Finovate Alumni Website Traffic in September

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete.
Out of 268 alumni, 80 had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in September 2011 and are included in the tables below. Of those, 33 (41%) had more visitors in September than August. Year-over-year, 42 (52%) had traffic increases.
Private Companies
  • Seeking Alpha and Cortera had the highest traffic in September with 2.1 and 2.0 million unique visitors, respectively. Cortera also had the highest increase in number of unique year-over-year visits with over 1.5 more visits in 2011 than in 2010.
  • Kabbage had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, up 280x.
  • Weemba saw the highest monthly growth percentage with more than 7.5 times the number of unique visitors in September compared to August.
  • SmartCredit.com had the highest increase in number of unique year-over-year visitors, growing by 126,000.
PrivateWebTrafficSeptember2.jpg
Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 26, 2011
 
1) The previous month recorded was August 2011
2) Sears Credit Score is powered by CreditKarma.com
3) Truaxis was formerly BillShrink
4) Kasasa is powered by BancVue
Public companies
 
  • CheckFree had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, with over 7 times the number of visitors this year than last year.
  • Intuit had a notable increase in number of unique, year-over-year visitors, increasing by 300,000 visits.
  • Check Point had the highest month-over-month percent growth, with 41% more visitors in September than in August.
PublicWebTrafficSeptember2.jpgSource: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 26, 2011

1) The previous month recorded was July 2011.
_______________________________________________________
Notes:
1. We reviewed 268 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed.
3. NM = not measurable
4. t= tie
5. Compete estimates online visitors based on the activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic and may undercount at-work usage.

Finovate Alumni News– October 31, 2011

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  • Prosper.com creates account enhancements for investors.
  • Bank Technology News looks at Pageonce’s decision to add a bill pay service.
  • PSFK gives a sneak peek of BankSimple’s mobile app.
  • CNN Tech discusses the differences between Intuit’s Quicken and Mint.com.
  • Clairmail announces a record increase in cumulative mobile banking transactions.
  • ReadyForZero now supports auto loans, mortgages, and student loans.
  • The Des Moines Register looks at how Dwolla & T8 Webware contribute to Des Moines’s startup culture.
  • Benzinga looks at DoughMain’s family finance tool.
  • CU Times examines the usage of Mint.com’s iPad app.
  • The Republic examines LearnVest’s budgeting and advice platform.
  • Mint.com explores its history as an infographic and includes being a two-time Finovate Best of Show Winner.
  • Intuit receives two prestigious awards for social customer support, engagement.
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 Website Traffic in August

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete
Out of 268 alumni, 75 had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in August 2011 and are included in the tables below. Of those, 41 (55%) had more visitors in August than July. Year-over-year, 45 (60%) had traffic increases.
Private Companies
  • Seeking Alpha — the most-trafficked in August with 2.5 million unique visitors — also had the highest increase in number of unique month-over-month visits with 300,000 more visits in August than in July.
  • Budgettracker.com saw the highest monthly growth percentage with more than 6.5 times the number of unique visitors in August compared to July.
  • Betterment had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, up 88x.
  • Cortera had the highest number of unique year-over-year visitors, growing by 1.5 million. 
August2011PrivateWebTraffic4.jpg
Source: Compete.com retrieved week of October 3, 2011
1) The previous month recorded was July 2011
2) Truaxis was formerly BillShrink
4) Kasasa is powered by BancVue
5) Checkingfinder.com is powered by BancVue

Public Companies

  • Fiserv had the highest month-over-month percent growth, with 50% more visitors.
  • CheckFree had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, with over 5 times the number of visitors.
  • S1 also had a high percentage growth year-over-year, doubling its visitors.
August2011PublicWebTraffic5.jpg
Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 3, 2011
1) The previous month recorded was July 2011.
_______________________________________________________
Notes:
1. We reviewed 268 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed. 
3. NM = Not measurable
4. t= Tie
5. Compete estimates online visitors based on the activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic and may undercount at-work usage.

Finovate Alumni Website Traffic in July

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete
Out of 255 alumni, 59 (23%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in July 2011 (see tables below). Of those, 19 (32%) had more visitors than in the previous month and 25 (42%) were flat. Year-over-year, 26 (44%) had an increase, 10 (17%) were flat, and 23 (39%) were down. 

