Celebrate Canada Day with Our Alums from the Great White North

Celebrate Canada Day with Our Alums from the Great White North

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July 1st is Canada Day, the day Canadians from Nova Scotia to British Columbia and all the provinces in between celebrate the day the country we know as “Canada” was officially formed as a single nation within the British Empire.

So if you’ve got room in your schedule for one more Canada Day Celebration, then please join us in spending a little time celebrating with a score of Finovate alums that are driving fintech innovation in and out of “the Great White North.”

And a special Canada Day shout-out to Finovate partner, the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, which supports Canadian startups through mentorship and access to U.S. partners and investors.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Social Money Teams Up with Sallie Mae to Provide Goal-based Savings Accounts
  • Finovate Debuts: Shoeboxed’s Features Help Banks Dig Into Level 3 Data
  • Personal Capital Launches Retirement Planner to Give You a Reality Check

Around the web

  • Trustly creates double-digit increase in conversion rate after launching with Logitravel, now constitutes 40%+ of all transactions.
  • PYMNTS interviews Vishal Patel, senior marketing leader at Tradeshift on how the company makes the supply chain run smoothly.
  • Personal Capital launches retirement-planning tool.
  • Finance Magnates features Tradier in today’s Fintech Spotlight.
  • NICE Actimize, a division of NICE Systems, launches its Customer Due Diligence suite.
  • Mobile Syrup features FinanceIt, “the money lender for the smartphone age.”
  • InvestorIntel for Investors highlights Lending Club, Prosper, and FundAmerica in its look at startups in the crowdfunding industry.
  • Upstart Business Journal talks about how Malauzai Software is enabling “wearable banking.”
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews Jingit CEO Kate Bolster.
  • BuzFeed lists TradeHero among its “13 apps that’ll teach you something new every day.”
  • Business Insider examines how LoopPay could help Samsung take the “early lead” in mobile payments.
  • PaymentsSource quotes Prairie Cloudware CRO Doug Parr in a column on Apple Pay adoption (sub req).
  • Payments Source features BehavioSec’s biometric security solution (paywall).
  • Emitac Enterprise Solutions partners with Kony to speed the delivery of enterprise mobile apps.
  • Cartera Commerce launches Splender, a new eCommerce and cash-back shopping website.

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.

Ask Finovate: Who’s Who in Voice-banking Technology?

Ask Finovate: Who’s Who in Voice-banking Technology?

Telephone with piggy bank – call for help

A few days ago, we received a query from a Finovate follower:

“Can you please provide a list of companies that have demoed their voice-banking technology over the last few years?”

Interesting question! We trolled through our archives and here’s what we found.

When it comes to voice banking, ebankIT (FinovateEurope 2015); Interactions (FinovateEurope 2014); and ETRONIKA (FinovateEurope 2014) have all demonstrated innovative voice-banking technologies on the Finovate stage in recent years. It may not be a coincidence that all three companies won Best of Show awards for those demonstrations, as well.

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ebankIT Director Joao Lima Pinto and Omnichannel Specialist Paulo Oliviera demonstrated omnichannel social banking at FinovateEurope 2015 in London.

Another company worth mentioning is Finantix. The three-time Finovate veteran demoed its Smart Banking Assistant which responds to commands and queries posed in natural language, and is a part of the company’s Finantix Sharp multichannel platform.

Larger alums also have made inroads into voice banking. This cohort includes Fiserv, whose Voice Response for DNA solution is providing voice-banking services to a growing number of FIs, including credit unions, and ACI Worldwide, specializing in providing voice banking technology to community FIs via its Voice Banking suite within the ACI Self-service Banking platform.

Interactions_FS2014_stage

Interactions Marketing Manager Dan Fox demoed conversational solutions for banks and FIs at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

A number of Finovate alums have built and deployed voice-banking technologies, while emphasizing on stage only a small component of that technology, such as real-time authentication. These companies include NICE Systems (most recently at FinovateEurope 2015 and a Best of Show winner at FinovateFall 2014) and Q2ebanking (FinovateSpring 2011).

Also, many alums have focused on voice biometrics as an authentication solution without being a full voice-banking-platform provider. These companies include Canada’s VoiceTrust (FinovateEurope 2013); Great Britain’s ValidSoft (FinovateSpring 2013); Best of Show winners AnchorID (FinovateFall 2014) and BehavioSec (most recently at FinDEVr 2014) from New York and Sweden, respectively.

ETRONIKA_FEU15_stage

ETRONIKA CEO Kęstutis Gardžiulis and Head of Marketing Asta Sabaite demonstrated BANKTRON at FinovateEurope 2014.

