Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • CREALOGIX Wins Best Web Development at Systems in the City Awards 2016
  • Yandex.Money Releases Apple Watch Payments App
  • Neustar Taps Former Walmart Executive Venkat Achanta as First Chief Data & Analytics Officer
  • Kabbage Revamps App to Enable Mobile On-Boarding for Loan Applications

Around the web

  • NIIT Technologies announced financial results for the quarter ended in June 30, 2016, with a revenue increase of 4.5% over the same period last year.
  • Micronotes Releases Retain To Predict and Prevent Customer Attrition
  • Luxoft partners with Deloitte to launch project overview dashboard.
  • FIS teams up with Payment Alliance International (PAI) to take FIS Cardless Cash nationwide.
  • Inc’s look at global payment options features Braintree, PayStand, and CSIglobalVCard.
  • Klarna adds online fashion startup Lyst to its client roster.

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.

Klarna Raises $35 Million in “First Small Step” into Debt Financing

Klarna Raises $35 Million in “First Small Step” into Debt Financing

Klarna_homepage_June2016

One small step for Klarna. One giant leap for fintechs considering financing beyond equity investment.

The Swedish payments innovator is raising $32.2 million (300 million crowns) via a subordinated-note sale to “a limited number of large Nordic investors.” The 10-year, floating-rate notes come with an initial 4% coupon, which is based on the 3-month STIBOR plus 4.5%.

Speaking about the financing, Klarna’s Erik Engellau-Nilsson said that the funding was the company’s “first small step to a wider presence in debt capital markets.” The goal of the financing was first to fund Klarna’s accelerated growth, which Engellau-Nilsson credited to expansion into U.S. and U.K. markets. He said the second goal was to “test the debt capital markets, and see what the appetite was like.”

Klarna_stage_FS2012b

Jakob Söderbaum, SVP sales, demonstrated Klarna at FinovateSpring 2012 in San Francisco.

Testing the debt capital market will help Klarna diversify its funding sources. The company has raised more than $285 million in equity including £90 million in private equity to finance the acquisition of Sofort in 2014.

While much of the growing use of debt financing in fintech can be attributed to the rise of alternative lenders who may be institutionally more comfortable with debt, Klarna’s latest financing is a reminder that the debt capital markets are an option for a wide variety of fintechs. Consider the $60 million debt financing deal for Finovate alum Yapstone (payments); the $2.5 million debt financing for Socure; and $3 million in venture debt for ID.me (authentication); and the $1 million in debt financing for DeviceFidelity (hardware). Ahead of this latest financing, Klarna was believed to have a valuation of more than $2 billion.

Available at 65,000 online stores and with 45 million consumers using the technology, Klarna enables more efficient e-commerce by allowing shoppers to receive goods first and then pay for them within 14 days of delivery. Klarna assumes all credit and fraud risk, making the process safer for online merchants, and requires only minimal, top-of-mind information from consumers (i.e., name and address). The company says its revenues grew by 27% year-over-year (2.2 billion crowns in 2014 versus 2.8 billion crowns in 2015) and expects revenue gains of 40% in 2016 due in large part to Klarna’s U.S. expansion last fall.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Klarna demonstrated its payment technology at FinovateSpring 2012. In June, the company was named to the CNBC Disruptor 50 list for a second year in a row and in May, Klarna announced that its payment-processing technology would be made available to brick-and-mortar merchants. The company announced a partnership with UK e-commerce host, EKM in April, the same month Klarna earned a spot on FinTechCity’s inaugural FinTech50 Hall of Fame.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Klarna Raises $35 Million in ‘First Small Step” into Debt Financing
  • D3 Banking Brings in $10 Million from West Partners
  • LendingTree Launches CRA-Eligibility Tool
  • Encap Security Acquired by Client, AllClear ID
  • Avoka Locks in $12 Million in New Investment

Around the web

  • Banco CTT goes live with customer onboarding solution developed by Novabase.
  • Canada’s ATB Financial and Germany’s ReiseBank use Ripple to complete world’s first banking transfer using blockchain.
  • Wired UK profiles Fidor, “the fintech bank run by its customers.”
  • Asseco South Eastern Europe (SEE) named a Representative Vendor in Gartner’s report on open unified digital banking platforms.
  • Fortune.com’s list of the five hottest companies in fintech features alums Kensho and Ripple.
  • Kasasa’s MoneyIsland money-management game for children ranks among iTunes’ most popular apps.
  • Chip-Chap bitcoin marketplace leverages SafetyPay as a payment method.
  • OnDeck launches Accountant Advisor Program to help accountants arrange financing for their small business clients.

