Lending Club Archives - Page 20 of 23

Alumni News — Week of August 1, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 8, 2011
Categories: Bobber Interactive, BrightScope, ChargeSmart, Check Point, ClairMail, Clovr Media, Credit.com, Doxo, Dwolla, edo Interactive, eToro, eWise, Expensify, Kony Solutions, Lending Club, Lendio, Mitek, Monitise, On Deck Capital, Robot Dough, SafetyPay, SecondMarket, Striata, The Receivables Exchange, TradeKing, Wonga, Xero

Bobber Interactive

Tech Flash interviewed Eric Eastman, Bobber Interactive’s CEO, on how the gamification of money management aims to help Generation Y better manage their money. Link

BrightScope

BrightScope released a report detailing the top 12 small-cap funds in America’s 401k plans. This report is part of a series that provides insight into the top funds and managers in the retirement marketplace. Link

ChargeSmart

Discover is offering an instant rebate to customers who pay their utility bills using a Discover Card on ChargeSmart’s website. Link

Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point enhanced its Software Blade Architecture by releasing R75.20, a comprehensive approach to security that includes a URL filtering Software Blade, SSL inspection, and data loss prevention. Link
The Wall Street Journal discussed Check Point’s ZoneAlarm SocialGuard that helps parents protect children on Facebook in a non-intrusive manner. Link

Clairmail

Clairmail announced record growth this quarter, with more than a 60% increase in bookings from last quarter. Link

Clovr Media

BostInnovation stated that Clovr Media is changing the way consumers collect loyalty rewards through its Card-Linked Ads that allow consumers to access rewards by clicking on an advertisement. Link
Mass High Tech’s weekly Startup Watch listed Clovr Media as one of five startups to follow. Link

Credit.com

EQuicknews listed Credit.com as a free way to check your credit score with no strings attached and highlighed the Credit Report Card feature. Link

doxo

The Appvita blog profiled doxo, noting insider tips and practical uses, such as comparing bills on a month-to-month basis. Link

Dwolla

Bank Technology News looked at the players in the mobile payments space and listed Dwolla as a formidable competitor. Link

EDO Interactive

EDO Interactive received $20 million in Series B funding to grow its Prewards platform that enables advertisers to offer digital deals and incentives that consumers redeem by using their existing credit, debit, or prepaid cards. Link

eToro

eToro began a trading contest for users with both demo and live trading accounts. Traders who accumulate the greatest gains will win each round. Link

eWise

eWise added Renasant Bank to its customer base, providing Renasant customers access to Secure Vault Payments, an alternative payment method. Link

Expensify

Expensify added a new feature that provides QuickBooks users a way to easily identify billable expenses to add to invoices. Link
The Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal listed Expensify as one of ten business apps for empowering your inner geek. Link

Kony Solutions

Tower Group, in its Review of North American Consumer Mobile Banking Technology Vendors, ranked Kony Solutions among the top mobile banking technology vendors. Kony excelled in the feature/function and customization categories. Link

Lending Club

TechCrunch highlighted Lending Club’s announcement of $25 million in Series D financing from Union Square Ventures and other existing investors. Link

Lendio

Lendio added Cardinal Bank to its network of lenders providing clients with more options in finding equipment loans, business lines of credit, acquisition financing, commercial real estate, SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 loans. Link

Mitek Systems

Mitek Systems launched Mobile Imaging Cloud Service that captures, extracts, and routes information contained in documents. The service helps app developers create smartphone and tablet apps that use a camera input function. Link

Monitise

Monitise Asia Pacific launched its mobile banking, payments, and commerce services in Indonesia and signed a joint venture agreement with PT Astra Graphia Information Technology, an information and communication business. Link

On Deck Capital

On Deck Capital raised $19 million of its own in a Series C round of funding. Link

RobotDough

RobotDough founder, Wilton Risenhoover, revealed why he started RobotDough and how it works. Link

