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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Earlier this month, 42 companies took the stage at FinovateSpring in San Diego, showcasing their latest and greatest fintech solutions. Now, it’s your turn to experience the action. The demo videos from the event are live! So, whether you joined us in person or missed the event, you can now watch every presentation on demand, for free.
The best way to dive into the 42 videos, which total nearly five hours of content, is to watch the six Best of Show videos from the conference.
Thanks to all of the demo companies for making this a fantastic event! You won’t want to miss our next event, FinovateFall, which is taking place September 8 through 10 in New York. The earlier you register, the more you save.
As I write this, Finovate’s first fintech conference in San Diego has one more day of content left. But if the first two days of FinovateSpring 2025 are any indication, it’s already a good bet that we will be back.
From the California-based fintechs that made the short trip south to innovative startups that traveled from as far away as New Zealand, FinovateSpring 2025 featured a diverse and exciting range of fintech innovations designed to solve pain points for banks, credit unions, and financial services providers, as well as for their customers and members.
Whether leveraging AI to create efficiencies and automate workflows or putting embedded finance to work improving lending for small businesses, our demoing companies continue to represent the cutting edge of what’s new, what’s novel, and what works.
With this in mind, here are the winners of Best of Show for FinovateSpring 2025.
Bits of Stock for its solution that gathers deposits and drives non-interest income by helping financial institutions stay top of mind and top of wallet with the next generation of investors.
Finalytics.ai for its technology that enables financial institutions to instantly unleash the power of AI by offering digital experiences informed by behavioral, transactional, and third-party data.
Herd Security for its technology that gives financial organizations visibility and protection from voice fraud.
Illuma for its innovations in deepfake detection that enable community financial institutions to keep their members and customers connected with their funds in a convenient and secure manner.
Penny Finance for its solution that connects the dots between an FI’s products and services and a member’s needs, all while creating efficiency for their marketing organizations.
Solda.ai for its technology that enables businesses to better engage their customers with instant scalability.
Thanks to our demoing companies, our sponsors, speakers, and delegates for making our first fintech conference in San Diego such a success.
Next up on the Finovate tour is FinovateFall 2025, September 8-10, at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, New York. Find out more about the conference at our FinovateFall hub and we look forward to seeing you in “The City That Never Sleeps”.
Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The six companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2025 conferences are below:
Personalizing the customer experience has consistently been a hot topic in fintech and banking over the past decade. This persistence suggests that the financial services industry continues to fall short when it comes to providing a high-quality, tailored user experience.
In the past year, we have seen significant promise from AI tools that can integrate personalization into the customer workflow while still maintaining a high-touch user experience. In today’s Streamly Snapshot, Research Analyst David Penn talks with Craig MacLaughlin, CEO at Finalytics.ai and Baron Conway, CSO at Finalytics.ai about the meaning of personalization, how financial institutions stand to gain from it, the role AI is playing in enhancing personalization, and how firms can embark upon their journey of personalization.
“The ability to deliver the high-touch service– something you were able to do on the phone or in the branch– has really been taken away. So we look at the opportunity to use personalization to get back that experience, but deliver it digitally,” said MacLaughlin. “We’re basically giving community FIs the ability to deliver the same experiences that mega brands are able to do in the digital channel.”
“So to build upon that,” added Conway, “from an institution’s perspective, it enables them, in the digital channel, to build closer relationships, build more loyalty, and– crucially– drive more product sales. Because, if you give someone what they’re looking for, they’re more likely to engage, and purchase, and come back for more.”
Finalytics.ai seeks to help community banks and credit unions compete with larger organizations by helping them personalize the customer journey. The California-based company leverages AI along with real-time data analytics to help drive growth, loyalty, and operational efficiencies.
By blending personalization and innovation, Finalytics.ai helps its financial institution clients meet the evolving needs of their customers in today’s competitive landscape.
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring in San Francisco on May 21 and 22. Register today using this link and save 20%.