Private Companies
Notable successes:
  • Seeking Alpha had the most traffic in July with more than 2 million unique visitors.
  • eToro saw the highest monthly growth percentage with 3 times the number of unique visitors in July compared to June.
  • Bundle had the highest increase in number of unique month-over-month visits, with 450,000 more visitors in July than in June.
  • eRollover had the highest percent year-over-year traffic increase, with 260,000 more visitors from last July. 
JulyWebTrafficPrivate6.jpg
Source: Compete.com retrieved week of August 15, 2011
1. The previous month recorded was May 2011
2. Sears Credit Score is powered by CreditKarma.com
3. Kasasa is powered by BancVue
Public Companies
Notable successes:
  • PayPal had the highest number of U.S. visitors in July, with more than 30 million visitors.
  • Jack Henry & Associates saw the highest monthly growth with twice as many visitors in July than June.
  • Wipro Technologies had the highest year-over-year growth, with 3 times as many visitors this year compared to last year.
  • FIS Global and Online Resources also doubled their traffic compared to last year. 
JulyWebTrafficPublic4.jpg
Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of August 15, 2011
1. The previous month recorded was May 2011.
_______________________________________________________
Notes:
1. We reviewed 255 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed. 
3. NM = Not measurable
4. Compete estimates online visitors based on the activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic and may undercount at-work usage.

Alumni News — Week of July 25, 2011

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Clairmail
Clairmail chose Jigsaw’s Data Cloud to help its mobile banking client improve marketing and receive more leads. During vendor trials it saw an increase in productivity, response rates, sales, and marketing effectiveness. Link

Clovr Media 
Boston Business Journal reported that Clovr Media is preparing for the launch of its credit 

Clovr.jpg

card-linked offers at the end of the fourth quarter by hiring 12 new staff members. Link
Confident Technologies
Confident Technologies released a two-factor mobile phone authentication platform that requires the user to memorize images. Because this second factor security is not stored on the user’s device, it mitigates the opportunity for Zeus-in-the-middle attacks. Link
Currensee
The Forbes blog looks at Currensee for social foreign exchange investing, paying special attention to its rapid growth rate. Link
doxo 
The Entrepreneur blog compared doxo’s document storage and online payment system to PayPal, citing that the cost to collect payment is less than half of a typical PayPal transaction. Link
Dynamics
The Pittsburgh Business Times interviewed Jeff Mullen, CEO of Dynamics, Inc on the naming of the company. Link
eToro 
  • The Forbes blog looked at eToro for social foreign exchange investing, paying special attention to its rapid growth rate. Linketoro.jpg
  • The World Finance Awards selected eToro as Best Social Trading Network, Best Mobile Trading Platform, and Best Trading Software Provider. Link
Geezeo
Geezeo was selected by The Coca-Cola Family Credit Union to provide a PFM solution and integrated marketing platform. Link
Ideon Financial Solutions
Ideon Financial Solutions was granted a patent for its Choice Savings technology, a system that allows financial institutions to provide their clients with a variety of customizable savings products. Link
Identity Theft 911
Identity Theft 911 partnered with Arabella Protection Insurance Company to offer commercial data breach services like preparedness and response. Link
Intuit 
TechCrunch reported that Intuit launched a QuickBooks mobile app for the Android that 

intuit.jpg

allows small businesses to access their data from QuickBooks Pro, Online, and Premier. Link
Lending Club 
  • American Consumer News provided a comparison guide for borrowers and lenders to Prosper’s and Lending Club’s services. The benefits included high rates of return and flexibility. Link
  • Brian Wong’s Database blog looked at what its like to invest in Lending Club. He presented his opinion on the usability of the service. Link
Metavante 
EverBank, a $7 billion Internet bank, announced that it is seeking to be an early adopter of Metavante’s customer information management product, a product that was built from the Temenos Core Banking Platform, a result of the partnership formed in 2007. Link
mFoundry 
NEFCU added a mobile app for the Android, using mFoundry’s technology to offer account balances, check history, transfers, and bill pay. This is in addition to its existing apps for Blackberry and the iPhone. Link
Micronotes 
1st Advantage Federal Credit Union, a major Virginia credit union, announced that it will use

micronotes.jpg

 Micronotes’ cross-sell engine, KulaX, to improve lead generation. Link
Prosper 
American Consumer News provided a comparison guide for borrowers and lenders to Prosper’s and Lending Club’s services. The benefits included high rates of return and flexibility. Link
Syphr 
Syphr was among 6 out of 90 fintech companies selected by the Fintech Innovation Lab who will present their innovations to Wall Street venture capitalists. Link

PayPal and Cortera Take Charge in May’s Web Traffic

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of our alums, using data from Web-analytics company Compete to review the sites they operate. 

Out of 255 alumni, 62 (24%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in May 2011 (see tables below). Of the 62 reviewed, 25 (40%) had fewer visitors than in the previous month and 28 (45%) saw a decline year-over-year.

