Launches

UK’s MoBank Could be the First of a New Wave of Banking & Payments Companies Optimized for Mobile Delivery

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Launches, MoBank, Mobile Banking, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Payments

imageMoBank, the U.K.-based mobile banking and payments said to be launching this month, is creating some buzz on the other side of the Atlantic (stories here, here, and here).  Given the pedigree of its two founders, Steve Townsend and Dominic Keen, who blazed many online banking trails at Egg and First Direct, it should provide a glimpse of the future of mobile finance.

The company is establishing a call center on the Isle of Man, run by Steph Gregg, a veteran of Egg, First Direct and Vodafone. Melanie Hunter is head of marketing, and David Rubin is head of mcommerce.

The company was named to Red Herring’s top-100 global start-up list last month (here) along with FinovateStartup alum ClairMail (demo video here).

It appears at launch the service will support bill payment and certain mcommerce activities, such as purchasing movie tickets. An iPhone app is expected at launch. Users will register their credit/debit card(s) with the service. The company plans to expand into mobile banking and money-management activities in the future. 

The company has raised more than $1 million according to news reports. The company was founded in 2006 and presented at The Essential Web conference in June 2007
(p. 43, here) and had four employees at that time.

Here’s how the company described itself 18 months ago:

MoBank is creating the world’s first mobile-led online bank. The company believes that, for some sections of the population, small screen devices will become the channel of choice for most banking and payment services. moBank’s business model is based on providing a free-to-use basic banking service with paid-for add-on features. Furthermore, moBank’s users are enabled to participate in a range of unique, value-generating m-retail activities.

What’s innovative: It sounds like a mobile-based account aggregation and bill-pay service, similar to Mint on the iPhone. But it could also contract directly with one or more banks like SmartyPig has (previous coverage). But as ING Direct proved, optimizing on a new delivery channel can pay off with great word of mouth and positive press.

MoBank pre-launch homepage (6 Feb. 2009)

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Note: For more info on the growing market, see our Online Banking Report on Mobile Banking.

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FinovateStartup 2009 Conference Participants Announced

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conference Calendar, Conferences, Finovate, Launches

imageFinovateStartup09, our annual springtime technology event in the San Francisco Bay area, is just three months away. Today, we announced the first wave of young companies committed to participate on April 28.

More companies are in the pipeline, and when all is said and done we expect more than 50 startups to be on hand to demonstrate the latest in online and mobile financial services and technology.

The Finovate format combines fast-paced demos (no PowerPoint!) with extensive networking where you can meet the start-up founders along with influential industry executives, press corps, and analysts. To get a taste for the event, take a look at videos of past demos.

Because we hadn’t named any companies until today, we’ve extended the Super Early Bird registration deadline until this Friday, Feb. 6 (register here). See you in San Francisco.

Finovate Startup 2009 lineup (as of 2 Feb. 2009):

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35 Financial Tech Companies Already on Board to Participate in FinovateStartup 2009

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conferences, Finovate, Launches

imageOne month ago we announced the 2009 version of our Finovate Startup Conference. Since then, we’ve been busy talking to FinTech startups from around the world. We are glad (and a bit relieved) to announce that we already have 35 committed to demo at the event. There is still an enormous amount of activity and energy in the banking and financial technology sector (note 1).

We are several months out from the deadline, so we expect in excess of 50 startups, along with several hundred bankers, investors and other industry execs to convene April 28 at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center (note 2).

While last year’s FinovateStartup was dominated by social-media plays (see logos below), this year we have more diversity, with companies from the following categories:

  • Alt payments
  • Financial shopping/comparison tools
  • Investment management/tools
  • Mobile banking & payments
  • iPhone/Android applications, personal financial management/tools
  • Peer-to-peer lending
  • Personal credit management tools
  • Other technologies

Participating companies will be named beginning Feb. 1, but you can save by reserving a ticket now.

Super-early-bird prices that are easy on the budget
We’ve tried to make the conference as affordable as possible recognizing that travel and conference budgets are under constraints. You still have nine days left to snag super-early-bird tickets for $695. Current Online Banking Report subscribers, including anyone in the same company as an existing subscriber, can grab tickets for even less, just $445 each until Jan. 31 (note 3).

Attendees may register here. More information on the event is here.

FinTech companies interested in participating/demoing should email Eric Mattson .


