Alumni News– November 24, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgGoldman Sachs announces investment in Kensho, becomes platform’s largest strategic investor.
  • Acculynk launches strategic partnership with PayPlum, announces acquisition of company’s intellectual property.
  • The Economist cites Comarch in its review of Polish companies succeeding internationally.
  • Leaf CEO Sarah McCrary talks mobile payments in panel discussion on Foodable WebTV.
  • Invests.com features Azimo in column on online money transfer companies.
  • Finovate DebutsBlueVine.
  • Nasdaq.com examines PayPal’s place in the mobile payments wave.
  • Forbes looks at how PayNearMe helps the underbanked.
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.

Alumni News– August 13, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgNetbanker features 2012- 2013 fintech graduates from Y Combinator:  TrueLink Financial, Coinbase, and LendUp.
  • Netbanker features 2009- 2012 fintech graduates from Y Combinator: ZenPayroll, SmartAsset, TrustEgg, FutureAdvisor, ReadyForZero, and WePay.
  • American Banker considers how Diebold is leading the way on the branch of the future.
  • peerTransfer surpasses 500 clients, while processing over $1 billion in international payments.
  • Heartland Payment Systems buys out remaining shareholders of tablet software and hardware startup, Leaf.
  • ACI Worldwide announces completion of ReD acquisition.
  • Lending Club mentioned in HBR Blog’s look at how new lending technology can help small businesses.
  • Silanis Technology partners with loan management software specialist Calyx Software. See Silanis at FinovateFall 2014 in September.
  • planwise teams up with Informa Research Services to launch plug-and-play search tool of real estate agents and brokerages.
  • NextAdvisor column in HuffPo highlights LendUp as alternative loan option for the underbanked.
  • Pandai announces joint cooperation with China and Hollard to leverage their experience in the loan insurance market.
  • Xero and Square partner to sync Square transactions and give a business a view of their finances. See Xero present at FinDEVr. 
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.

Leaf Appoints Sarah McCrary as CEO

Leaf Appoints Sarah McCrary as CEO
SMcCrary_LeafnewCEO

Sarah McCrary has been appointed CEO of Leaf. She formerly held the position of Chief Operating Officer, and will replace outgoing co-founder and CEO Aron Schwarzkopf.

Becoming “the small business owner’s best friend” is how Sarah characterized her goals for Leaf, the mobile, point-of-sale tablet that gives merchants greater flexibility in choice of payment providers. 

The platform allows business owners to create a virtual store with customers, inventory, and employees, and features a variety of productivity apps geared toward small businesses. Many of these apps have been created by third-party developers.

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Sarah McCrary spent six years at Heartland Payment Systems, and another four at Allied Data Systems previous to her joining Leaf as COO. While at Heartland, she co-invented the company’s end-to-end encryption technology, E3. In a statement, Leaf says they hope to leverage her expertise and background to grow sales and drive technological innovation in a small business POS space.
Leaf’s relationship with Heartland Payment Systems is a close one. Heartland invested $20 million in the mobile POS platform developer last October, and is involved with both selling the platform and developing new Leaf apps.
Leaf demoed its technology as part of the FinovateSpring 2013 conference in San Francisco. See the company’s demo here.

Finovate Alumni News– May 6, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgCU Alliance hires Insuritas to build non-cyclical fee income for credit union members.
  • Wade Arnold wins CEO of the Year award from Technology Association of Iowa, weeks after selling Banno to Jack Henry & Associates.
  • Holvi moves HQ to downtown Helsinki.
  • Fidor AG is first bank to deploy Ripple protocol.
  • Lending Club announces partnership with Union Bank.
  • Fiserv’s TradeFlow enhanced to support SWIFT’s GETC.
  • Sonora Bank implements SilverLake core processing platform from Jack Henry Banking.
  • LendUp raises $50 million credit debt facility from Victory Park Capital.
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.

Where the Alums Are: A Remembrance of FinovateSpring Past

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It is hard to believe that it is almost time for FinovateSpring 2014.

There’s still plenty of time for you to get your tickets to our upcoming event in San Jose, California on April 29 and 30. Our final Sneak Peek preview post is up, all the companies who were prepping under the radar are now out of stealth, and we can’t wait for you to see what this year’s spring crop of fintech entrepreneurs and innovators has in store.

