Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Onfido to Enhance New Customer Onboarding for Volopa. See Onfido at FinovateFall in New York, September 24-26.

Around the web

  • bpm’online recognized by CRM Magazine Market Awards 2018 in three categories: Midmarket CRM Suite, Sales Force Automation, and Enterprise CRM Suite.
  • Australian challenger bank Judo Capital to deploy Temenos’ T24 core banking system.
  • Fintech Futures interviews Serena Smith, international payments executive at FIS.
  • PayPal tops 250 million active account milestone.
  • Sai Sundaram, former COO of UBS ODC India, joins FixNix’s advisory board.
  • Smart Valor officially accepted as a financial intermediary.
  • PayPal’s Xoom partners with OXXO to add more than 17,000 new cash pickup locations in Mexico.
  • Kasasa‘s Free Kasasa Cash Rewards Checking offering goes live with Chief Financial 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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Xero Learn Sets Stage for Next Generation of Number Crunchers.
  • SynapseFI Raises $17 Million in New Funding.

Around the web

  • iSignthis acquires core banking platform software business.
  • HooYu teams up with U.K. casino operator, Bear Group.
  • United Bank of Egypt leverages technology from Finastra to upgrade its core banking infrastructure.
  • Ripple and TransferGo partner on real-time, blockchain-enabled remittances.
  • Striata inks partnership with UK-based customer communications specialist Communisis.
  • Experian to launch comparison service feature that gives consumers the real rate charged when applying for a credit card.
  • Tibco has started a research lab to develop new products and services in emerging areas such as blockchain, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT).
  • BeSmartee integrates with Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter to Accelerate Mortgage Process.
  • Kasasa names Amy Gililland Chief Financial Officer.

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.

Kasasa’s MoneyIsland Helps Community Bank Earn ICBA Honors

Kasasa’s MoneyIsland Helps Community Bank Earn ICBA Honors

ESB Financial, a fourth-generation, family-owned community bank based in Kansas, won Honorable Mention recognition at the 2018 National Community Bank Service Awards sponsored by the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA). The community bank earned plaudits for its deployment of MoneyIsland, an online game developed by multiple-time Best of Show winner Kasasa that helps teach children the importance of money management.

“It’s never too early to promote good money management habits,” ESB Financial CEO James Wayman said. “Our MoneyIsland game from Kasasa was designed with kids in mind and is an innovative approach to exploring financial concepts that will serve them well throughout their lives.”

The importance of learning healthy financial habits can be challenging enough for adults. But when it comes to youngsters, gamification can play an especially helpful role. “We believe it can be fun,” Kasasa CEO Gabe Krajicek said. “This is why we created MoneyIsland. It’s a great way to teach kids about budgeting, taxes, and credit in a fun and exciting way.”

MoneyIsland combines an online experience with an offline curriculum that focuses on three areas: Saving and Spending, Sharing and Investing, and Using Credit Wisely. Children playing the game learn about important money management concepts and improve their math skills as they play MoneyIsland, which is based on traveling to popular (and imagined) destinations around the world to save down-on-his-financial-luck character, Stone Broke. The game won Kasasa (demoing as BancVue) Best of Show honors at FinovateSpring 2011.

Calling the game a “huge value for financial institutions,” Krajicek added that other community FIs and credit unions should “follow in ESB Financial’s footsteps” when it comes to providing innovative ways to reach out to their customers. He added, “Consumers want to work with institutions that demonstrate a commitment to financial literacy and this game is an ideal way to do so while also providing a means to more deeply engage with customers.”

Kasasa demonstrated its Kasasa Loans solution at FinovateSpring 2018, winning Best of Show. The Austin, Texas-based fintech was founded in 2004 and has more than 800 community financial institution clients. With more than $2 billion in rewards paid out to consumers, and more than $900 million in non-interest income generated for Kasasa clients, the company partnered with MicroStrategy in April, and teamed up with MeridianLink in March.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • CoverHound to Help Intelligent Customers to Shop Around for Renter’s Insurance.
  • AlphaPoint to Power DCEX, an XRP-Based Currency Exchange.
  • ebankIT to Power Digital Banking for Coast Capital.