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.

2016 CNBC Disruptor 50 Features Klarna, Kabbage, Twilio, and Motif Investing

2016 CNBC Disruptor 50 Features Klarna, Kabbage, Twilio, and Motif Investing

CNBC_Disruptor2016

What does it take to win a spot on the 2016 CNBC Disruptor 50? Ask alternative online broker Motif Investing. They’ve done it three times in a row.

“We’re very proud to be continuously recognized by CNBC for our hard work and commitment to making smart investing easy,” Motif founder and CEO Hardeep Walia said. “The CNBC Disruptor list is a well-respected industry benchmark and we’re honored to be ranked on the list for the past three years.”

Or ask cloud communications and authentication specialist Twilio, a FinDEVr alum (FinDEVr San Francisco 2015) enjoying its third consecutive year on CNBC’s Disruptors List of companies “whose innovations are revolutionizing the business landscape.”

Sponsored by Nasdaq, the CNBC Disruptor 50 for 2016 was released last week. And among some of the easy-to-call favorites like Uber and SpaceX and Snapchat, there are additional familiar faces, especially to fans of Finovate and financial technology. This year more than 750 companies competed for the 50 spots in CNBC’s Disruptor roster. Combined, the 50 companies in this year’s roster have raised more than $40 billion in venture capital and have an implied market valuation of $242 billion. Joining Motif Investing and Twilio in this year’s roster are alums Klarna at #8 and Kabbage at #35. This marks Klarna’s second year in a row on the list, and Kabbage’s first.

Klarna was featured earlier this month in PYMNTS.com in a look at the tech scene in Stockholm and, in May, the company’s CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski was interviewed in BankNxt. In April, Klarna announced a partnership with U.K. e-commerce provider EKM. CNBC Disruptor 50 newcomer Kabbage just reached $2 billion in loans underwritten last month. Also in May, Kabbage announced a partnership with fellow Finovate alums OnDeck and CAN Capital to launch a pair of new initiatives: the Innovative Lending Platform Association and Smart Box. Both projects are geared toward improving transparency among online lenders and borrowers. In April, Kabbage teamed up with Santander to bring same-day financing to small businesses in the U.K.

Here’s a quick look at Finovate alums that have made the CNBC Disruptor 50 in years past.

  • 2015 CNBC Disruptor 50 featured alums TransferWise, Personal Capital, Motif Investing, Zen Payroll, Coinbase, Klarna, Wealthfront, Betterment, Twilio, Narrative Science
  • 2014 CNBC Disruptor 50 featured alums Motif Investing, TransferWise, Personal Capital, Wealthfront, Lending Club, Coinbase, Bill.com, Nexmo, Betterment, Twilio
  • 2013 CNBC Disruptor 50 featured alums Boku, Lending Club, Twilio, Wealthfront

Motif Investing demoed its Advisor Platform at FinovateSpring 2014. At FinDEVr San Francisco 2014, Twilio discussed the challenges of multifactor authentication in its presentation, “Authy 2FA in 20 Minutes.” Klarna demonstrated its e-commerce solution at FinovateSpring 2012. And Kabbage demoed its small business line of credit, the Kabbage Card, at FinovateSpring 2015.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “2016 CNBC Distruptor 50 Features Klarna, Kabbage, Twilio, and Motif Investing”
  • “Ping Goes the Blockchain: Partnership Brings Consensus, Kill Switch with New Platform”
  • “Ripple Receives BitLicense to Sell XRP”

Around the web

  • FICO launches its Academic Engagement Program, helping business students get hands-on experience with analytic software.
  • Mashable features Dashlane in its list of “7 can’t miss apps.”
  • Ping Identity partners with blockchain innovator, Swirlds.
  • Braintree announces new integrations with Demandware and Netsuite.
  • Top Image Systems earns spot in the Russell Microcap Index.
  • Bloomberg Businessweek profiles TransferWise, ‘London’s Lonely Unicorn.’
  • The economist looks at Strands and Entrepreneurial Finanace Lab’s roles for businesses in developing countries.
  • Unicredit launches Appathon powered by Open Bank Project.
  • Crowdtrader looks at C.K. Mack’s new take on crowd-sourced real estate investing.