Before we do, however, let’s take a moment to take a look back at last year’s FinovateSpring alums. As we scrolled through blog archives, several themes jumped out: the appetite for startups remains as passionate as ever, with three of our Spring 2013 alums being acquired by such financial sector potentates as Intuit and PayPal. And venture capitalists continue to see innovation in this space as a more than worthwhile investment, with 20 separate fundings for Spring 2013 alums

We’ve grouped the achievements into four categories: Exits, Fundings, Awards, and Acquisitions. Enjoy!

EXITS
  • Jack Henry buys Banno for undisclosed sum
  • The rumors are true: eBay’s PayPal acquires Braintree for $800 million in cash
  • Intuit buys tax planning/preparation specialist GoodApril
  • TaxAct acquires Balance Financial
FUNDINGS
  • CardFlight secures $1.6 million in seed funding from ff Venture Capital
  • Encap earns seven-figure investment from ProVenture Seed
  • EyeVerify earns $2.3 million in Series A funding
  • Jemstep raises $4.5 million in Series A round
  • Kabbage brings in $270 million in debt financing to provide small businesses with funding of their own
  • Kabbage brings in $75 MIllion in debt financing
  • Leaf raises $20 million from Heartland Payment Systems
  • Alternative lender LendUp raises $14 million in new funding
  • D3 Banking creator Lodo Software Brings in $3 million
  • Narrative Science secures $11.5 million in Series C funding
  • OpenCoin wins investment from Google Ventures, IDG Capital Partners
  • P2BInvestor raises $1.2 million in Series A round
  • PayNearMe leverages Family Dollar Partnership; raises $20 million
  • PayNearMe raises $10 million in Series D funding, launches Express Merchant Onboarding Option
  • Prestadero raises 5 million pesos ($400,000 USD) in first round of funding
  • Quantopian raises $6.7 million in Series A round
  • Realty Mogul raises $9 million in round led by Canaan Partners
  • SeedInvest raises $2 million in crowdfunded investment campaign
  • SeedInvest Raises $1 million in round Led by Jumpstart New Jersey Angel Network
  • Zooz Closes $2 million Series A round Led by XSeed Capital
AWARDS
ACQUISITONS
  • OpenCoin acquires SimpleHoney
  • Kofax acquires data integration software provider Kapow Technologies
  • NICE to acquire Causata to enhance customer experience management

Finovate Alumni News– April 8, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgPYMNTS: Shopkeep POS undergoes latest revision and releases 2.0 version.
  • Jumio partners with Equifax to make mobile transactions more secure.
  • Leaf launches Payments Apps Marketplace.
  • Dallas Business Journal names defiSOLUTIONS CEO Stephanie Alsbrooks one of its 40 Under 40. See defiSOLUTIONS demo at FinovateSpring in San Jose.
  • Bloomberg column on apps for financial health features Level Money, Check, Mint, LearnVest, and Betterment.
  • Level Money earns spot on Entrepreneur.com’s “5 Must-Watch San Francisco Tech Startups in 2014”.
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.

Leaf Launches Payments Apps Marketplace

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The developers of the Leaf mobile POS tablet realize that there is more than one way to attract merchants to your payments platform.

Leaf announced today that it is launching its Payments App Marketplace. The marketplace will make it easier for payment service providers to market directly to merchants, creating new branding opportunities and, potentially increased sales and retention. The two separate apps launched today by Leaf support credit cards and prepaid cards.

Leaf CEO and co-founder, Aron Schwarzkopf said:
“Our merchant customers often ask for our advice when choosing a payment provider … Now we can guide our customers to Payment Apps, where they are empowered to make an educated decision based on the needs of their small business.”
The new Payments Apps Marketplace provides payment processors with real-time, in-system product marketing. Messaging, upselling, and generated sales through online referrals are all ways that processors can take advantage of the Leaf POS system to reach new customers and do a better job of connecting with and serving existing customers. 
Moreover, the hope is that the the presence of a variety of payment processors aggressively competing for merchant business will help attract new merchants to the Leaf platform. Schwarzkopf said, “Many were losing portfolios to technology. We’re helping them be able to adopt technology without losing what they do day to day, which is processing.”
Leaf has raised $26 million in funding, including a $20 million venture round completed last September. Founded in 2011 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Leaf demoed its LeafPresenter technology as part of the FinovateSpring show in 2013.
And to learn about our upcoming FinovateSpring event at the end of April, go here to visit our FinovateSpring 2014 page.