SafetyPay

SafetyPay received a Payment Services Directive License to provide cross-border payments throughout Europe strengthening its position in that market. Link

SecondMarket

BostInnovation used SecondMarket’s alternative investments platform to discover top Boston companies. Link

Striata

Baton Rouge Water Company selected Striata, along with payment services company Western Union, to provide email billing with integrated electronic payment service. Link

The Receivables Exchange

Treasury & Risk profiled The Receivables Exchange, describing the process companies use to sell their receivables on the online platform. Link

TradeKing

TradeKing launched a $100 bonus for new customers who open an account by August 31, 2011. Link

Wonga

Smarta interviewed Wonga director, John Moorwood, about Wonga’s growth over the past 12 months. Wonga is now issuing over 1.5 million short-term loans. Link

Xero

Xero released Xero Touch, its new accounting app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News — Week of July 25, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 1, 2011
Categories: ClairMail, Clovr Media, Confident Technologies, Currensee, Doxo, Dynamics, eToro, Geezeo, Ideon FS, IDTheft 911, Intuit, Lending Club, Metavante, mFoundry, Micronotes, Prosper, Syphr

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

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. Link
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

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’ 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

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News — Week of July 18, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 25, 2011
Categories: ChargeSmart, CheckFree, Credit Karma, Doxo, Dwolla, eToro, Expensify, GoalMine, HelpMyCash, IDTheft 911, iPay Technologies, Lending Club, Lendio, mFoundry, Mint.com, Monitise Americas, peerTransfer, Prosper, SmartyPig, ThreatMetrix, TradeKing, Tyfone, Wikinvest, Xero, Zecco

ChargeSmart

AOL’s Daily Finance highlighted Chargesmart’s secondary gift card market that allows

consumers to pay for bills in exchange for gift cards. Link

CheckFree

Family Wealth Report stated that CheckFree is leading the way in UMA processing. Link

Credit Karma

CBS Money Watch discussed Credit Karma’s data on America’s debt. Link
Fox Business News listed Credit Karma’s credit score simulator tool as a 15-minute fix for your credit score. Link

doxo

Practical Ecommerce listed doxo as one of 17 apps for productivity. Link

Dwolla

Dwolla hit $1 million in payments per day and Ben Milne, CEO, shared a sneak peak of future plans. Link
Ace Community Credit Union provided customers with access to Dwolla through its site.
Dwolla CEO Ben Milne explained why starting a business in Iowa isn’t hard. Link
Dwolla introduced a new Autoload feature. Link
Dwolla was listed on The Next Web as one of eight awesome ways to pay with your phone. Link

eToro

eToro Partners began testing a new foreign exchange affiliate tool called Custom Links. Link

Expensify

The Info.rmatics blog testified to Expensify’s ease of use. Link
ipCommerce showcased Expensify’s innovation. Link

GoalMine

Mango Money added GoalMine to its list of services. Link

HelpMyCash

HelpMyCash revamped its website to be more consumer-friendly. Link

IDTheft 911

Barnstable County Mutual Insurance Company selected Identity Theft 911 for its LifeStages service. Link

iPay Technologies

TechCrunch reported that Bill Ready, former President of iPay Technologies, joined Accel Partners as an Executive in Residence. Link

Lending Club

ATM Options discussed seven good reasons to invest through Lending Club. Link
Netbanker discussed Lending Club’s record high growth. Link

Lendio

Lendio added TAB Bank to its network of lenders. Link
Reuters reported that Swift Capital and Lendio partnered to help small businesses. Link

mFoundry

American Banker considered Bank of America’s recent investment in mFoundry. Link
Credit Union Journal discussed Colombia Credit Union’s adoption of mFoundry’s mobile banking. Link

Mint.com

Mint.com introduced a manual transactions feature for its iPhone app. Link
TechCrunch reported Mint.com’s debut of a new feature that tracks bills and sends reminders. Link