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

  • “San Francisco Times Recognizes Credit Karma as Best Fintech Company”

Around the web

  • Markit partners with BitSight Technologies to enhance its Know Your Third Party (KY3P) platform.
  • Coinbase launches Buy widget to create a better Bitcoin buying experience.
  • Wipro open sources its big data solution, Big Data Ready Enterprise (BDRE).
  • itBit publishes its Bitcoin OTC Market Recap for March.
  • American Banker looks at the relationship between EyeVerify and Wells Fargo.
  • Money Q&A reviews Wall Street Survivor.
  • AltFi investigates how the loan-validation expertise of Global Debt Registry might help the P2p lending market.
  • Q2 subscribes to FI Navigator’s cloud-based mobile banking module.
  • Top Image Systems delivers $100,000 eFLOW project to subsidiary of a national postal service group in Asia-Pacific.
  • Barron’s features Student Loan Genius and PayActiv as employee benefits aimed at millennials.
  • Xero featured as one of first New & Notable Apps on Google Apps Marketplace.
  • SF Business Times features CEO Talbott Roche of Blackhawk.

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

  • “FinovateSpring 2016: Tales from the Tweet Side”

Around the web

  • i-exceed Technology celebrates its fifth anniversary.
  • Quantopian launches weekend hackathon.
  • Xpenditure board member Jonas Dhaenens awarded ICT Personality of the Year by Data News.
  • BankNxt interviews Sebastian Siemiatkowski on the origins of Klarna.
  • Persado announces new Chief Operating Officer, Greg Dale.
  • Entrepreneur profiles DriveWealth and TD Ameritrade in a look at finalists for the Benzinga Fintech Awards 2016.

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

  • “Money Transfer Company Azimo Pulls in $15 Million in Strategic Funds from Rakuten”
  • “From Billpay to Blockchain: The Themes of FinovateSpring”
  • “Finovate Debuts: myInvenio Turns Data Analysis into Process Intelligence”

On FinDEVr.com

  • “GreenKey Technologies Names Richard Garnier as Chief Revenue Officer”

Around the web

  • Klarna moves beyond ecommerce to service brick-and-mortar retail shops.
  • CSI GlobalVCard partners with Cambridge Global Payments for x-border payment solution.
  • Pershing selects Invesco-owned Jemstep, SigFig as roboadviser partners.
  • OurCrowd interviews BioCatch CEO Eyal Goldwerger. Check out OurCrowd at FinovateSpring next week.
  • OnDeck, Kabbage, and CAN Capital team up to form the “Innovative Lending Platform Association.”
  • Misys wins Best Portfolio Management Software Provider in HFM European Services Awards for 2016.
  • Thomson Reuters unveils new version of its ONESOURCE tax solution for companies doing business in Brazil.

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

  • “BlueVine Receives Boost from Citigroup”
  • “Infosys Launches EdgeVerve Blockchain Framework”

Around the web

  • “Cartera Commerce-powered Splender Doubles Membership Since End of 2015 and Drives $15 Million in Sales”
  • Linqto to pilot LEVERAGE App Store with nine credit unions.
  • Fiserv integrates commercial lending capabilities of AFSVision into its core account processing platform.
  • BBVA announces having 15.5 million digital clients, including more than 9 million mobile clients.
  • U.K. e-commerce provider EKM to team up with Klarna.
  • ACI Worldwide to run the card processing operations for The Co-operative Group.
  • Insuritas chosen by First Atlantic FCU to install insurance agency solution.
  • Employee Benefits News recognizes Blooom CPO Randy AufDerHeide as a Top 50 Benefit Technology Innovator.
  • Xero for Payroll goes live in Pennsylvania, making the technology available in a total of 22 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.

Check Out Who Took Home Top Honors at Last Night’s European Fintech Awards

Check Out Who Took Home Top Honors at Last Night’s European Fintech Awards
GroupPhoto(Photo credit: http://www.fintech.nl/)

Last night in Amsterdam the 2016 European Fintech Awards celebrated innovators shaping the future of finance. A total of nine awards were presented to companies selected by a panel of judges for the quality of their pitch.

