Finovate Alumni News– January 30, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgArxan appoints Patrick Kehoe as Chief Marketing Officer.
  • GRANCO Federal Credit Union to offer Geezeo powered PFM.
  • Mitek’s Mobile Photo Payments now offered by a large, unnamed cable, telecomm and media companies.
  • Lighter Capital extends 40th loan.
  • Lodo Software changes its name to D3 Technology.
  • miiCard adds former SWIFT CEO Lázaro Campos, previous VP of SecureWorks Richard Lewis, and prior Clydesdale executive Kenny White to its Board of Directors.
  • Zopa secures £15 million from London-based Arrowgrass Capital Partners.
  • Crowdfund Insider looks at SeedInvest and its comment letters to the SEC on crowdfunding and the JOBS Act.
  • LendUp launches educational video series to help combat identity theft.
  • Flint Mobile announces start of partner program for ISOs, MSPs, and ISVs.
  • Financial Times column on online banking and the cloud features Fidor Bank.
  • Your Story features TransferWise and its co-founder Taavet Hinrikus.
  • InComm and H&R Block enable consumers to reload their H&R Block Emerald Card at more than 60k Vanilla Reload locations in the U.S.
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.

19 Finovate Alums Selected for 2014 European FinTech 50 Awards

The FinTech 50 awards highlight 50 European-based companies to watch over the coming year. The companies are selected by a panel of 15 fintech professionals. This year, 19 of the selected companies are Finovate alums.

Here are the Finovate alums selected, listed in alphabetical order:


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AcceptEmail, for its electronic billing and payment system that allows customers to make payments straight from their email.

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BehavioSec, for its technology that uses behavioral biometrics to verify users, creating a secure environment without extra friction.

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Credit Agricole Apps, for its online app store where financial apps are co-created between clients and developers.

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eToro, for its social trading and investment network

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ETRONIKA, for its full suite of ebanking channels and BANKTRON management platform.

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Fidor Bank, for its innovative online banking community.

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Five Degrees, for its integrated banking platform that extends from back-end systems to client-facing technology.

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FreeAgent, for its SMB-focused online accounting system.

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Help my Cash, for its recommendation engine that informs consumers of their options when choosing and negotiating financial services.
Holvi, for its smart checking account for group activities.
Ixaris, for its innovative global applications based on open-loop prepaid card schemes.

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Klarna, for its e-commerce payment solutions.

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mBank, for its Bank 3.0 approach to online and mobile banking.

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Meniga, for its white-labeled PFM and next-generation online banking solutions.

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Nutmeg, for its online savings and investing service that helps users manage their money.

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The Currency Cloud, for its Cross Border Payments as a Service product that optimizes exchange rates and payment networks for both parties in a currency exchange.

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TransferWise, for its platform that allows expats, foreign exchange students and businesses to move money globally.

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Wonga, for its service that provides small, short term cash advances to UK consumers online.

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Zopa, for its P2P money lending service that allows borrowers and lenders to deal with each other directly.

Finovate Alumni News– January 23, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgVanguard partners with HelloWallet to help employees save more for retirement.
  • Sprint introduces Sprint Money Express; offers subscribers a card for all their cash to pair with Wipit offering.
  • PaymentsNews shows a graphical view of PayPal’s performance.
  • Arroweye Solutions named winner in eighth annual Paybefore Awards.
  • BillGuard brings email-like UI to mobile banking transaction flow.
  • Jingit talks mobile payments and advertising on CauseTalk Radio.
  • Fidor Bank to launch bitcoin derivatives market.
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– November 8, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgadesso to sell & implement Backbase’s Customer Experience Platform in Germany, Austria & Switzerland.
  • ValidSoft announces appointment of Paul Burmester as CEO. Pat Carroll to assume role of Executive Chairman.
  • Fidor Bank expanding into Russia through a joint venture Life.Sreda.
  • Numbrs, Kofax make American Banker’s “Top 10 FinTech Companies to Watch” roster.
  • Intuit announces partnership with American Express to support receipt data integration to QuickBooks.
  • La Caixa launches social network for its investors, StockTactics.
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– August 19, 2013

