry partners with Early Warning to offer P2P payment service Zelle to FI clients.
  • TIS deploys cloud-based forms-processing integrated with Salesforce for electricity supplier Powercor Australia.
  • Credit Karma expands operations to Canada.
  • Lending Robot files to form pooled investment fund.
  • Xero launches Xero HQ for accountants and bookkeepers.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.