Four of the winners are Finovate and FinDEVr alums, including BehavioSec, who won the overall award of Best European Fintech Company of 2016:

BehavioSec
Category: Risk, Intelligence, and Security
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Founded: 2009
FinovateFall 2015 demo
FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 presentation

Backbase
Category: Innovative Banking Software
HQ: The Netherlands
Founded: 2003
FinovateEurope 2016 demo

Kreditech
Category: Financial Inclusion
HQ: Hamburg, Germany
Founded: 2012
FinovateSpring 2014 demo

Xpenditure
Category: Best of Show, selected for the best pitch
HQ: Mechelen, Belgium
Founded: 2011
FinovateEurope 2016 demo

A total of 29 Finovate and FinDEVr alums were recognized in the European Fintech Top 100 list. Companies awarded on this list were selected by a combination of online public votes (weighted 25%) and a panel of judges (weighted 75%).

  • AdviceGames
  • Kantox
  • Aire.io
  • Klarna
  • AMP Credit Technologies
  • Kontomatik
  • Azimo
  • Kreditech
  • Backbase
  • Mambu
  • BehavioSec
  • mBank
  • Cloud Lending Solutions
  • Meniga
  • ebankIT
  • Nutmeg
  • eToro
  • Qumram
  • ETRONIKA
  • Scalable Capital
  • eWise
  • SmartEngine
  • Fenergo
  • TransferWise
  • Holvi
  • Trustly
  • IdeaBank
  • Zopa
  • InvoiceSharing

The European Fintech Awards are organized by Amsterdam-based publishing company Alex van Groningen BV. The company offers a great explanation of the awards: “The purpose of the FinTech awards is not to scientifically prove who are the best FinTech companies. The judging is primarily based on the judges’ individual ideas and views on the nominating companies using their expertise, knowledge and ideas.”

Finovate Alums Dominate The FinTech50’s Inaugural Hall of Fame

Finovate Alums Dominate The FinTech50’s Inaugural Hall of Fame

Fintech50_homepage_April2016

FinTechCity unveiled its new FinTech50 Hall of Fame this week at the Money 20/20 event in Copenhagen, Denmark. Finovate alums took six out of the ten spots.

The “founding ten members” of TheFinTech50 Hall of Fame are companies that “have featured on our radar since the days when they could reasonably be called startups,” say FinTech50 founders Julie Lake and Nicky Cotter, writing in The FinTech50 2016 Yearbook. “In recognition of their pioneering spirit and competitive staying power, we felt they deserved their own special place within a list of remarkable game-changers,” the founders wrote.

FinTechCity also presented The FinTech50 2016, its roster of the fifty hottest FinTech businesses in Europe. Of the 50 companies selected by the panel of more than 30 industry experts who poured over more than 1,200 candidates, a full baker’s dozen were Finovate—or FinDEVr—alums.

Read the full list.

Lake and Cotter called this year’s competition “the most hotly contested FinTech50 in its four-year history.” The founders also highlighted differences from the 2015 list, with this year’s roster featuring more companies innovating in “security, compliance, and risk.”

Also noteworthy was the number of European fintech companies from the United Kingdom (more than 30 out of the 50). The founders credited this to the U.K.’s broader access to funding, as well as the region’s local talent, and “favorable regulatory environment.” Lake and Cotter also praised other emerging European fintech communities in Amsterdam, Berlin, and Stockholm.

In addition to The FinTech50 2016 and its new Hall of Fame, FinTechCity also announced its FinTech20 India and FinTech20 Hong Kong. Finovate alums were represented here with Demystdata (FinovateAsia 2012) earning a spot in the Hong Kong 20, and Bank Bazaar (FinovateAsia 2012) getting recognition in the India 20. Lastly, The FinTech50 shared “The Hot Ten,” a roster of companies on their watch list for 2016. Here, Finovate alum, Ormsby Street (FinovateFall 2015), was recognized on that list.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Scalable Capital Scores $7.9 Million”
  • Check out this week’s FinDEVr APIntelligence.
  • “Finovate Alums Dominate The FinTech50’s Inaugural Hall of Fame”

Around the web

  • New strategic partnership connects Klarna’s checkout solution with Modo’s digital payments hub.
  • NICE Actimize unveils its Actimize AML Essentials, AML cloud solution.
  • Ixaris spins off its payment technology division, Ixaris Technologies.
  • European payment providers partnered with TSYS to get access to alerts service.
  • Misys teams up with Dorsum to enable FusionBanking Essence customers to trade directly from their accounts.
  • Payroll in Xero now available in Georgia, reaching 21 states.
  • Richard Steggall, co-founder and CEO of Urban FT, chats with PYMNTS.

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.