Monitise

Monitise signed over 6,000 users in Nigeria to a mobile payments trial. Link
TechMarketView discussed Monitise’s financial success. Link

peerTransfer

Yahoo! Finance reported peerTransfer’s growth in international student payment processing. Link

Prosper

Netbanker discussed Prosper’s record high growth. Link
Prosper raised its interest rates by 2.5 percent. Link

SmartyPig

SmartyPig introduced its back-to-school cash giveaway contest. Link

ThreatMetrix

ThreatMetrix announced its upcoming user conference October 9th through 10th. Link

TradeKing

TradeKing launched a new video series to help consumers understand options trading. Link

Tyfone

Oregonlive.com described Tyfone as a major player in mobile payments. Link

Wikinvest

Forex Promos shared an interview with Mike Sha, Wikinvest CEO. Link

Xero

Reuters reported that Xero agreed to acquire Paycycle, a payroll company. Link

Zecco

Wealth Building Tips and Strategies blog shared Zecco’s options trading video series. Link

ZimpleMoney

ZimpleMoney adjusted its services in response to the Dodd-Frank reform. Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News — Week of July 11, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 18, 2011
Categories: Aptys Solutions, Balance, Bill Guard, BillFloat, Bling Nation, Boku, BrightScope, Cardlytics, ChargeSmart, ClairMail, Continuity Control, Cortal Consors, Cortera, Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, Currensee, Dwolla, Dynamics, Expensify, Guardian Analytics, ID Analytics, iPay Technologies, Lending Club, Lodo Software, mFoundry, Mitek, Monitise, Prosper, Q2ebanking, Receivables Exchange, SecondMarket, Standard Chartered Bank, TILE Financial, TradeKing, Tyfone, Wikinvest, Wonga, Yodlee, Zopa

Last week, AlwaysOn released its 2011 AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies List that represents the top emerging companies Worldwide. Twelve Finovate Alumni were selected:

BillFloat
Bling Nation
Boku
Cardlytics
ClairMail
Expensify
IDAnalytics
Lending Club
SecondMarket
Wikinvest
Wonga
Yodlee

_________________________________________________________________________

In other Alumni News:

Aptys Solutions

Aptys Solutions announced that the ACH functionality in its PayLogics payment platform provides same-day settlement. Link

Balance Financial

Balance Financial launched Balance Certified Pro, a new software that is geared toward professionals. Link
Balance Financial released an iPhone App. Link

BillGuard

TechCrunch reported that BillGuard’s “Anti-virus for Bills” is now completely free for users. Link

BrightScope

CNNMoney’s article, Simplify Your Retirement Savings, pointed to BrightScope to provide a clear understanding of retirement savings. Link

ChargeSmart

ChargeSmart announced that its Bill Payments customers can now pay many of their utility bills with an American Express card. Link

Continuity Control

Continuity Control raised $1.1 million in financing from convertible promissory notes and warrants. Link

Cortera

The Miami Herald reported that Cortera’s Risk Data and Reporting is now an SAP-endorsed business solution. Link

Cortal Consors

Institutional Investor ranked Oliver Le Grand, CEO of Cortal Consors, number 13 of 50 in its Tech 50 ranking of financial tech leaders and innovators. Link

Credit Karma

Credit Karma’s new feature, Credit Alerts is available for free to the first 200 people to click the link. Link

Credit Sesame

The Hands On Home Buyer blog recommended Credit Sesame for its interactive property taxes tool. Link

Currensee

The Business Insider reported that Currensee plans to launch its Trade Leaders program in China. Link

Dwolla

The E-News publication, Business Record, commented on Dwolla’s positive impact on Iowa’s startup culture. Link
Financial Plus Credit Union adopted Dwolla’s FiSync integration. Link

Dynamics

Dynamics revealed its angel investors in Series A and Series B funding rounds. Link