Around the web

  • Fiserv forges strategic alliance with cybersecurity firm, BlueVoyant.
  • mBank and Commerzbank to launch pan-European challenger bank.
  • Gartner recognizes i-exceed as a “Niche Player” in its Magic Quadrant for Mobile Application Development Platforms (MADP).
  • Finance Magnates features a profile on the Ledger Nano S hardware wallet.
  • Caja Sullana leverages credit scoring from LenddoEFL to provide young entrepreneurs access to credit.
  • Insuritas to launch a member owned insurance agency for America’s Credit Union and its 47,000 members.
  • NIIT Technologies recognized as ‘Star Performer’ on the 2018 Everest Group PEAK Matrix Insurance Application Services.
  • Glassdoor ranks Kasasa CEO Gabe Krajicek 45th in the Top 50 CEOs at Small and Medium Companies in the United States.

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 Favorites: A Baker’s Dozen of Best of Show Winners

Finovate Favorites: A Baker’s Dozen of Best of Show Winners

Which fintech companies have continued to impress Finovate audiences over the years? The return of Kasasa to FinovateSpring last month, winning its fourth Best of Show award in the process, got a few of us thinking that it was a good time to take a look at which companies have been selected as fan favorites most frequently after demoing their latest technologies live on stage.

We’ve highlighted companies that have been especially popular at certain conferences, such as FinovateAsia and FinovateSpring before. Here is our compendium of the top Best of Show vote-getters to date for all shows combined (minimum of three wins).

The Big Three

The three companies that have won the most Best of Show awards from Finovate audiences reflect three different themes in fintech over the years: the allure of social investing (eToro), the rise of data analytics in banking (MX, formerly Money Desktop), and the persistence of the payment card (Dynamics). What is especially impressive about all three companies in our Best of Show Big Three is their ability to innovate over time. Each alum won their first Best of Show award between 2010 and 2012 and won their most recent Best of Show award between 2016 and 2018.

Dynamics (8) Founded in 2007. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jeff Mullen is CEO.

MX / Money Desktop (6) Founded in 2010. Headquartered in Lehi, Utah. Ryan Caldwell is CEO.

eToro (6) Founded in 2007. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel and London, U.K. Yoni Assia is CEO.

The Super Six

Of our Super Six – the six companies to have won Best of Show awards four times – what is most interesting is also the way many of them have been proven innovators over a time of major change in fintech. Companies like Kasasa (formerly BancVue) and Yodlee (now Envestnet | Yodlee) made their big splash back in the earliest days of Finovate and, with recent Best of Show wins in 2018 and 2017, respectively, shown that they are still among fintech’s most inspiring solution providers.

Backbase – 4

Kasasa / BancVue – 4

Meniga – 4

oFlows – 4

SaleMove – 4

Yodlee (including Envestnet | Yodlee) – 4

The Fantastic Four

Two of the companies in our Fantastic Four companies that have won Best of Show awards three times have since been acquired. LearnVest, a three-time Best of Show winner from 2011-2013, was acquired by Northwestern Mutual for more than $250 million in 2015. EyeVerify, which won Best of Show awards on three different continents, was acquired by Ant Financial in 2016. The company now operates as ZOLOZ, and is focused on providing digital identity solutions for the underbanked in Asia.

BehavioSec – 3

EyeVerify (now “ZOLOZ”) – 3

LearnVest – 3

mBank – 3

Note: FA: FinovateAsia, FE: FinovateEurope, FF: FinovateFall, FS: FinovateSpring. Audience favorite awards from FinDEVr not included.

FinovateSpring 2018 Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateSpring 2018 Best of Show Winners Announced

The votes have been counted and the winners of our FinovateSpring 2018 Best of Show awards have been named. Congratulations to the five companies whose live demonstrations of their latest technologies wowed our attending crowd in Santa Clara, California this week.

Every Best of Show competition teaches us something about the state of fintech innovation in the world today. How are fintechs helping improve the customer experience in lending? How can financial institutions get a better understanding of their customers needs and preferences? How can we make it safer to bank and shop – to say nothing of simply communicate – safely online without fear of interference (or worse) from cybercriminals?

This year’s FinovateSpring 2018 Best of Show winners were no exception to this rule. The companies highlighted by our Best of Show awards reflect impressive innovations across the broad spectrum of financial technologies.

Conversation.one for its build-once-deploy-anywhere platform for conversational applications that enables FIs to build, deploy, and enhance their Alexa Skills, Google Home Actions, Facebook Messenger bots, and chatbots in one single process, in just a few minutes. Video.

Dynamics, Inc. for its network-approved “connected” payment card with a 65k pixel display, organic recharge, and telecommunications chip to facilitate wireless data downloads and customer notifications. Video.