FinovateStartup 2008 presenters (videos of all 2008 demos are here)

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Notes:
1. See our post, “Why financial technology still matters,” here.
2. The venue is about two miles south of the San Francisco financial district.
3. If you don’t know if your company subscribes to Online Banking Report, email info@netbanker.com to find out. If qualified, we’ll email your subscriber discount code to you.

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ZimpleMoney Launches Peer-to-Peer Loan Platform to Power Social Finance

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Launches, Loans & Credit, P2P Lending, ZimpleMoney

image Start-up activity in the financial technology sector has slowed dramatically since Sept./October when a dozen online finance startups launched (see previous post), not a surprising development given economic conditions and the time of year. 

Still, a number of companies remain in the pipeline, and yesterday we saw the launch of an entrant into the battered P2P lending space. But ZimpleMoney is not entering into the newly SEC-regulated market occupied by Prosper, Lending Club, Loanio and other hopefuls. Instead, the Costa Mesa, CA-based startup is offering a platform with tools so that third parties can either build lending services on top of it, or use ZimpleMoney’s processing capabilities to manage loans and financial transactions.

ZimpleMoney can also be used like Virgin Money USA or LoanBack to handle a single loan amongst friends and family, either for personal or business use. The introductory price for an individual loan is $39 plus $7.99/mo.  

The site, which opened Monday, still looks more like a beta operation. The registration system wasn’t fully functional yesterday, and I ran into several broken links today. But minor annoyances aside, it’s an interesting development that should help drive social finance forward.

Given Prosper’s recent woes, we are not likely to see new Prosper-like P2P exchanges using the ZimpleMoney platform any time soon. But it could be a good way for nonprofits, foundations, or microfinance organizations to launch Web-based loan operations with a minimal amount of development time and expense. Banks, credit unions, and other financial services companies could also private-label the service for their clients.

In his announcement email Monday, CEO (aka ZEO) Steven Rabago said they’d had interest from several nonprofits, a realty company, an investment management company, a student lender, and a large regional bank. Rabago started his career as a commercial banker at Bank of America. He left in 1983 to start National Corporate Finance (now called Archarios). In 2001, he co-founded a location-based services company Telogis, where he remains as a board member.

ZimpleMoney homepage (9 Dec 2008)

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Note: For more info on the market, see our Online Banking Report on P2P Lending.

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Receivables Exchange Launching Auction Platform for Financing Accounts Receivables

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Auction platforms, Launches, Loans & Credit, Receivables Exchange, Small Business

image A new financial market will open Monday where businesses as small as $1.5 million in annual sales can borrow against their receivables with prices set in an auction market.

New Orleans-based The Receivables Exchange opens for trades on Monday (17 Nov) after an 18-month development cycle.

Businesses register with the exchange, a process that entails uploading financial statements and completing an application. The Receivables Exchange conducts due diligence on the potential participant to ensure that it is legitimate.

Businesses must meet the following criteria:

  • Minimum of $1.5 million in annual sales
  • At least 2 years of operating history
  • Registered to do business in the United States

Upon approval, the business can list specific invoices for financing, with a minimum total value of $10,000. Then accredited investors (SEC definition here) bid to provide short-term financing until the receivables are collected. Sellers are encouraged to upload PDF copies of invoices, proof of delivery, and so on to get the best rates. However, many documentation requirements are optional.

Sellers select the terms they are willing to accept and the bidder that beats those terms by the widest margin wins the credit. If no bidder meets the minimum terms, the auction ends without a trade.

Co-founders: Justin A. Brownhill and Nicolas R. Perkin

VC backers: Prism VentureWorks LLC and Fidelity Ventures

Analysis
In an era of tight credit, it's a welcome addition to the financing tools available for small and mid-sized businesses. Larger businesses typically have more options through commercial paper and other capital markets.

The startup expects banks to be valuable sources of referrals. Although, at this point, there are no referral fees or revenue-sharing options.

So far, The Receivables Exchange has signed up sellers with a total of $2 billion in annual sales. And there's been a lot of interest. Founder Nicolas Perkin says his company has been approached by 20 $1+ billion companies.

But what about the other side of the trade, the lender/investor? The company says it has access to $8 billion deployable capital. Of course, that doesn't mean that the capital will be easily enticed into actual deals.

Starting Monday, we'll see what the buy side thinks. Are they willing to risk their capital in the unproven market? If The Receivables Exchange can drive out fraud and deliver on its promises, we think the answer will be yes.