Guardian Analytics

American Banker reported that Guardian Analytics is planning to launch an outsourced fraud prevention service that will help financial institutions meet new FFIEC guidelines. Link
Guardian Analytics introduced its FraudDESK service to provide fraud analytics support to financial institutions. Link
Guardian Analytics is hosting a free webinar on Tuesday that will explore FFIEC guidance. Link

iPay Technologies

iPay Technologies helped Generations Community Federal Credit Union increase bill pay adoption and its number of transactions. Link

Lending Club

San Francisco ABC News Channel 7 explained the benefits of P2P loans from Lending Club. Link
Finextra news blog discussed Lending Club’s success. Link
American Banker reported that, in June, Lending Club saw an increase of 7% in loans originated that totaled a record $20 million. Link

Lodo Software

The Silicon Prairie News reported that Lodo Software is seeking to raise $5 million in a round of Series D funding. Link

mFoundry

Columbia Credit Union announced that it deployed mFoundry’s mBanking, a mobile banking platform. Link

Mitek

MSN Money reported that Mitek Systems began a NASDAQ market listing on July 14th, and is trading under the symbol MITK. Link

Monitise

CNBC reported that Monitise’s ReliaCard will be offered to U.S. Bank’s Visa cardholders in some states. Link
Monitise, US Bank, and FIS announced that they are planning to offer a mobile app for Visa’s ReliaCard users. Link

Prosper

San Francisco’s ABC News Channel 7 explained the benefits of P2P loans from Prosper. Link
Finextra news blog discussed Prosper’s success with its P2P lending service. Link

Q2ebanking

Q2ebanking’s director of security solutions, Ward Howell, published an article detailing a Credit Union’s perspective of the FFIEC guidelines in The Credit Union Ti
mes. Link

Receivables Exchange

Institutional Investor ranked Justin Brownhill and Nicolas Perkin, Co-Founders of The Receivables Exchange, as number 42 of 50 in its Tech 50 ranking of financial tech leaders and innovators. Link

Standard Chartered

Institutional Investor ranked Jan Verplancke, CIO of Standard Chartered, as number 37 of 50 in its Tech 50 ranking of financial tech leaders and innovators. Link

TILE Financial

Daily Finance interviewed Amy Butte, CEO of TILE Financial. Link

TradeKing

TradeKing announced the public availability of its API. Link

Tyfone

CoVantage Credit Union chose to implement Tyfone’s mobile wallet solution. Link

Zopa

Zopa founder Giles Andrews was interviewed on BBC’s The Bottom Line. Link
Finextra news blog discussed Zopa’s success as a P2P lending service. Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

PayPal and Cortera Take Charge in May’s Web Traffic

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 7, 2011
Categories: Adobe, Andera, BancVue, Betterment, Bill.com, Billeo, BillFloat, Bills.com, BillShrink, Blippy, Boku, BrightScope, Bundle, Cardlytics, CashEdge, ChargeSmart, Check Point, CheckingFinder, Cortera, Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, Credit.com, DebtGoal, Discover, eRollover, eToro, Expensify, Experian, Fidelity National Information Services, Fiserv, HelloWallet, Infosys, Intuit, Jack Henry, Kapitall, Leadfusion, Lending Club, Lendio, Metavante, Mint.com, MoneyAisle, MyBankTracker, Online Resources, Outright.com, PayPal, Prosper, S1, SecondMarket, Seeking Alpha, Simple Tuition, smartcredit.com, SmartyPig, Standard Chartered Bank, Sybase 365, TransUnion Interactive, TrustedID, Wesabe, Wikinvest, wipro, Yodlee, Zecco

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

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

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News– Week of June 20, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 27, 2011
Categories: AlphaClone, billFLO, Bills.com, BrightScope, CashEdge, Continuity Control, Credit Karma, Currensee, Doxo, Dwolla, eWise, Expensify, HelloWallet, Jwaala, Lending Club, Lendio, Mortgagebot, PayNearMe, Prosper, Receivables Exchange, Strands, TradeKing, Voice Commerce, Xero, Zopa