 

 

Kasasa for its Kasasa Loan that lets borrowers pay ahead to reduce debt and take that extra money back if they need it. Kasasa Loans feature a mobile app that allows borrowers to manage their debt and access take-backs instantly. Video.

Trusona for its Trusona Executive solution that enables frictionless #NoPasswords multi-factor identity authentication at scale, including identity-proofing, step-up authentication using a person’s government-issued ID. Video.

Alpharank for its innovative Customer Graphs that leverage FIs’ anonymous transaction card data to help them understand how products and behaviors spread through customer networks and how to leverage network effects to their advantage. Video.

We hope you have enjoyed the first two days of FinovateSpring. The conversation continues on Thursday and Friday as we launch into deeper dives into many of the themes introduced on the first two days of our spring conference.

From the power of AI and Big Data to the rise of voice technologies as the interface of the future, the second half of FinovateSpring will help provide both context and insight into how many of the most exciting technologies of our time are creating ever more engaging, personalized, and relevant experiences for consumers of financial services. To learn more about the keynotes, panel discussions, and fireside chats we will host on Thursday and Friday, be sure to check out our FinovateSpring 2018 agenda for Days Three and Four for more information.


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 five 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 2018 conferences are below:
FinovateEurope 2015
FinovateSpring 2015
FinovateFall 2015
FinovateEurope 2016
FinovateSpring 2016
FinovateFall 2016
FinovateAsia 2016
FinovateEurope 2017
FinovateSpring 2017
FinovateFall 2017
FinovateAsia 2017
FinovateMiddleEast 2018
FinovateEurope 2018

FinovateSpring Sneak Peak: Kasasa

FinovateSpring Sneak Peak: Kasasa

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateSpring on May 8 through 11, 2018 in Santa Clara, California. Register today and save your spot.

The Kasasa Loan from Kasasa is the only loan that lets borrowers pay ahead to reduce debt and take that extra money back if they need it.

Features

  • Lets consumers borrow money with unprecedented flexibility
  • Features a transparent, mobile application
  • Allows financial institutions to offer an unmatched loan product

Why it’s great
The Kasasa Loan take-back functionality eliminates consumers’ fear of parting with extra money to pay down debt faster and reinforces positive financial decisions.

Presenters

Gabriel Krajicek, Chief Executive Officer 
CEO of Kasasa since 2005, Krajicek has provided more than 800 community financial institutions with disruptive innovations, championing them in their fight for market dominance.
LinkedIn

 

Chris Cohen, Director of Product Management (not pictured)
With more than ten years of industry experience, Cohen leads product innovation projects, using his background in mergers and acquisitions to inform what drives institutions.
LinkedIn

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Kabbage Confirms: Orchard Acquisition Adds to Data Science Capabilities.

Around the web

  • Five payment originators from EU and Asia to take advantage of Ripple’s xVIA API to transfer money via RippleNet.
  • Klarna announces its integration with Magento Commerce as a Core Bundled Extension.
  • Avaloq acquires 10% stake in Swiss cryptocurrency firm Metaco.
  • Banesco USA picks nCino’s Bank Operating System to enhance its commercial lending process.
  • Symphony Software Foundation rebrands as FINOS, expands charter, adds new corporate members.
  • Kashoo receives a 5 Star Rating From FitSmallBusiness.
  • Jumio achieves record-breaking sales in Q1 2018, a 400% increase YoY.
  • Lending Club responds to the FCC’s complaint.
  • Alight Solutions leverages Personal Capital’s digital wealth management tools to launch WealthSpark.
  • Apple Bank selects Continuity for Compliance Change 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.

MicroStrategy Powering Kasasa’s New Insight Solution

MicroStrategy Powering Kasasa’s New Insight Solution

Community banking and marketing services company Kasasa has cut a deal with enterprise software firm MicroStrategy. Under the agreement Kasasa will integrate MicroStrategy 10 into its business intelligence platform, Insight.

Kasasa’s Insight is a data-backed analytics solution that offers community banking clients product and marketing performance awareness, and helps them better understand consumer portfolios and market conditions. MicroStrategy 10 brings to the table a suite of research and adjustable product marketing tools to drive customer engagement at different levels.

Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy said, “This integration allows financial institutions to have a single version of the truth that provides the insight needed to identify new opportunities and drive profitability.”

