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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 11 and 12. Register today and save your spot.
IllumaShield Voice Authentication integrated with Glia’s Digital Customer Service platform for frictionless yet secure voice engagements.
Features
Better customer experience with frictionless account access
Improved operational efficiency by cutting minutes from each phone call
Better security with biometric voice authentication
Why it’s great
The Illuma Shield voice authentication integration with Glia improves operational efficiency, security, and customer experience for community banks and credit unions.
Presenters
Milind Borkar, Founder & CEO Borkar brings a background in R&D and more than 50 successful product launches to his role as Founder and CEO of Illuma Labs. LinkedIn
Greg Cummings, Director, Global ISV Partners Cummings has over 20 years of experience in the customer engagement space and currently serves as the Director of Global ISV Partnerships at Glia. LinkedIn
Digital customer service provider Glia is enhancing its Glia Interaction Platform with a partnership with voice authentication provider Illuma Labs. Glia has integrated Illuma’s voice authentication technology into its customer service platform to help organizations streamline voice authentication for customer service interactions.
Glia anticipates the new addition will not only prevent fraud, but also enhance the customer experience and improve operational efficiency. “Illuma Shield fits seamlessly with the Glia Interaction Platform, adding more efficiency by making voice authentication effortless,” explained Illuma CEO and Founder Milind Borkar. “Our joint customers are experiencing the real value that the Glia and Illuma partnership delivers.”
Illuma Shield is Illuma’s flagship voice biometrics product that integrates signal processing, AI, and machine learning. The technology works in the background to authenticate customers during an interaction and prevent account takeover. Meanwhile, the customer service representative doesn’t need to make unnecessary clicks or spend time on data entry during or after the call. And because the user interface shows up on the agent’s existing screen, they don’t have to open up a different window.
The Glia Interaction platform is comprised of digital, phone, and self-service customer service options. The range of solutions not only provides customers a variety of options when seeking out customer service, but it also offers end users a seamless, omni-channel experience in the event they need to change communication channels.
“Authentication, particularly for phone banking, has traditionally been cumbersome and a major source of friction,” said Glia SVP of Alliances Steve Kaish. “By verifying enrolled customers in the first few seconds of natural conversation with the Illuma Shield software, Glia quickly enables an authenticated interaction, reducing fraud and letting customers focus on their immediate need, be it an account balance, mortgage inquiry or loan origination.”
Glia was founded in 2012 as SaleMove. The New York-based company offers digital communication environments, on-screen collaboration, and AI-enabled assistance tools for clients who need to support end customers online, over the phone, in home office environments, and via video. In total, Glia has facilitated more than 10 billion customer interactions. The company has raised $152 million and counts Envestnet, Deutsche Bank, and United Healthcare among its clients. Glia has taken home 10 Finovate Best of Show awards for its live demos and most recently showcased its tools at FinovateSpring 2021.
Founded in 2016, Illuma seeks to help credit unions boost their brand reputation with a modern and seamless member experience and better security. The Texas-based company has raised $2.5 million. Illuma appeared on the FinovateSpring stage last month in San Francisco with a demo of how it brings passive voice authentication to Glia’s customer service interactions.
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring in San Francisco on May 23 and 24. Register today and save your spot.
Illuma’s Shield Voice Authentication is now integrated with Glia’s Digital Customer Service Platform for frictionless yet secure voice engagements.
Features
Better customer experience with frictionless account access
Improved operational efficiency by cutting minutes from each phone call
Better security with biometric voice authentication
Why it’s great
The Illuma Shield voice authentication integration with Glia improves operational efficiency, security, and customer experience for community banks and credit unions.
Presenters
Milind Borkar, Founder & CEO Borkar brings a background in R&D and more than 50 successful product launches to his role as Founder and CEO of Illuma Labs. LinkedIn
Greg Cummings, Director, Global ISV Partners Cummings has over 20 years of experience in the customer engagement space and currently serves as the Director of Global ISV Partnerships at Glia. LinkedIn
Frictionless account access without pins/passcodes/passphrases
24/7 customer service with a user friendly, conversational IVR
Better security with biometric voice authentication
Why it’s great
The Illuma Shield Voice Authentication + Posh Conversational IVR integration improves operational efficiency, security, and customer experience for community banks and credit unions.
Presenters
Milind Borkar, CEO & Founder, Illuma Labs Borkar brings a background in R&D and more than 50 successful product launches to his role at Illuma Labs. LinkedIn
Karan Kashyap, CEO & Co-Founder, Posh Posh is a conversational AI fintech working with FIs. Kashyap is an alumni of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. LinkedIn
Chad Rogers, EVP & COO, Connexus Credit Union At Connexus Credit union ($4.9B in assets), Rogers leads a talented senior leadership team delivering exceptional experiences to ~420K members nationwide. LinkedIn
Illuma Labs, maker of the Illuma Shield voice verification platform, raised new funding this week from NYCUA and UsNet.