AlphaClone

AlphaClone launched a new feature that measures sentiment. Link

BillFLO

Taulia acquired BillFLO. Link

Bills.com

Bills.com shared money-saving strategies for recent college graduates. Link

BrightScope

BrightScope was highlighted on the Tuscon NBC news channel series, “4 Your Money.” Link

CashEdge

Ally Bank began offering CashEdge’s Popmoney service. Link

Continuity Control

LEVERAGE, the Service Corporation for the League of Southeastern Credit Unions, began offering Continuity Control’s CreditUnion Assistant program. Link

CreditKarma

Credit Karma introduced its Approval Odds service to help avoid being declined for a card. Link

Currensee

Currensee reached $6 billion in trading volume and $12 million under management. Link

doxo

The MakeUseOf blog reviewed doxo’s online filing cabinet. Link

Dwolla

Dwolla CEO commented on the Bitcoin virtual currency debate, exchange, and hysteria. Link
Dwolla’s fees were compared to PayPal’s. Link
Silicon Prairie News discussed Dwolla CEO’s comments on Bitcoin. Link

eWise

eWise Payo’s smartphone app won the Editor’s Award for Consumer Focus at the 2011 Cards International Awards. Link

Expensify

The Dallas News highlighted Expensify. Link
Expensify was listed as one of 25 tools to help you manage spending by cmvlive.com Link

HelloWallet

HelloWallet posted a short video series explaining its wealth-tracking service. Link

Jwaala

KEMBA Financial Credit Union implemented Jwaala’s platform. Link

Lending Club

Lending Club is approaching its financial breakeven point. Link
Reuters commented on Lending Club’s P2P marketplace. Link

Lendio

Lendio helped banks increase business loans by finding qualified borrowers. Link

Mortgagebot

Mortgagebot and Business Solutions extended their Tech Alliance to provide mortgage application solutions at preferred terms. Link

PayNearMe

PayNearMe facilitated 7-Eleven’s partnership with Greyhound for cash transactions. Link

Prosper

Reuters commented on Prosper’s P2P marketplace. Link

Receivables Exchange

The Receivables Exchange won 2011 “Management Team of the Year” at the Stevie Awards. Link

Strands

Strands Personal Finance landed in the 2011 Red Herring Top 100 North America list. Link

TradeKing

TradeKing announced its free webinar series on trading advice beginning July 12th. Link

Voice Commerce

Voice Commerce launched its CashFlows app. Link

Xero

Getapp.com reviewed Xero’s cloud-based software. Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News — Week of June 13, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 20, 2011
Categories: AcceptEmail, Balance, BancVue, BankOns, BillShrink, BrightScope, CheckFree, ClairMail, Doxo, Dwolla, Enloop, eRollover, eWise, Kiboo, Lending Club, mFoundry, Mitek, Monitise, peerTransfer, Prosper, SafetyPay, SmartyPig, Tagit, ThreatMetrix, Tyfone

AcceptEmail

AcceptEmail partnered with WorldPay to launch an e-billing and online payment service. Link

Balance

GeekWire interviewed Balance Financial CEO, Devin Miller. Link

BancVue

BancVue executives won Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Link

BankOns

Examiner.com referred to BankOns as the new GroupOn. Link

BillShrink

BillShrink was featured in The New York Times. Link

BrightScope

Forbes reported on BrightScope’s list of exchange-traded funds held in America’s 401k plans. Link

CheckFree

CheckFree expanded its functionality to support account-to-account and peer-to-peer transfers. Link

Clairmail

Clairmail joined the RSA Secured Partner Program to provide secure access to mobile banking. Link

doxo

doxo CEO explained paperless billing in a video interview, highlighting the mobile app. Link
doxo was featured on the Top Productivity Apps website. Link
Northwest Innovation reviewed doxo’s mobile app. Link