  • FinovateLOGO.jpgPersint among four new startups entering incubation phase of Yodlee Interactive Partner Lifecycle Program, NEXT.
  • Virtual Piggy to provide payment system to video game publisher Marvelous USA.
  • TSYS announces integration with FICO fraud management technology.
  • Monitise SVP of Strategy Richard Johnson talks about “making money mobile” at the Wired Money conference.
  • StockSmart joins Yodlee Interactive’s NEXT program for nurturing fintech startups. See StockSmart demo at FinovateFall in New York.
  • Fidor Bank customers to get access to social trading platform ayondo.
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– July 24, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgCardlytics hires Jim Morgan as its first CFO.
  • Yodlee lets U.K. lenders view prospects’ bank account data.
  • Q2ebanking expands into 85,000 square foot Austin corporate headquarters, poised for continued growth with new talent.
  • TechMarketView reports: ValidSoft offering additional security in a multi-channel world.
  • Congruity Solutions features ShopKeep POS on radio talk show.
  • ProfitStars introduces iPay OneClick bill pay and Andiamo, a way to deploy mobile services without core integration.
  • Fidor Bank AG to create “liability umbrella” in new partnership with German bit coin marketplace, Bitcoin.de.
  • The Currency Cloud nominated for Best Online Payments Solution (Merchants) in 2013 Payments Awards.
  • Bank Info Security interviews Akamai’s Fran Trentley on security challenges in the mobile environment.
  • Paul Miniutti of ProfitStars talks about the link between ATMs, mobile devices, and P2P payments.
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– April 16, 2013

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  • Upstart Business Journal features SeedInvest. See them demo at FinovateSpring in San Francisco in May.
  • Experian announces acquisition of Decisioning Solutions.
  • Volunteer Federal Savings Bank and Peoples Bank of the South choose Jack Henry Banking for  enterprise-wide automation.
  • GFT Blog interviews Matthias Kroner, chairman of the Fidor management board for Fidor Bank.
  • Authentify placed in Visionaries quadrant of the Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant for User Authentication.” 
  • Boku partners with Bigpoint SARL and Co to allow users to make virtual payments.
  • Kony Solutions partners with Blue Shield of CA to develop and deploy apps on the KonyOne Platform.
  • miiCard adds YubiKey Authentication to online identity proofing solution.
  • SF Gate lists Mint and Expensify as 2 of 4 services to keep tax records organized.
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.

Judges Name BBVA and Fidor Bank AG Two of Four Winners of the 2013 Bank Innovation Awards

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We recently returned from the Bank Innovation conference in San Francisco, where the 2013 Bank Innovation awards were presented on Monday afternoon.

A panel of judges selected BBVA and Fidor Bank AG as 2 of 4 companies whose innovations made a difference in 2012.

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BBVA won for its BBVA Game that uses gamification to incent clients to use its banking services. Elements of the game include points, badges, and a leaderboard that come together in a virtual economy. In the 6 months since its launch, more than 100k customers have signed up. Watch the demo video of BBVA debuting its new Stockbuzz program at FinovateEurope 2013.

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Fidor Bank AG
Fidor Bank AG won for Like-Zins, a user-generated interest rate program. For every 2,000 Facebook likes that Fidor receives, it raises the interest rate on FidorPay checking accounts by 10 basis points per year (with a cap of 15% per year). So far, the Facebook community has increased the accounts by 50-70 basis points. Fidor demoed at FinovateEurope 2011.

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Also among the winners are:

  • Long-time Finovate sponsor The Bancorp Bank, which is the financial institution that backs both Moven and Simple.
  • SaverNation, a company that helps users fund their retirement by saving small percentages of their normal purchases.

See Bank Innovation’s full coverage of all of the winners here.