The amount of the investment was not disclosed. The funding comes one year after Illuma Labs secured $2.5 million in funding from the Curql Fund.
This week’s funding comes one month after the company partnered with Posh Technologies to win the “Next Big Thing” award from NACUSO (National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations) and Co-Op Solutions.
The amount of the investment was not disclosed. The company raised $2.5 million in funding from the Curql Fund just over a year ago
A Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO), Illuma Labs considers credit unions to be its key customers, investors, and partners. The company’s Illuma Shield technology enables call centers to leverage passive voice authentication to improve the user experience, guard against fraudsters, and boost operational efficiency by reducing call handle times, hold times, and abandon rates. A cost-effective, easy to deploy, and simple to use solution for mid-size financial institution call centers, Illuma Shield analyzes the unique aspects of a speaker’s voice and their communication device to create an AudioPrint that can be used to verify identity on subsequent calls. The AudioPrint process happens in the background, during normal conversation, without requiring the speaker to answer security questions or recite passphrases.
“This technology uses state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Voice Biometrics to address three of the top concerns for credit unions today,” Illuma Shield founder and CEO Milind Borkar said. “The platform improves member experience by emulating the warm welcome of a brick-and-mortar visit while offering a very high level of protection against account takeovers. Cutting out the security Q&A process also creates operational efficiency by shortening call times. The infusion of investment from NYCUA and UsNet is highly valued since it helps us expand to serve even more credit unions.”
A Finovate alum since 2019, Illuma Labs announced a partnership with SCE Credit Union, a $1 billion institution with more than 60,000 members in Southern California and Southern Nevada, in May. Also that month, Illuma Labs and Posh Technologies collaborated to win the “Next Big Idea” award from NACUSO and Co-Op Solutions. The partnership combined the passive voice authentication of Illuma Labs’ Illuma Shield and Posh Technologies’ conversational AI IVR to help call centers cope with high call volume and talent shortages.
“Posh’s conversational AI and Illuma’s voice biometrics is a combination that makes sense,” Posh co-founder Karan Kashyap said. “As we do our parts as CUSOs to bring transformative technology to the credit union market, our partnership will enhance member security for credit unions while offering a streamlined authentication experience for the caller – a win-win. We look forward to a bright future with Illuma Labs.”
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring in San Francisco on May 18 and 19. Register today and save your spot.
Illuma Shield voice authentication is integrated with Posh Technologies’ Conversational AI IVR for deployment in the contact center.
Features
Frictionless account access without PINs, passcodes, or passphrases
24/7 customer service with a user friendly, conversational IVR
Better security with biometric voice authentication
Why it’s great
The Illuma Shield voice authentication + Posh Conversational IVR integration improves operational efficiency, security, and customer experience for community banks and credit unions.
Presenters
Milind Borkar, CEO & Founder, Illuma Borkar brings a background in R&D and more than 50 successful product launches to his role as founder and CEO of Illuma Labs. LinkedIn
Scott Stinocher, Web App Developer, TruWest Credit Union Stinocher is a Web App Developer with 10 years of experience in IT and five years of experience in the financial sector. LinkedIn
Karan Kashyap, CEO & Co-Founder, Posh Technologies In 2013, Kashyap began his journey at MIT, which included undergraduate and graduate degrees focused on AI, where he was named a Siebel Scholar for his research work.
While he was completing his graduate degree, he began AI and software consulting with enterprises across multiple industries, building a business foundation, and establishing a pathway to the beginning of Posh. Posh now has more than 50 clients across the banking and credit union space with an ever-growing client base and employee roster. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.
IllumaShield provides passive voice authentication for call centers. It elevates the user experience, enhances security against fraudsters, and improves operational efficiency.
Features
Elevate user experience with frictionless authentication
Reduce average handle time, hold times, and abandon rates
Enhance security against fraudsters
Why it’s great Passive voice authentication is finally within reach for mid-size FI contact centers. It’s cost effective, easy to deploy, and simple to use.
Presenters
Milind Borkar, CEO & Founder Borkar has over a decade experience spanning R&D and marketing and leads the IP and business development activities for the company. LinkedIn
Ryan Harmon, Software Developer Harmon is a software developer at Illuma Labs and has a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Dallas. LinkedIn
An investment of $2.5 million from Curql Fund will help Illuma Labs further innovate in the field of voice authentication for credit union call centers. The company will use the capital to enable new anti-fraud features as well as new platform integrations to ensure its technology is accessible to a wide range of credit unions.
Illuma Labs flagship product, demonstrated at the company’s most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateFall last year, is Illuma Shield. The solution leverages real-time voice authentication rather than traditional, knowledge-based authentication techniques to combat fraud, improve efficiency, and enhance the overall member experience.