APIMatic
APIMatic’s mission is to make integrating APIs quick and straightforward for developers via automatic code generation. Customers include fintech giants Paypal, VISA, Maxio, and many others.
Features
APIMatic’s developer experience platform adds a layer of technology between fintech partners and developers to make onboarding faster and more accessible through the power of automation and GenAI.
Who’s it for?
Banks and fintechs heavily invested in API programs.
Blee
Blee helps compliance and legal teams automate the review and oversight of marketing, product, and sales materials using AI, ML, and custom automation.
Features
Centralized platform for content review and approval, powered by AI
Ongoing monitoring and oversight of websites and social media
Faster content approvals while maintaining oversights
Who’s it for?
Direct-to-consumer and direct-to-SMB regulated entities such as banks, credit unions, and fintechs.
Finalytics.ai
Finalytics.ai is a real-time data analytics platform, empowering community financial institutions with tailored customer experiences through big data and machine learning.
Features
Personalized customer journeys using a “segment-of-one” approach
Dynamic segmentation and content tailoring
Enhanced digital strategy and implementation consulting
Who’s it for?
Community financial institutions, including banks, credit unions, and potentially other payment providers seeking advanced data analytics solutions for personalized customer experiences.
TransUnion
TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible by ensuring each person is reliably represented in the marketplace.
Features
Enhanced BreachIQ helps consumers proactively protect their identities by
Generating personalized Identity Safety Scores
Measuring incident severity via Breach Risk Scores
Tailoring Action Plans to incidents
Who’s it for?
Banks, credit unions, and fintech companies.
Winnow
Winnow AI leverages the power of LLP and NLP artificial intelligence to deliver lightning-fast answers to basic legal questions around topics that Winnow covers.
Features
Quickly answers basic legal questions
Generates responses based on Winnow’s 60,000+ attorney-reviewed legal requirements
Reduces time and effort typically spent on legal research
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring in San Francisco on May 23 and 24. Register today and save your spot.
Finalytics.ai is the first community financial institution platform to apply real-time multi-faceted data with machine learning to produce a segment of one digital experience for consumers.
Features
Finalytics.ai seeks to go beyond personalization to impact the top and bottom lines of their clients by:
Increasing deposits
Increasing loan applications
Increasing digital engagement
Why it’s great
The Finalytics.ai platform is the only built-for-purpose solution that leverages internal and external data with machine learning to create an experience tailored to the individual’s needs each time they engage.
Presenters
Craig McLaughlin, Co-Founder & CEO McLaughlin’s focus is on Finalytics.ai’s partnerships with leading community financial institutions. He is regularly featured in banking industry media. LinkedIn
Mark Ryan, Co-Founder & Chief Analytics Officer Ryan’s focus is on ROI goals, data strategies, digital channel reporting, and process establishment for data analysis. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 12 and 13. Register today and save your spot.
Finalytics.ai uses the power of big data and machine learning to help clients go beyond personalization and provide customers and members with a market of one digital experience.
Features
Create a dynamic, visitor-centric, digital platform ideal for online conversions
Create a positive digital experience & user journey
Implement an AI-enhanced CX in eight weeks
Why it’s great
The Finalytics.ai platform was designed specifically to leverage the relational aspect of the credit union model, transforming the digital experience from “one size fits all” to a “segment-of-one.”
Presenters
Craig McLaughlin, Co-Founder & CEO Craig McLaughlin is the Founder & CEO of Silicon Valley-based Finalytics.ai, the first digital platform to apply real-time big data and machine learning to address individuals’ financial needs. LinkedIn
Thomas Novak, VP & Chief Digital Officer Thomas P. Novak is VP & Chief Digital Officer at Visions Federal Credit Union where he oversees digital banking strategy and payments strategy supporting seamless end-to-end experiences. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.
Finalytics.ai is a data platform for credit unions that uses machine learning to dynamically generate segment of one digital experiences.
Features
Personalization at scale for credit unions
Big data
AI/ML automated
Why it’s great People think that digital banks are winning because of superior user experiences. In reality, they are winning because they use data to acquire new customers. Finalytics.ai brings that to CUs.