Finovate Alumni News– September 4, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgFenergo launches new online FATCA Self-Certification Tool for W-8 and W-9 form collection.
  • ABABanking Journal profiles Guardian Analytics.
  • Geezeo signs Commonwealth and General.
  • Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Monitise form partnership.
  • Visible Banking interviews Matthias Kroener, Fidor Founder and CEO.
  • Social Lending Network reports: Lending Club cracks $70 mil, Prosper has a down month.
  • North Bay Business Journal lists mFoundry and Monitise as fast growing tech companies in 2012.
  • American Banker reports Pacific Continental switches to Q2ebanking as business app provider.
  • Tykoon and LearnVest host contest to help families get money smart.
  • Leadfusion extends aid to financial institutions struggling to respond to the latest serious Java security threat.
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– June 18, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgSimple sends out a wave of new beta invites, including one to Square’s co-founder.
  • The Financial Services Club explores how Fidor Bank is innovating in the traditional banking space.
  • Wall Street Journal looks at Doxo’s role in the bill payment space.
  • Barrons examines how SigFig’s portfolio managers work.
  • American Banker reports BankSimple Aims to Simplify Opening Online Accounts using Andera’s SDK.
  • The Wall Street Journal examines innovation in fintech.
  • Dwolla’s FiSync goes live.
  • Geezeo signs Missouri Credit Union.
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.

FinovateEurope 2012 Sneak Peek: Part 1

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Right now, over three dozen leading fintech companies, both hot young startups and established players, are gearing up to demo their latest innovations at the second annual FinovateEurope next February 7th in London.

To whet your appetite, we asked each handpicked company to provide a sneak peek of what it will be demoing on stage. Below is the first installment. We’ll have another installment next week.

Don’t miss your chance to see fast-paced demos of the newest ideas from each company and meet the execs responsible for the cutting-edge of innovation in financial and banking technology. Plus get your FinovateEurope ticket before December 23rd and you’ll lock in the early-bird price!

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AcceptEmail will launch a revolutionary way of billing and collecting. The inventor of billing and payment via email will introduce AcceptSMS, the world’s first Short Invoice Service. 
With this technology, AcceptEmail users will be able to send payment requests to a smartphone or PDA via SMS, WhatsApp Messenger or social media in an easy and clever way. Improve your customers’ payment behavior by offering multi-channel and customer friendly payment methods.
Innovation type: Communications, mobile and tablet UI, payments

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Find out more about a solution that Raymond James has already adopted to give its investment advisors authenticity on social networks. It also generated a $1 million prospect for another wealth management firm after just 96 tweets.  
Actiance will also demonstrate how you can measure and analyse your network growth to accurately plot your social graph.
Innovation type: Communications, marketing, security

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Brokertainment combines the fun and thrill of stock market trading with a reduced risk due to extremely low minimum investments (1 euro) and ultra-short term durations of derivatives (around 5 minutes). 
Brokertainment will present a new product called STOCKBATTLE.
Innovation type: Investing and asset management

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Business Centric Services Group (BCSG) will present an exciting new credit management tool to the SME market, which will break down the traditional barriers of cost, complexity and awareness. 
BCSG has identified a customer need for this product through research, which highlighted that over half of small businesses never run credit checks on new customers, and just under half do not monitor their existing customers and suppliers.
Its innovative tool allows complex information to be delivered in a simple and usable format, ensuring the best possible end-user experience. 
Innovation type: Banking products, online UI, small business

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Almost all banking today is being done in digital space. Why not communicate with computers in a natural way, as we do in the real world? 
Imagine a financial application that recognizes your face, congratulates you, analyzes your voice to identify you, and navigates you in online banking. You choose what is most convenient for you at that time: using your voice, gestures, keyboard, or a mix of all the approaches. You are smiling. 
Motion and speech belong to the game world or laboratory geeks– not to online banking solutions that refer to a serious, unshakable, respectable realm. ETRONIKA wants to challenge this point of view by introducing a new UX approach to financial online services.
Innovation type: Banking, identity, online UI

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InvestorBee puts data at consumers’ fingertips so they can make smart, confident investments.
    • It’s fact, not opinion. Users can tap into the database to learn from the experiences of over a million UK investors.
    • It’s an investment health check. Users can compare themselves to their peers to set realistic saving targets and investment goals.
    • It’s simple investing without guesswork. In a few easy steps, users can choose an objective risk-based strategy that’s right for them.
InvestorBee users extract wisdom from the crowd to make better, simpler investment decisions.
Innovation type: Investing and asset management, PFM