Additionally, a handful of alums have developed technologies that complement voice banking. SayPay Technologies made its Finovate debut in London this year with a voice-driven bill-pay solution. IntelliResponse, which was recently acquired by [24]7 for its customer service chat resources, last deployed its virtual agent technology at Bank of Internet USA, adding the oldest internet bank in America to its roster of more than 450 deployments across more than 150 brands and institutions.

There is an even broader field of companies that leverage voice technologies to help consumers make payments and transfer money, manage their finances, and even direct investments. Some of these companies, e.g., Credit Sesame, are using Siri-like functionality to improve the customer experience, while others such as mBank are combining voice and video to bring customers real-time assistance from live agents as opposed to virtual ones.

Is there a Finovate alum we left out? If you’re an alum with interesting innovations in the field of voice banking, send us an email at research@finovate.com, and tell us all about it.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: LoanNow Helps Borrowers ‘Outperform their FICO Score'”

Around the web

  • HedgeCoVest launches its real-time, hedge fund replication platform.
  • First Republic Bank to deploy virtual banking solutions from Q2 Holdings.
  • The Independent takes a look at Klarna and the power of micropayment.
  • oneID featured in MacWorld as a two-factor authentication app for the Apple Watch.
  • Allied Wallet now a supported online payment provider of Spreedly.
  • emX Select from eMoney Advisor now integrated with Dropbox.
  • Süddeutsche Zeitung features Trustly and Klarna (in German).
  • Bank Innovation profile on alternative fintech capitals looks at Iceland and highlights Meniga.
  • Ripple Labs adds former Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) CEO Donald Donahue as advisor.
  • A review of local fintech startups in the Boston Globe features Kensho and Quantopian.
  • Temenos wins “Best Core Banking System” honors from Banker Africa East Africa Awards 2015.
  • American Banker considers how Namu covers the emotional side of banking.
  • Entrepreneur lists Patch of Land as 1 of 100 brilliant companies to watch in 2015.
  • Pendo Systems wins awards from international financial technology publications, the New Jersey Technology Council, and SWIFT.
  • Asian Wealth Times: “Singapore’s MoneySmart to Launch PFM tools with Ewise”
  • Finaeos teams up with TATA Consulting Services to help SMBs take advantage of Regulation A+ of the JOBS Act.

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

Around the web

  • Wallaby Financial partners with NXT-ID to bring Wocket Smart Wallet to Wallaby customers.
  • Asseco SEE teams up with UniCredit CEE to launch its fully native new generation tablet banking solution in six Eastern European countries.
  • Nomis Solutions taps Michael DeGusta as vice president and chief architect.
  • Service Credit Union offers mobile banking services with Touch ID, courtesy of pilot program run by Digital Insight.
  • Financeit partners with eOriginal Inc., bringing eSignature technology to Financeit customers.
  • Studio Movie Grill launches digital gift cards powered by CashStar.
  • Banking Exchange column on real-time payments in the U.S. features FIS, Dwolla, and Ripple.
  • Zopa to help provide financing for Uber drivers looking to buy their cars, rather than rent them.
  • American Banker features LendKey. Check them out at FinovateSpring next week in San Jose.
  • American Banker reports that partnerships fuel Lending Club’s unexpectedly fast growth.
  • BizEquity launches new ‘Adviser Office’ service.
  • Pepperi partners with Xero to extend cloud accounting with mobile sales automation.

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.

Alumni News: March 11, 2015

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  • Quisk discusses its experience at FinovateEurope 2015.
  • Check Point Software Technologies introduces Check Point Threat Extraction, a security approach that ensures documents are delivered to a malware-free network.
  • Paybefore selects the Navy FCU Visa Buxx app, powered by Cachet Financial’s Select Mobile Money, as Best in Category in the Judges’ Choice category of the 2015 Paybefore Awards.
  • Authentify launches xFA SecureCallCenter to help FIs protect call center reps from social engineering attempts.
  • ANV Group selects Avoka’s Transact technology to help improve the user experience for its insurance customers.
  • Talent Refresh features alternative lender, Financeit.