Private Companies
The 44 private companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

  • Cortera saw the highest number of unique U.S. visitors in May, with almost 2 million hits.
  • HelloWallet experienced the greatest month-over-month growth, with more than four times as many visitors.
  • Betterment saw its traffic increase an impressive 38 times from May of last year.

Private Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011

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Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

Public Companies
The 18 public companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

  • PayPal experienced the highest number of U.S. visitors in May, with over 32 million visitors.
  • TransUnion Interactive saw the highest month-over-month growth with more than two times the number of visitors in May than in April.
  • Sybase 365 experienced the highest year-over-year growth, with its traffic up almost 80% from last year.

Public Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011 

May2011PublicWebTraffic.jpg

Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

_____________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 255 unique sites. Data was unavailable or irrelevant for 201 sites because: 

  • They had been acquired.
  • They were no longer available online.
  • They were not covered by Compete for various reasons (including some that were not U.S. domestic companies).
  • The number of unique visits was too small to be considered accurate.
  • They were subdomains of larger websites.

2. Numbers have been rounded to three significant digits.

3. The charts include companies that did not have measurable traffic in May 2011, indicated by “N/A.”

4. Compete draws its information from the online activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic, and may undercount at-work usage.

Alumni News — Week of June 27, 2011

AlumNewsIMG.jpg
ActivePath
A top Brazilian card issuer implemented an ActivePath solution. Link
AlphaClone
AlphaClone incorporated new sentiment scores into its stock view pages. Link
Bills.com
Bills.com released the results from its Consumer Money Survey that gauges money attitudes and behaviors. Link
BlazeMobile.jpg

Blaze Mobile
Blaze Mobile was awarded a patent for NFC on stickers. Link
BOKU
BOKU released 1-Tap Mobile Billing for the Android and took it live in 56 countries. Link
Braintree
Braintree received $34M in Series A funding from Accel. Link
Currensee

Currensee.jpg

Reuters outlined the benefits of Currensee. Link
Credit Karma
Credit Karma CEO Ken Lin advised consumers how they should deal with credit card offers. Link
doxo 
doxo won the Stevie Award for New Product of the Year for financial services in the 2011 American Business Awards. Link
Dwolla
Dwolla said its Grid payment network is more secure than Visa and MasterCard’s card networks. Link
Dynamics
Dynamics raised $35M for computerized smartcards and payment systems. Link
eToro

etoro.jpg

Reuters outlined the benefits of eToro. Link
eWise
gotoBilling, Inc. added eWise’s Secure Vault Payments as another payment platform. Link
Expensify
The Wall Street Journal listed Expensify as a must-have mobile tech tool for entrepreneurs. Link
Fiserv
Fiserv entered into an agreement to acquire CashEdge for $465 million to advance its digital payments and channel strategies. Link

Guardian Analytics

GuardianAnalytics.jpg

Yahoo! Finance reported that Guardian Analytics’ FraudMAP is helping financial institutions meet FFIEC guidelines. Link
HelloWallet
HelloWallet was added to Mercer’s Outsourcing business benefits administration. Link
Intuit
Intuit purchased Mobile Money Ventures’ web banking technology to augment its mobile banking capabilities. Link
Kony Solutions

KonySolutions.jpg

The American Business Awards selected Kony Solutions as the Most Innovative Company of the YearLink
Lendio
The Launch blog highlighted Lendio. Link
Outright
Outright rolled out a new report function allowing clients to view sales by state. Link
PayPal
PayPal reached 100 million active users. Link

Profit Stars
Profit Stars introduced its new Remote Deposit Anywhere solution. Link
Prosper
  • Former Lending Club director Joseph Toms joined Prosper as its Chief Investment Officer. Link
  • The San Francisco Times reported on Prosper’s growth. Link
Q2ebanking

q2ebanking.jpg

Q2ebanking was noted as a service to help community financial institutions meet FFIEC Guidance. Link
SimpleTuition
SimpleTuition expanded its student loan payment options by partnering with Discover Card. Link
SmartyPig
SmartyPig was recommended by Mint.com as a way to save for impulse purchases. Link
TradeKing
TradeKing implemented SunGard’s MarketMap to deliver market data to its active trading platform. Link
UBank
Mashable highlighted UBank’s feedback forum. Link
Voice Commerce
Voice Commerce launched a payment solution for the iPhone. Link
Wikinvest

wikinvest.jpg

PC mag reviewed Wikinvest’s mobile app. Link
Xero
Tech Day assessed Xero’s Debtor Daddy service. Link