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Fiserv will demonstrate its next generation mobile P2P, small business an
d eCommerce merchant payments. As an international provider of digital banking and payment solutions, Fiserv delivers market-proven capabilities with innovations in both the mobile and online channels.
Innovation type: Mobile and tablet UI, online UI, payments

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IND Group gamified its white-label Internet Banking and Personal Finance Manager. It added these methods to its new Banking-Front Office. The solution is based on the fact that customers love to do almost anything if they are rewarded for it. 
With the two-level point system, banks can give points for things like function use, transactions, and product or service purchases. Customers can collect points and badges for dedicated actions. The system is closely connected with Facebook, where users can post their results and badges. With its strong visualization features and real rewards, the gamified IND Internet Banking and Personal Finance Manager creates a compelling, engaging user experience.
Innovation type: Online UI, PFM, rewards

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Luup will launch a mobile payment service for corporations and governments that is set to bring them cost-savings, efficiency and productivity gains. The service solves one of the biggest daily challenges that organisations face worldwide. 
Through an interactive live demo from various mobile devices, Luup will showcase how the new service is a fast, convenient and secure way to optimise processes. Attendees will experience how Luup solutions are unique in being universally deployable, bank-grade, live and proven– as well as scalable and easily managed.
Innovation type: Mobile and tablet UI, payments

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miiCard, My Internet Identity, is the first service that allows a consumer to prove their identity to the AML/KYC standard purely online.
Through miiCard, a vendor can identify an individual to a level of assurance that supports real-time online sales of regulated financial products, and replaces the need for a ‘wet signature’ reducing operational costs and increasing conversions. 
miiCard creates trust, protects consumers and fights against fraud. It helps realize the full potential of the digital economy by enabling higher value online business.
Innovation type: Identity, payments, sales and customer service

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Sandstone will be showcasing its next generation mobile banking app that contains sophisticated money management/ OFM tools, the latest anti-fraud and security measures, and user experience capabilities that enable financial institutions to better engage with their customers.
Using the latest HTML5 technology, the app can be developed once and then delivered seamlessly across all smart phone app stores to run on any smart phone mobile device. The registration process for the app locks the user to the device while the page-fingerprinting technology ensures that fraudulent users will not be able to connect to the secure server.
Innovation type: Banking, PFM, security

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Service2Media and Rabobank will introduce mobile payments via a banking app for all webshops. Customers of Rabobank that have installed the Rabobank Mobile Banking app can now pay for their mobile purchases as easily as their online purchases by using a mobile version of the online payment method IDEAL
The new mobile IDEAL payment is facilitated by starting the Rabobank Banking app on an iPhone once a payment request is issued on the merchant’s mobile site. The user then authorizes the transaction in the app with his account number and access code before being redirected to the merchant’s mobile site. Mobile banking is now possible without an e-reader as long as the balancing account is known.
Innovation type: Banking, mobile and tablet UI, payments

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Securing M-Banking
The advancement of technology is making our lives easier. Mobile banking, or m-banking, is here and with 800,000,000 smartphones already in circulation globally, it is going to grow. But how do we make m-banking safe and practical to use? You can’t hold your smartphone in one hand and your bank secure key in the other when walking down the street – that’s not “making our lives easier”.
A much simpler solution is using out-of-band, real-time, multi-factor authentication and transaction verification. ValidSoft will demonstrate how its products can do just that.
Innovation type: Identity, payments, security

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One of the primary tools direct sales agents need is a tablet variant of the unified desktop. Wipro has developed a customer acquisition framework on a tablet-based device, which is a step in this direction. 
CAMS on Tablet leverages mobile, analytics and intelligent processes for on-the-go pe
rsonalized offers and application capture. The solution is also relevant in next generation bank branches where a differentiated environment is created for HNI customers.
Innovation type: Mobile and tablet UI, PFM, sales