“This technology uses state of the art Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, and voice biometrics to address three of the top concerns for credit unions,” Illuma Labs founder and CEO Milind Borkar explained. “Improving member experience by emulating the warm welcome of a brick-and-mortar visit, creating operational efficiency by shortening call times, and increasing security to prevent account takeovers.”
“The infusion of investment from Curql is very timely for expanding this solution to the entire credit union community,” Borkar added.
Earlier this year, Illuma Labs announced a partnership with TDECU (Texas Dow Employees Credit Union) which deployed Illuma Labs’ voice authentication technology in its Member Contact Center. With more than 354,000 members and more than $4 billion in assets, TDECU is a not-for-profit financial cooperative that offers a full range of deposit products as well as online and mobile banking, and lending solutions.
“Our top priority is to keep members connected to their money in a way that is not only safe and secure, but also easily accessible,” TDECU Chief Growth, Strategy & Marketing Officer Alex De La Cruz said. “We look to fintech as a solution through our partnership with Illuma Labs to provide added security and a best-in-class Member experience.”
Also this spring, Illuma Labs teamed up with Wisconsin-based Connexus Credit Union ($3.3 billion in assets; 382,000 members). Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Illuma Labs was founded in 2016.
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateAsia Digital on June 22, 2021. Register today and save your spot.
Illuma Labs’Illuma Shield provides passive voice authentication for call centers. It elevates the user experience, enhances security against fraudsters, and improves operational efficiency.
Features
Elevates user experience with frictionless authentication
Reduces average handle time, hold times, and abandon rates
Enhances security against fraudsters
Why it’s great A passive voice authentication for call centers.
Presenters
Milind Borkar, CEO & Founder Borkar has over a decade of experience spanning R&D and marketing, and leads the IP and business development activities for the company. LinkedIn
Jeremy Whittington, CTO & Co-Founder Whittington has over 20 years of experience architecting SaaS applications, and leads architecture and product development activities for the company. LinkedIn
Illuma Labs, creator of the real-time audio authentication platform for secure voice communications, Illuma Shield, has received a joint investment from The Veridian Group (a CUSO of Veridian Cedit Union) and Texas Dow Employees Credit Union (TDECU). Terms of the funding were not disclosed.
The investment comes as a result of Illuma Labs’ participation in VentureTech, an annual program that helps fintechs seeking funding to secure investment opportunities from within the credit union industry. Illuma was part of VentureTech’s 2019 cohort, which also featured fellow Finovate alums Wizely Finance, Terafina, Plinqit, and Pinkaloo. VentureTech was launched by The Veridian Group, Open Technology Solutions, and CUNA Strategic Services in 2018, and will hold its third event this fall.
“Instead of waiting for technology to come to market, VentureTech allows the credit union industry to be proactive in building its competitive advantage in the digital space,” President of The Veridian Group, Nick Evens explained at last year’s conference, which saw Illuma Labs take home top honors. “By recognizing and investing in promising fintech, we’re providing innovative, digital-first solutions that will drive the Movement forward.”
Iowa-based Veridian Credit Union, the FI served by The Veridian Group, has more than 244,000 members and $4.5 billion in assets. Texas Dow Employees Credit Union, with $3.7 billion in assets and more than 263,000 members, is the biggest credit union in the Houston, Texas area, and the fourth largest CU in the state.
Founded in 2016 and making its Finovate debut last year at FinovateSpring, Illuma Labs provides real-time voice authentication for customers around the world. With a technology that has its origins in R&D projects with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, the company’s solutions support secure communications in verticals ranging from financial services and insurance to e-commerce. Illuma Shield, the company’s flagship solution, leverages signal processing, machine learning, and AI to offer call centers a real-time voice authentication solution that analyzes voices in natural conversation and provides a high authentication accuracy rate in a short period of time.
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Illuma Labs was founded in 2016 by Milind Borkar (CEO) and Jeremy Whittington (CTO).
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateMiddleEast on November 20 and 21, 2019 in Dubai. Register today and save your spot.
Illuma Labs’Illuma Shield provides passive voice authentication for call centers. It reduces operating costs, enhances security against fraudsters, and eliminates friction from the customer experience.
Features
Reduce average handle time and operating costs
Enhance security against fraudsters and social engineers
Elevate user experience by eliminating friction in the authentication process
Presenters
Milind Borkar, Founder & CEO Borkar has over a decade of experience spanning R&D and marketing, and leads the IP and business development activities for the company. LinkedIn
Jeremy Whittington, Co-Founder & CTO Whittington has over 20 years of experience architecting SaaS applications, and leads architecture and product development activities for the company. LinkedIn
Paysendreaches one million customer mark for its card-to-card money transfer service, Global Transfers.
Tinkoffgoes live with Pulse, a free social network for investors.
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