The Receivables Exchange homepage (11 Nov 2008)

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Privier Launches ATMsend, a Promising Idea that Needs Banking Partners

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Alt Payments, Epayments, Launches, Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments

image I've communicated with Privier founder Charles Polanco a number of times over the years. He's a Wachovia alum who's been working on a financial startup for several years. The company launched a suite of payment services on Oct. 16 that aims to get the plastic card out of the ATM business (press release).

Privier's value prop is straightforward and compelling: Enable money transfers from any device at any time with the cash delivered through the worldwide ATM network.

The system initiates transfers in three ways:

  • ATMsend: ATM to ATM
  • iTransfer: Web to ATM 
  • mPayment: Mobile phone to ATM

In Privier's model the ATM card is replaced by a one-time authorization code that recipients key into the ATM to withdraw transferred funds.

Analysis
From a usability perspective, it's a great idea. After all, what's not to like? Consumers need to send cash. ATMs have cash. Why not let folks authorize a remote ATM withdrawal from the comfort of their own home or office. A proposed fee in the $7 range beats most alternatives for long-distance money transfers.

However, from a practical standpoint there are two massive roadblocks to overcome:

  • Retrofitting ATMs to accept a keyed-in code instead of a mag stripe for authentication
  • Convincing banks to add ATM-transfer capabilities to Web, mobile and telephone services

It will likely take an organization the size of Visa, MasterCard, or Bank of America to pull this off. To ensure that those behemoths work with it, Privier has a portfolio of patents pending on the business process. 

What it means for Netbankers
It may take decades, but eventually, the Web married to mobile will eliminate the plastic debit/credit card; however, unless you are a major bank or payments company, this isn't likely anything you need worry about for a number of years.

A better short-term solution for smaller financial institutions is to enable P2P funds transfers using PayPal so you can send money to anyone with a PayPal account (see note 1).

Privier's Web-based interface for sending cash to an ATM (5 Nov 2008)SendCash_Step1

Note:
1. See our latest, the Online Banking Report 2009 Planning Guide, for more info on project priorities for this year and beyond. 

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Centrro Launches KnowBeforeYouApply.com

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Credit Karma, Credit/Debit Cards, Launches, Lead Generation

image Providing free credit scores in exchange for viewing a credit card offer seems like a reasonable value exchange (see note 1). That’s why we gave Credit Karma our OBR Best of the Web award in August and why it is on stage next week at Finovate (see previous coverage here, video at Finovate Startup here). 

It’s also no surprise that others would try the same model. Credit crisis or not, credit-worthy borrowers are still a valuable commodity. Case in point, Bankaholic’s recent acquisition by BankRate for a reported $15 million, or $50 per unique visitor (Mashable post here).

imageThe latest entry in free-credit-score lead generation is KnowBeforeYouApply (KBYA) from Centrro, a financial-search company founded in 2006 by Ike Eze and Tuyen Vo. Eze was a founder of QSpace, an OBR Best of the Web winner in 1997 when it became the first company to make credit reports available online (archived OBR article here). QSpace was acquired by Experian several years later.

KnowBeforeYouApply launched on Sept. 3, but was put on the map with Mr. Eze’s post today in The Huffington Post entitled, “Stay Away from Me, Credit Card Crisis” (see note 2). The article discusses the value of tracking your credit score and using that knowledge to find the best credit offers. Eze mentions his company along with Credit Karma, Quizzle from Quicken Loans, two other Finovate presenters, Mint and BillShrink.

Using KnowBeforeYouApply.com
It would be difficult to make the site any easier to use. Customers type in their name, address, email address, and last four digits of their social security number. Apparently, that’s all that’s needed to access your credit file and return a letter grade of A through F.

The whole process takes about 30 seconds (there is no need to enter an entire social security number), and KBYA steers clear of those pesky out-of-wallet authentication questions. Users can get an update of their credit grade every 90 days. In comparison, Credit Karma, which provides an exact 3-digit credit score, will update it daily if the user so desires.

KBYA also has a simple and intuitive sales platform. Just two offers were highlighted in the main screen, one from Chase and one from American Express (see first screenshot below). However, clicking through to “see all offers” led to 25 pages of credit cards, displayed five to a page (121 total for A-grade credit). A handy index along the sidebar allows users to find various categories that most appeal to them such as “travel rewards” or “0% intro rate” cards (see second screenshot).