“Delivering the most practical and impactful insights to our clients is a top priority,” said Gabe Krajicek, CEO of Kasasa. “Our goal is to help community institutions build stronger relationships with their customers so they can win new business and better serve their existing customers. MicroStrategy provides Kasasa Insights with a critical competitive edge to help us accomplish our goals.”

Kasasa selected MicroStrategy for its new adaptive layout capabilities and its bootstrap framework. These elements will help Kasasa’s developers easily update the design across multiple devices. Speaking about a specific implementation of Insight, Krajicek said, “Our analytics platform now allows us to see the entire consumer base of the fifth-largest banking network in the country. We can extract actionable insights from large amounts of consumer data to increase the profitability of their customers.”

Kasasa was founded in 2003 when it launched its flagship REWARDChecking account to help community financial institutions compete against big banks. Since then, the company has expanded to 350 employees and now offers a full suite of branded bank products. Kasasa debuted at FinovateFall 2009 under BancVue, which was founded in 2003, and created a premium, national consumer brand for the BancVue product offering – Kasasa – which launched in 2009. Kasasa will present its newest technology at FinovateSpring next month. To check it out, register before April 27 and save.

Founded in 1989, MicroStrategy demoed a mobile identity network at FinovateSpring 2013. The company went public in 1998 and the latest release of its business intelligence platform, MicroStrategy 10, was released in 2016.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Ripple Joins Hyperledger Project, Launches Hyperledger Quilt Project.
  • Moxtra Collaborates with OCBC Bank to Help Pilot New Mobile App.
  • MicroStrategy Powering Kasasa’s New Insight Solution.

Around the web

  • ThePaypers interviews BioCatch VP Frances Zelazny.
  • Charlotte Business Journal recognizes LendingTree Senior Talent Development Manager Tess Ausman in its 40 Under 40 for 2018 roster.
  • PYMNTS.com talks with Socure CEO Sunil Madhu on Facebook’s challenges with user data.
  • Park Plymouth in Plymouth, Massachusetts deploys Passport’s mobile parking app, PassportParking.
  • IdentityMind Global named to Disruptor Daily’s 10 RegTech Companies Making Waves in the Industry list.
  • Josh Glover, EVP of the Americas for nCino talks with PYMNTS.com about the importance of the customer experience in corporate banking and lending.
  • InfoQ interviews Eric Horesnyi, CEO at streamdata.io.
  • Check Point Software Technologies teams with TrapX Security to launch real-time visibility, threat detection, and rapid threat containment solution.
  • VM Blog interviews Arvin Hsu, Senior Director of Data Science and Machine Learning at GoodData.
  • Spacequant earns finalist spot in PitchIt competition at Lendit Fintech conference.
  • Sberbank Enters Cloud Products Market.
  • ITSector launches ITSCredit spinoff (news in Portugese).

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

  • LendingTree Launches Free Credit Monitoring.
  • eToro Raises $100 Million in Series E.
  • NICE Actimize Launches AI-Powered Financial Crime Investigation System.

Around the web

  • Hyperwallet tackles payments for staffing and recruiting platform tilr.
  • Compass Plus offers active-active database clustering on TranzAxis.
  • Steward Bank selects NetGuardians to help fight against fraud.
  • Kasasa named one of “2018 Best Places to Work in Financial Technology” by American Banker
  • CardFlight announces that over 80% of SwipeSimple merchants have been upgraded to EMV quick chip payment acceptance.
  • Revolut launches disposable virtual cards for online payments.
  • ACI Worldwide teams up with Shanghai-based UnionPay International.
  • IdentityMind Global announces GDPR-readiness ahead of the EU’s May 25th deadline.
  • MaxMyInterest adds former TD Ameritrade executive Tom Bradley to Advisory Board.
  • NICE Actimize unveils new AI-powered financial crime management solution, Actimize ACTone.

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

  • Behavioral Biometrics Specialist BioCatch Raises $30 Million in New Funding.
  • Gro Solutions Partners with 4Front CU, NBKC to Ease Onboarding, Support National Rollout.

Around the web

  • Nordic digital lender Folkefinans chooses Mambu’s SaaS core banking engine.
  • BBVA Compass opens up its Express Personal Loan solution to both customers and non-customers.
  • American Banker highlights Kasasa. Come see Kasasa’s latest tech at FinovateSpring in May.
  • OurCrowd expands global operations, opens office in London.
  • Authy’s Twilio launches Flex, a programmable contact center.
  • Ohio Healthcare FCU selects Digital Onboarding to maximize member engagement rates.

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.