Finovate Alumni News– April 7, 2014

  • Lighter Capital provides growth funding to 3 tech co’s in Colorado: Envisiontel, Influence Tech, & YogaDownload.
  • Dexterity Consulting gives sneak peek of its Give API v. 2.0.
  • Vietnam Eximbank deploying biometric fingerprint authentication from TSYS.
  • New partnership to bring ProfitStars’ remote deposits and bill pay capabilities to Online Banking Solutions’s Messenger Financial Center e-banking platform.
  • PYMNTS: Leaf Disrupts Acquirer Market.
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– March 12, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgFiserv digital banking solutions to be deployed at Finger Lakes Federal Credit Union.
  • ACI Worldwide launches latest version of UP BASE24-eps to enable “any-to-any” real-time payments.
  • Market Platform Dynamics CEO Karen Webster interviews Aron Schwarzkopf, CEO of Leaf.
  • The Guardian ranks Toshl among its top ten free apps for students.
  • Fiserv and MasterCard reach agreement to support adoption of debit EMV technology.
  • PromotedApp features VerifyValid’s multi-purpose, electronic checkbook.
  • TechCrunch: SigFig hires Financial Engines exec Steve Lifgren to build out its operations team.
  • The Start reports: Revenue loans like the ones from Lighter Capital are new way for tech firms to raise cash.
  • Actiance launches Socialite Feature Control, a new licensing option, in response to SEC ruling.
  • Credit Sesame launches premium services to better protect people’s credit and identity.
  • Cachet Financial Solutions acquires prepaid mobile platform business unit from DeviceFidelity.
  • Top Image Systems launches MobiREMIT, mobile remittance processing to streamline and accelerate payment processing.
  • Guide Financial to provide software for the more than 300 advisory firms in the Garrett Planning Network.
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 — March 3, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgLeaf adds chief operating officer, vice-president of finance, and vice-president of engineering as company expands to bigger offices.
  • Fiserv appoints Kevin Gregoire as group president of financial institutions group.
  • CashStar launches new edition of digital gifting platform, CashStar 5.
  • Actiance Socialite available through the EMC Select Program.
  • IDology’s ExpectID Global launches in Canada.
  • Tactile Finance PRO’s new features target mortgage loan officers’ ability to compete and increase referrals. See its live demo at FinovateSpring next month.
  • Pikanik Bakery discusses its experience with ShopKeep POS.
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– November 18, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgRentPaidOnline and PayNearMe partner to bring cash payments to its online platform 
  • Daily Finance interviews PaySimple CEO Eric Remer on Next-Gen Payment Processing.
  • ShopKeep POS releasing new version of its iPad-based sales mgmt system to cut checkout time in retail locations.
  • Novant Health launches on doxo to deliver bills & simplify the patient experience.
  • Lendio named one of Utah Business Magazine’s Best Companies to Work for in 2013.
  • Credit Sesame launches banking channel with new interest rate comparison tool.
  • Billhighway ranked no. 146 fastest growing company in North America on Deloitte’s 2013 Tech Fast 500.
  • Former U.S. Treasury assistant secretary for financial institutions and Google SVP join Lending Club’s advisory board.
  • The Paypers reports SumUp extends to Latin America with launch of m-payments service in Brazil.
  • Lend Academy reports: Lending Club now valued at over $2 Billion.
  • Open Bank Project organizing the second edition of Hack/Make The Bank FinTech hackathon in Paris on Nov 30th.
  • EyeVerify competes tonight in Kauffman Foundation’s “Get in the Ring: The American Startup Clash”.
  • Texas Advanced Computing Center to test pilot Toopher’s Invisible Multifactor Authentication solution.
  • MasterCard opens office in Bangladesh.
  • Leaf featured in column on Boston-based mobile payment hardware systems.
  • The Points Guy compares new Coin card to Wallaby Card.
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– November 7, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAmerican Banker reports: Bill.com Updates Banking Platform.
  • FIS, Fiserv, BancVue, & IND Group included in 2013 FinTech 100 rankings.
  • U.S. News and World Report wonders if FlexScore will replace credit scores.
  • Leaf earns a spot on BostInno’s “50 on Fire Finalists for Tech”.
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.