KBYA appears to use the API from CardOffers.com to build a portion of its database of card offers. CardOffers.com offers its affiliates up to $20 per application or up to $160 per approved application. KBYA also appears to be an affiliate of Credit.com and Discover Card (see note 3).

The site is focused solely on credit cards for now. But a Home Loan tab is built into the user interface, with a “coming soon” label.

Analysis
All in all, it’s a good service. The site needs to beef up its FAQs, About Us, and other educational materials so users can better understand who is behind the service and what exactly the credit grade means. But as a month-old beta service, it’s presumably coming.

While I prefer the precision and peace of mind of seeing my actual credit score, a letter grade every 90 days will be sufficient for many users and should help keep costs down. And the speed of the application process and lack of social security number are real benefits.

Financial institution opportunities
Banks, credit unions, and card issuers should consider offering similar functionality both inside online banking, where private info would already be known, and on the outside where prospective loan customers could use it. With info about the customer’s credit grade, lenders could deliver tailored offers that could lead to increased application volume and approval rates. See our recent Online Banking Report for more info on lead generation sites (note 1). 

Know Before You Apply main page after login (7 Oct 2008)

Know Before You Apply homepage (7 Oct 2008)

KnowBeforeYouApply all-offers page (7 Oct 2008)

Know Before You Apply all offers page (7 Oct 2008)

Notes:
1. For a thorough discussion of the topic, see our August 2008 Online Banking Report on New Models for Lead Generation.

2. Strangely, the article doesn’t specifically disclose Mr. Eze’s affiliation with Know Before You Apply, although clicking on his name does show he’s CEO of Centrro. However, it’s left to the reader to discover on their own that Centrro is the parent of Know Before You Apply. Hopefully, that oversight will be corrected.

3. The affiliate relationships
are inferred from the redirects that take place when clicking on the Apply Now arrow.

4. This is one of the ten online finance companies that launched in Sept. (post here).

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Loanio Launches New Person-to-Person Lending Service

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Launches, Loanio, Loans & Credit, P2P Lending

image Add one more company to the list of recent launches: Loanio went live today after a lengthy “coming soon” process (previous coverage here). The thousands of people on its email list received a message this morning announcing the launch (see below). 

Founder Michael Solomon demo’d the product back in April at our Finovate Startup event (video here). Today’s live version looks similar to the April build. The key differentiating features of Loanio’s product are:

  • Ability for anyone to borrow, if they have a creditworthy co-borrower
  • Optional enhanced pre-verification process (costs $35 for single borrower, $45 for co-borrower apps) allows borrows to boost their credibility by submitting the following documentation in advance of posting their listing:
    – Photo ID
    – Income documentation
    – Bank account statement
    – Employment documentation
    – Postal address documentation
  • Longer loan terms
    — up to 5 years compared to P2P lending standard of 36 months
  • Borrowers have the option of accepting partial funding of their loan request as long as it’s at least 35% funded

Several other tidbits from the FAQs:

  • Experian provides the credit info on borrowers
  • Lenders pay a 1% service fee on all outstanding loans
  • Buyers pay an origination fee as follows, equal to the greater of $95 or:
    — Loans with one borrower: 2% for A and B credit grades, 3% for all others
    — Loans with co-borrower: 3% for A, B and 4% for all others
  • Borrowers may seek loans of $1,000 to $25,000
  • Lenders must put in at least $100 to participate with a minimum bid amount of $50

The first borrower listing appeared on the site within the last hour or so, a C-grade credit seeking $2800 for debt consolidation (see screenshot below, note 1).

Screenshot of Loanio home page with first loan listing (1 Oct 2008)

Loanio homepage on launch day (1 Oct 2008)

State coverage limited
At launch, Loanio has gathered licenses to lend in only 22 states (see note 2). However, 10 of those have interest rate caps of 12% or less, so lending will be limited to the highly credit worthy, and one (Minnesota) caps the loan amount at $2550.  Here are the 12 states which Loanio primarily competes in today:

State         Max Interest Rate
Alabama 30%
Georgia 30%
Mississippi     30%
New Mexico      30%
North Carolina 30%
Indiana 21%
West Virginia 18%
Wisconsin 18%
Alaska 16%
Nebraska           16%
New Jersey 16%
New York 16%

These are the 10 states that allow borrowing from Loanio but cap the rate so that only those with excellent credit are likely to receive funding:

State Max Interest Rate
Tennessee 12.25%
Hawaii 12%
Louisiana 12%
South Carolina 12%
Virginia 12%
Connecticut 12%
Arkansas 11.25%
Delaware 11.25%
Kentucky 10.25%
Pennsylvania 6%
Washington D.C. 6%

As you can see, there is no lending in major population centers of California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts and for the most part in Pennsylvania with a 6% rate cap. But there are ways to change that and Loanio can at least get started in 10 states while it fine tunes its business and develops methods for lending in all 50 states. Prosper and Lending Club both originate loans nationally through Webbank before passing them to the individual lenders. This allows nearly full geographic coverage, while usually bypassing state-mandated maximum loan rates.

Loanio joins Prosper, Lending Club, GlobeFunder, Fynanz, GreenNote and Virgin Money in the U.S. P2P lending space (currently, only Prosper, Fynanz, and now Loanio, operate true P2P exchanges). The others are either closed to individual lenders temporarily (Lending Club, GlobeFunder) or require borrowers to find their own funds from friends and family (GreenNote, Virgin Money). For a complete look at the market, see our Online Banking Report on Person-to-Person Lending.

Email: Loanio now open (received 10:39 AM Pacific time 1 Oct 2008)

Loanio email to house list announcing launch (1 Oct 2008)

Note:
1. Unfortunately, this loan is unlikely to be funded due to the max interest rate of 6%, likely because she is a Pennsylvania or Washington DC resident where the rates are capped at 6% (see table).
2. Just about anyone 18 or older can be a lender regardless of where they live. Only South Dakota and Pennsylvania residents are currently ineligible to lend through Loanio.

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Pennyminder is Tenth Online Finance Startup to Launch/Unveil in September

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Launches, Personal Financial Management

image What a month for financial tech startups! Partly due to DEMOfall, TechCrunch50 and our Finovate, there’s been at least 10 online financial service launches or unveilings this month in North America alone (note 1).

That could be the sign of a bubble about to burst, or it could just be a bunch of smart people meeting very real market needs. Only time will tell. 

Lucky number 10 is Pennyminder, an online personal finance startup based in Vancouver, BC. I met founder Vince Hodges at BarCampBankBC last Saturday (coverage here). Although Pennyminder joins a crowded field, the seventh personal finance manager (list below) to launch this month, it’s the first ever based out of Canada. That alone should help it gain some traction.

Vince proffered a beta invite, so I’ve had a chance to look at it. It’s a nice, clean design that allows user entries/statement import and supports an expense sharing/social angle. I don’t know if that’s enough to compete with the dozens of U.S. and international personal finance sites, many with VCs funding a wider range of features, but it’s a good start.

Pennyminder will have to figure out a way to break through the clutter, such as partnering with credit unions and/or banks.

Here are six more newcomers this month:

Note:
1. Includes the seven mentioned here plus three more I’ve yet to blog about.

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New Online Personal Finance Manager Thrive Rounds Out Finovate NYC Conference Lineup

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Finovate, Launches, Personal Financial Management, Thrive

image With three weeks remaining before Finovate NYC, the final company in the demo lineup is stepping out of stealth mode and announcing its participation in our second annual new-products conference. See the full list here.

image Thrive will be launching its entry in the online personal finance marketplace, JustThrive.com, at Finovate on Oct. 14. The company hopes to differentiate itself with more advanced financial planning tools while still remaining free. Founder and CEO is Avi Karnani; Marc Matsumoto is CMO.  

Currently, the service is in closed beta testing, but Thrive recently updated its homepage with a timely message playing off last week’s financial debacle (screenshot below). 

We had a chance to meet with the NYC-based founders earlier this year and were impressed how they’d studied the current players and were aiming to leapfrog the competition. However, there’s been significant innovation in the space this year, and they enter a crowded field (more on that tomorrow).

At this point, I can’t say anything more specific about Thrive’s plans, but after it becomes publicly available we’ll be back with a full analysis. 

Thrive homepage for its new JustThrive service 23 Sep 2008

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Expensify Launches Decoupled Credit/Debit Card Using Prepaid Model

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Expensify, Launches, Personal Financial Management, Prepaid/gift cards

image Like Rate Surfer, which we wrote about yesterday, Expensify launched its new employee expense-management system from the TechCrunch50 DemoPit this week.