Alumni News — Week of May 16, 2011

Finovate_Alumni_news.jpg

Bill.com
Practical Ecommerce listed Bill.com as 1 of 19 tools for online bookkeeping and invoicing Link


BrightScope
BrightScope announced the top 10 commodities funds held in America’s 401k plans Link
Frazier & Deeter, FD Alliance, BrightScope and SignatureFD conducted a national webinar on BrightScope’s tool that rates employee benefit plans. Link 
ClairMail

ClairMail.jpg

ClairMail reported record growth with a record number of customer acquisitions and a 300% increase in user growth Link  
eRollover
eRollover announced its Facebook Early Retirement Vacation Sweepstakes Link
Finantix
Wealth Management 360 highlighted Finantix’s Finovate Europe demo Link

Intuit
Intuit reported an increase of internet banking users by 9% and bill pay users by 23% Link
iPay Technologies

iPayTechnologies.jpg

iPay Technologies reached 1 Million users of its P2P electronic payment service, with almost 8 million payments processed to date Link
Kapitall
Kapitall implemented an alert system for current news on stocks and funds. These new alerts will keep users informed and will link directly to Kapitall’s analytical tools for a quick understanding of changes. Link
Kashoo

kashoo.jpg

Practical Ecommerce listed Kashoo as 1 of 19 tools for online bookkeeping and invoicing  Link
Kashoo was selected by IDC as one of Canada’s Top 10 cloud companies to watch Link

On Deck Capital
Tech Crunch reported On Deck Capital’s announcement of the On Deck Score, a credit score for small businesses. This program seeks to fix the problem of businesses borrowing money as consumers http://tcrn.ch/kNjGX6 Link
Outright.com
Practical Ecommerce listed Outright.com as 1 of 19 tools for online bookkeeping and invoicing Link

SecondMarket 
SecondMarket experienced $115M in private stock sales during Q1 Link

TradeKing
TradeKing ranked number four in customer service for the second consecutive year in the Annual Broker Survey by Wall Street Journal’s magazine, SmartMoney Link 
Wonga

wonga.jpg

Wired UK mag covered Wonga’s disruptive process of making borrowing money completely automatic. Are they transforming personal finance? Link
Wonga should have won of Startup 100 Awards, not Spotify Link

Alumni News — Week of April 11, 2011

To follow Finovate alumni companies’ latest news in real-time, see our live feed on Twitter

GoalMine receives first Morningstar rating. The fund received a top rating of five stars and achieved returns that ranked in the top one percent of 400 funds in the mid-cap value category for the three-year period ending March 31, 2011, based on risk-adjusted performance. http://bit.ly/finovate41211
Intuit releases report outlining its vision for banking in the year 2020. http://bit.ly/finovate412111
MobileBeat: Why does NFC Matter? (Mentions of Boku, Sybase and others). Does tap beat swipe for mobile payments? http://bit.ly/finovate412113
Striata and Payments Gateway partner to securely deliver electronic property-tax bills. Allegheny County, in Pennsylvania, USA, will be billing electronically with Striata. http://bit.ly/finovate413113
The Garland Group announces strategic partnership with Deluxe Corp.  The Garland Group’s RiskKey’s compliance program will now be included as a product within Deluxe Corp’s enterprise compliance programs.  http://bit.ly/finovate413111
The Receivables Exchanges partners with Coupa to provide suppliers with working capital. Coupa, a developer of cloud spend-management solutions (CSM), is integrating the receivables exchange system into invoicing for suppliers, to provide greater working capital.  http://bit.ly/finovate413112