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: March 2, 2015

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgKnox News features SigFig and Motif Investing in its look at investment-tracking apps.
  • Bank Innovation takes a look at how Xignite “democratizes” financial trading.
  • ACI Worldwide teams up with STS PayOne to build fraud prevention technology for e-commerce merchants in the Middle East and Africa.
  • Payoneer appoints Neil Platt to Chief Revenue Officer.
  • Medium.com column on the money-transfer industry features CurrencyFair and TransferWise.
  • Financeit receives $75 million renewal from Pacific & Western Bank of Canada to help expand consumer financing program.
  • PYMNTS interviews Fiserv on how banks can capitalize on emerging trends.
  • Google launches a status dashboard for several of its cloud infrastructure services in the Google Cloud Platform.
  • PayPal acquires Paydiant for an estimated $280 million.
  • PayPal debuts chip & PIN and NFC payments-acceptance device.
  • Authentify Ranked 46 out of 500 Hottest Security Firms; its xFA Solution is a finalist for Authentication Solution of the Year.
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.

Financeit Brings in Fresh Funding After U.S. Launch

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What do wonders of the world, deadly sins, the Harry Potter series, and Financeit’s funding have in common? They all come in sets of seven (at least for now).

Financeit’s seventh round of funding comes from BEST Funds, which is adding an undisclosed amount to the $21.4 million Financeit has raised since its 2007 launch.

Previous rounds include $13 million in November 2013, along with $8.4 million in angel funding received in five rounds from 2007 to 2012.

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The new installment comes a few months after the Toronto-based company launched its point of sale financing solution in the United States. This is no small feat, given the hurdles of complying with U.S. regulations. Financeit plans to use the funds to expand growth in the new market.

Check out the live demo of Financeit’s U.S. launch, along with its partnership with FIS, at FinovateFall 2014.

Alumni News– November 14, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgIntelliResponse acquired by [24]7 for its customer service suite.
  • Another +1 For Host Card Emulation: SimplyTapp Garners $6 Million.
  • Financeit Brings in Fresh Funding After U.S. Launch.
  • Payfone selected as “Best Revenue Creator/Enhancer” for Mobile Network Operators in the 2014 Fierce Innovation: Telecom Edition Awards.
  • InComm & PayPal collaborate to offer digital gift cards.
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.

Financeit ‘s USA-Compliant Platform Helps Businesses Provide Payment Plans to Customers

Financeit ‘s USA-Compliant Platform Helps Businesses Provide Payment Plans to Customers
FIS Logo Print JPG

This post is part of our live coverage of FinovateFall 2014.

Our next presenter is Financeit. In partnership with FIS, Financeit is demoing Financeit USA Launch, making it easy for businesses of any size to boost their sales by offering payment plans to their customers.

Financeit, in partnership with FIS, is announcing the launch of, and showcasing, a USA-compliant platform. Their Finovate demo shows all of the components required to ensure processes are compliant while still providing end users with an amazing product.
Presenting: Michael Garrity (CEO), Katie Robinson (SVP Strategic Innovation), and Paul Sehr (CTO)
FinanceitHomepage_LifeBlog
Product Launch: September 2014
Metrics: Since launch, Financeit has processed over $700M in loans from more than 3,500 merchant partners. Financeit has raised over $21M in Venture Capital and currently has more than 65 employees.
Product distribution strategy: B2B Marketing, Sales and Partnerships
HQ: Toronto, ON, Canada (USA HQ: New York, NY)
Founded: January 2011
Website: financeit.io
Twitter: @financeit

Alumni News– June 6, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgEverybody into the algos! Quantopian launches open beta program; announces $100 million in trades guided by platform algorithms.
  • CRIF announces acquisition of majority stake in High Mark Credit Information Services.
  • Financeit closes $C35 million renewable purchase facility and a $C5 million warehouse line facility with Pacific & Western Bank of Canada.
  • Wealthfront reaches more than $1 billion assets under management.
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.

Financeit Unveils New Loan Application Design and Features

Financeit Unveils New Loan Application Design and Features

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The announcement of Financeit’s new loan application process may not resound with the crescendo of multi-million-dollar fundings. But my guess is that the businesses who rely on Financeit to help them offer financing services to their customers are pretty pleased at the news.

Simplification and a clearer, through-line taking customers from the beginning to the end of the loan application process is the goal of the redesign. Here are the features of the “new Financeit experience”:

  • eSignature functionality to sign and submit documents online
  • Better notifications in real-time on loan status and other updates
  • Improved design provide single-click access to borrower, loan, fee, and commission details
  • New technology powers drag and drop document submittal
Financeit_homepage
Financeit specializes in providing businesses with the ability to provide point-of-sale loans to their customers. With interest rates as low as 7.13% APR, Financeit borrowers can finance between $500 and $50,000 for up to 15 years. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the company has processed more than $650 million in loan applications from more than 3,400 partners.
Founded in 2011, Financeit is led by CEO Michael Garrrity and has raised more than $21 million in funding. The company demoed its technology most recently at FinovateFall 2013.