Presenters
Craig McLaughlin, CEO McLaughlin is the CEO of Finalytics.ai. Over the last two decades, he has driven segment-of-one experiences for large-scale FIs, community banks, credit unions, and fintech start-ups. LinkedIn
Mark Ryan, Chief Analytics Officer Ryan leads the data team at Finalytics.ai to set and achieve ROI goals, data strategies, digital channel reporting, and establish processes for data analysis for customers. LinkedIn
Our New Startup Highlight, launched this spring, gives us an opportunity to showcase lesser known fintech innovators that might otherwise fly under the radar.
This week, we feature five such companies — all of whom are both recent Finovate alums as well as being founded within the past year or so. Special congratulations to Dbilia and Proptee, two startups barely a year old that nevertheless wowed our Finovate audiences this year, earning Best of Show trophies in their Finovate debuts.
FinovateEurope’s Youngest Startups
Founded last year and headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Dbilia leverages blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to provide a digital marketplace for collectables and memorabilia. The company won Best of Show at FinovateEurope for its demo of its marketplace, as well as its demonstration of NFT creation, automatic NFT collection storage, and NFT shop setup. Dbilia was founded by Everett Kohl, who is the company’s CEO.
Less than one year old, Proptee made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in March, demonstrating its commission, property stock exchange. Proptee enables investors to buy and sell shares in real estate that is listed by property owners on its platform. The technology, which helped the company earn Best of Show honors at FinovateEurope in March, combines the liquidity and transparency of the stock market with the stability of real estate investment. Proptee was co-founded by Benedek Toth (CEO) and Alexandru Rosianu (CTO) and is based in London, U.K.
Three Startups from FinovateSpring
An insights platform that helps financial services companies and other organizations optimize for financial health, Attunedemoed its technology at FinovateSpring earlier this month. The company, founded in January 2020 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, offers firms a robust assessment tool that measures the financial health of both individuals and populations over time. The solution then leverages nationally-representative, longitudinal benchmarks to help clients understand and operationalize the results. John Thompson is President.
Giving community financial institutions the kind of real-time visibility into client data that larger institutions have is the mission of San Mateo, California-based Finalytics.AI. Launched in January of 2020, Finalytics.AI made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring. At the conference, the company showed how its platform leverages machine learning dynamic segmentation, and dynamic content creation to help community-based FIs better understand and serve their customers. The technology also helps them compete with the digital prowess of the big banks and digital-only institutions. Craig McLaughlin is CEO.
Headquartered in Kirkland, SecureSavedemonstrated its workplace savings program at FinovateSpring earlier this month. The company offers a savings app that is designed to help employees build an emergency fund easily and automatically. By partnering with employers, SecureSave makes emergency savings a “high impact new benefit” that companies can use to support the financial wellness of their workers. CEO Devin Miller and CTO Bassam Saliba co-founded the company in the fall of 2020.
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring Digital on May 10 through 13, 2021. Register today and save your spot.
Finalytics.aiis a platform that improves customer and member acquisition and retention for community banks and credit unions using data, machine learning, and dynamic content creation.
Features
Automates assessment of an FI’s digital practice to its peers
Generates growth for FIs through state-of-the-art technology
Improves customer retention with unique digital experiences
Why it’s great Finalytics.ai identifies digital best practices, accesses multiple data sources, and applies machine learning to create digital content unique to the needs of potential and existing customers and members.
Presenters
Craig McLaughlin, CEO McLaughlin has 20 years’ experience setting winning digital strategies for banks and credit unions as CEO of Extractable. He’s co-founded Finalytics.ai to address a whitespace in data and AI for banking. LinkedIn
Mark Ryan, Chief Analytics Officer Ryan is the data expert for banks and credit unions as it relates to digital acquisition and building relationship depth. He led analytics projects for Visa, Charles Schwab, and many banks and CUs. LinkedIn