Dwolla

TechCrunch reported that Dwolla hit a milestone of $1M in transactions per week. Link

Enloop

Business News Daily interviewed Enloop CEO, Cynthia McCahon, about creating a “living business plan”. Link
Huffington Post spotlighted Enloop. Link

eRollover

eRollover launched an online solution for financial advisors to grow practices. Link

eWise

eWise announced its partnership with Affirmative Technologies to speed the adoption of
alternative payment methods. Link

Kiboo

Kiboo launched a public site called “Know Your Money”. Link

Lending Club

Lending Club posted a video of their five-word acceptance speech at the Webby Awards. Link
The Wall Street Journal noted Lending Club as leading the way in P2P lending. Link

mFoundry

mFoundry helped Starbucks build an app for Android. Link
mFoundry passed the 400 customer milestone. Link

Mitek

Mitek’s mobile check deposit was cited as the number one feature that would cause you to switch banks. Link

Monitise

ComputerWeekly discussed the survey Monitise conducted on mobile banking. Link
Forbes discussed Monitises’ deal with Visa. Link

peerTransfer

peerTransfer is hosting a free webinar on international student payment processing this Wednesday, June 22. Link
peerTransfer won the Innovation Award from Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange. Link

Prosper

Prosper announced that it is giving away an iPad2 to new investors. Link
The Wall Street Journal noted Prosper as leading the way in P2P lending. Link

SafetyPay

SafetyPay was selected by BorderJump as its preferred payment solution for cross border transactions. Link

SmartyPig

Fox Business News suggested using SmartyPig.com as a tool to help “pump up” savings. Link

Tagit

Tagit helped Commonwealth Bank launch its first mobile app. Link

ThreatMetrix

ThreatMetrix announced its cloud-based fraud prevention platform. Link
ThreatMetrix launched “ThreatMetrix Fraud Facts,” a free downloadable report. Link

Tyfone

Tyfone was awarded an NFC over-the-air and over-the-wire seminal patent. Link
American Banker reviewed Tyfone’s mobile payment patent. Link
NFC Rumors looked at how Tyfone uses SD cards to enable NFC transactions. Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Prosper is Back in the Game, Lands First Private Equity Lender

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 15, 2011
Categories: E-Loan, Lending Club, Loans & Credit, P2P Lending, Prosper

A few weeks ago, I caught up with Chris Larsen, CEO & founder of Prosper. I’ve been a huge fan of his work for more than a decade. His ventures,
E-Loan and Prosper, have been pioneers in the lending space, both earning OBR Best of Web awards and Prosper also taking Best of Show in our first Finovate in Oct. 2007 (note 1).

But it’s been a rocky few years for Prosper (see Netbanker archives), as it’s been for most consumer lenders. The company even lost its lead in the U.S. P2P loan space to Lending Club, which is currently originating about three times as many loans.

But Prosper survived and appears to be back on a path to live up to its name. Some recent milestones:

Its first private equity lender (updated 16 June, 2011, per comment below) is coming on board, pledging $150 million to fund loans on the Prosper platform. This is an important development and fulfills a goal that the company sought since its 2006 launch. It will also help Prosper keep up with Lending Club which has had major institutional investors for a while. Prosper hopes to keep a healthy mix of retail and institutional investment (“50/50 would be fine”).
$17.2 million in new venture funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Crosslink Capital (announced 7 June, link)
Achieving double-digit returns for investors, a far cry from the negative returns some lenders experienced in the “trial & error” era before (note 4)
Achieving large year-over-year loan growth, although the company is still running less than half the pace of the pre-SEC days (note 3)

Prosper loan growth

Source: Eric’s Credit Community, 15 June 2011

Prosper’s homepage is a model of Web 2.0 simplicity
Note: New lenders are offered an iPad for investing $20,000 or more (15 June 2011)

Both Prosper and Lending Club are averaging about 200,000 monthly unique visitors