Alumni News — Weeks of March 7, 13 and 21, 2011

To view our alumni news updates in real time, follow us on Twitter

Andera adds its 500th customer. http://bit.ly/finovate322116
Bill Harris and Mark Goines join the Pageonce Advisory Board. Harris was formerly CEO of Intuit and of PayPal, and Goines was formerly a senior executive at Intuit and Charles Schwab. http://prn.to/finovate322111
Bill.com named to the JMP Securities “Hot 100.” The list includes the 100 best privately held software companies for 2011 according to the investment bank. http://bit.ly/finovate38113
BillShrink adds Anil Arora, Yodlee president and CEO, to its board of directors. The announcement comes just after the launch of “Statement Rewards” from BillShrink. http://bit.ly/finovate322112
Boku moves from virtual-goods billing to real-goods billing in Germany. Now real goods can be added to wireless bills thanks to Boku’s technology. http://bit.ly/finovate324112
Cardlytics wins Judge’s Choice Award in the 2011 Paybefore Awards. The Paybefore  awards are hosted annually by Prepaid Media. http://bit.ly/finovate38111
CashEdge signs Huntington for P2P PopMoney. http://bit.ly/finovate322117
Check out the Filene webinar with Thwakk on how to leverage financial education to increase youth membership. http://bit.ly/finovate322113
Columbus Water Works customers can now pay their utility bill via eWise’s secure payment platform. http://yhoo.it/finovate37113
Cedit Sesame closes on $6.15 million Series B funding round led by Melo Ventures. http://bit.ly/finovate322118
eToro launches “Trade Story.” This social platform helps traders learn the strategies behind other users’ trades. http://bit.ly/hQNDGc
Expensify is featured in Money magazine. http://bit.ly/finovate322114
Guardian Analytics raises $11 million. This is Guardian’s fourth round of funding, this time led by Split Rock Partners. http://bit.ly/finovate323113
H&R Block and Yodlee partner to make it easier to file taxes. http://yhoo.it/finovate3236
ICICI and Intuit partner on a Mint-like platform for India. http://bit.ly/finovate324113

South Carolina Federal Credit Union Launches In-Statement Merchant-Funded Rewards

image

imageIf you are looking for an example of how to promote your rewards program, take a lesson from 140,000-member South Carolina FCU. The company just launched an in-statement merchant-funded rewards program called Simple Perks (press release) for its 58,000 online banking customers.

The CU posted a great 2-minute video showing how the program works (see second screenshot). It also posted a quality supporting blog entry, "Are you a ‘clipper’ or ‘clicker’ (note 1).

The new rewards program is delivered through the CU’s PFM dashboard powered by Intuit’s Personal FinanceWorks (see third screenshot). The rewards program is powered by Cardlytics, an Atlanta-based startup we’ve written about several times (previous posts).

Bottom line: Regardless of whether you personally think rewards programs pollute the online banking experience, this is a genie that’s not going back in the bottle. Targeted advertising based on spending behavior is too lucrative to ignore.

It reminds me of the advent of keyword advertising on search engines. At the time, there was concern that the technique, based on actual user queries, was an invasion of privacy. It may have been, but it’s worked pretty well for Google, and most users benefit from the well-targeted ads as well.

We are pretty confident the same scenario will play out with debit and credit card statements (note 1). As long as offers are relevant, unobtrusive, and probably opt-in, the majority of customers will like them and the rest will tolerate them.

South Carolina FCU homepage with six mentions of rewards (10 March 2011)

image

Simple Perks landing page with great demo video (link)

South Caroline FCU Simple Perks landing page with great demo video

Simple Perks rewards module is highly visible within online banking

Simple Perks rewards module is highly visible within Intuit Personal FinanceWorks online banking

——-

Note:
1. Side note: This is how to blog about something new. Author Troy Hall doesn’t just repeat the press release, he tells a story to make it interesting and relevant. (I would lose the salesy…"life simplified" line at the end, but that’s just being picky).  
2. For more info, see latest Online Banking Report on merchant-funded rewards.  

Alumni News, Weeks of February 21st and February 28th, 2011

To see our alumni news feed in real time, visit us on Twitter
Bank of Internet will use Intuit’s FinanceWorks. http://mwne.ws/finovate2241
Betterment reduces fees on retirement accounts. http://bit.ly/finovate224114
Service enhancements at Bill.com. Clone invoices ease automated payments. http://bit.ly/finovate224112
eToro completes $8.3 million funding round led by Spark Capital. eToro has 1.5 million users in 130 countries worldwide. http://bit.ly/f1G99d
eToro launches new user tools, and deposit bonuses. New eToro users can get a bonus of up to $500 to try Forex trading. http://bit.ly/finovate34112
eWise is moving to Denver. The company processes electronic payments and is moving to attract employees. http://bit.ly/finovate22311
Fiserv acquires M-Com to enhance mobile banking and payments capabilities. http://bit.ly/finovate34117
Kiboo got a makeover. The new interface focuses on usability and design. http://bit.ly/finovate34111
Lending Club exceeds $200 million in cumulative peer-to-peer  loans. The combined Lending Club and Prosper volume is now approaching the half-billion dollar mark. http://bit.ly/finovate34118
Lodo Software signs thirty more banks for its OurCashFlow PFM platform. http://bit.ly/finovate34113
MiiCard featured as Microsoft’s Startup of the Day. http://bit.ly/finovate224113
Striata adds Iconix Truemark sender recognition technology to electronic communications. The system adds branded visual identity to help identify genuine emails from financial institutions. http://bit.ly/finovate34116