The San Francisco-based startup (note 1) combines a payment card with a Web-based expense manager and uses cellphone cameras to upload pictures of receipts to match against purchases. It’s a banking triple play: card, online, and mobile.

The target market is smaller businesses that want to automate expense report preparation, approval, and reimbursement to their employees.  

How it works
The heart of Expensify is a prepaid, decoupled credit card. I know that doesn’t make sense, but here’s how it works: 

  1. Sign up for an Expensify MasterCard prepaid debit card.
  2. Load it with value from any credit or debit card, Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. 
  3. Make purchases with the Expensify MasterCard.
  4. As each purchase clears, the prepaid balance is lowered, triggering an automatic “top off” charge of an equal amount to the consumer’s credit card, thereby returning the prepaid balance back to the original level.

Metabank is the issuer; here are terms and conditions.

Analysis
At first blush Expensify sounds pretty amazing. An expense management card that rides on top of your regular card, with mobile and Web-based integration. Brilliant, until you start thinking about costs. There’s that pesky thing called interchange. What Expensify has done is create two card transactions instead of one, doubling the amount of interchange paid.

To cover the extra interchange and create some revenue for itself, Expensify levies a 3% transaction fee on the cardholder. Although the card is otherwise relatively fee-free, that’s a significant surcharge.

Why would anyone pay 3% extra in order to use the Expensify card when they already have a credit card? The company believes that small businesses will pay the fee in order to get the expense-manager features and to help employees separate business expenses from personal ones. Businesses could have multiple Expensify cards tied to different categories of expenses (see screenshot below).

A business with just $1000/mo in expenditures would pay $360 per year. In addition, the business would tie up several hundred dollars in a prepaid account, because the only charges cardholders can make must not exceed the prepaid balance held in the Expensify account. 

I think the expense-management concept is good, especially with the mobile receipt integration, but it’s just too expensive in its current format. The founders should try to move to an ACH-based “topping off” process and remove the transaction fees. 

But regardless of how this specific product performs, the integration of payments, online and mobile, is a huge trend. If Expensify is nimble enough, they may be able to ride the wave.

Expensify homepage (10 Sep 2008)

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Note:
1. Since I didn’t see contact info on their website, here’s what the founders provided at TechCrunch50: Expensify, 548 Market St. #61434, San Francisco, CA 94104, Phone: 801.745.9064

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Shryk Launches iThryv, Online Banking for Youth, at TechCrunch50

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conferences, Launches, Personal Financial Management

imageimage

Two huge tech conferences opened today in California with 124 companies launching new products this week in front of a combined audience of more than 2,500 (see note 1). At DEMOfall in San Diego, 72 companies are launching new products today and tomorrow. In San Francisco, 52 companies launch at TechCrunch50 today through Wednesday.

Eight of the 124 companies are related to financial services:

We’ll cover several of these companies, plus several in the TechCrunch50 DemoPit, starting with iThryv.

iThryv kicks of TechCrunch50
imageI made it down from Seattle this morning just in time to catch the first demo. I’m glad I got up early because it just so happened to be the only personal finance/banking-related finalist. Oklahoma City-based Shryk kicked off TechCrunch50 (note 2) by unveiling its online banking platform aimed at the 12- to 20-year-old crowd. The new service is called iThryv and it will be marketed directly to banks and credit unions who will customize and brand it for their own customer base.

iThryv will be integrated directly to the bank, or its core processor, so that real-time banking data can be displayed in various widgets. In addition to account info, iThryv also includes the following modules and features:

  • Goal-oriented savings, including rewards for reaching milestones
  • A spending & savings score that does for savings what a credit score does for loans
  • Make $ area where budding entrepreneurs can learn more about starting a business
  • Learn area for financial education

The company has a two-fold approach to getting iThryv into the market:

  • Licensing the platform to banks for a fixed fee plus per-user fees
  • Giving the platform to schools to incorporate into their curriculum

According to the founders, the service is currently being considered by several financial institutions, but it is not yet available online.

iThryv homepage (8 Sep 2008)

iThryv homepage 8 Sep 2008

 iThryv savings score graphed (8 Sep 2008)

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iThryv “Make $” tab (8 Sep 2008)

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Notes:
1. TechCrunch reported approximately 1,700 attendees; DEMOfall, 800.

2. iThryv was originally scheduled to present third, but were moved up to first when Ashton Kutcher was late for his scheduled demo of his startup, Blah Girls.

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