Source: Compete, 19 May 2011

——————————————–

Notes:
1. E-Loan was named OBR Best of the Web in July 1997 for launching the first online mortgage brokerage.
2. Prosper was named OBR Best of the Web in March 2006 for launching the first P2P loan service in the United States, and the first anywhere to use competitive bidding to set rates, a model they recently abandoned.
3. Before the SEC forced the company to restructure its business as a securities issuer in Oct 2008.
4. The average total return for the 2006 to 2008 loans (most of which are now off the books) was a negative 5.4%

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News — Week of May 30, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 6, 2011
Categories: Betterment, BrightScope, ChargeSmart, Check Point, ClairMail, Corduro, Credit Sesame, Currensee, Doxo, Dwolla, Enloop, Geezeo, Guardian Analytics, HelloWallet, Hidden Levers, Lending Club, Lendio, PayNearMe, Prosper, Robot Dough, SecondMarket, Simple Tuition, Sybase 365, TradeKing, Tyfone, UBank

Betterment

Medill Reports discussed the benefits of Betterment and Currensee, claiming that the social networking craze changes the way some people invest. Link

BrightScope

BrightScope announced the top 10 treasury inflation protected securities funds in America’s 401ks. Link

ChargeSmart

Fox News’ Studio 10 reviewed ChargeSmart, PlasticJungle, and Bills.com and found a number of money saving tools and ideas. Link

Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point Software Technologies won The Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2011 Award from The Association of Support Professionals for its exceptional web support design, implementation, and customer experience. Link

ClairMail

ClairMail announced record customer expansion with a 300% year-over-year growth in users. Link

Corduro

The New York Times reported that Corduro’s cloud platform challenges PayPal and Square’s mobile payment services. Link

Credit Sesame

The Wisdom Journal depicted Credit Sesame’s services as more than just credit scores. Link

Currensee

See Betterment above.

doxo

doxo explained how to use its online filing cabinet and “due date” alerts to help organize GroupOn, Living Social, and other daily deals. Link
TheFinancialBrand.com discussed Oregon Federal Credit Union’s use of doxo and discussed other usage ideas such as uploading a scan of your passport prior to travelling. Link

Dwolla

Credit Union Times listed Dwolla as a contender in the P2P payment space. Link
Dwolla rallied community efforts to gather donations for the tornado-stricken town of Joplin by selling its t-shirts and accepting donations. Link
Omaha World-Herald covered Dwolla’s arrival into Nebraska. Link

Enloop

About.com highlighted Enloop’s business plan creation service. Link
Forbes blog discussed “How Not to Fail” by using Enloop to assess the potential success of a business plan. Link

Geezeo

Call Federal Credit Union, based in Richmond, VA, selected Geezeo for its PFM solution. Link

Guardian Analytics

Guardian Analytics positioned by Gartner in the “Visionary” quadrant for web fraud detection. Link

HelloWallet

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom urged residents to improve their money management by using HelloWallet. For every five subscriptions purchased, HelloWallet will give away one subscription to a family in need. Link

Hidden Levers

Financial Advisor Blog discussed using Hidden Levers to build better portfolios, highlighting risk management and accuracy of the service. Link

Lending Club

Lending Club exceeded a quarter million dollars in cumulative loans and is offering cash bonuses. Link
Wall Street Journal blog discussed growth of P2P Lending sites Prosper and Lending Club. Link

Lendio

Lendio raised $2 million in debt financing. Link

PayNearMe

PayNearMe founder Danny Shader, in an interview with Vator News, revealed the service is used beyond the unbanked population, including teens who prefer to pay with cash and consumers who would like to keep their online transactions private. Link

Prosper

See Lending Club above.

RobotDough

Dow Jones Financial reports that a UCLA professor backed RobotDough. Link

SecondMarket

The Washington Business Journal discussed SecondMarket’s recent popularity. Link

Sybase

Sybase launched the M-Commerce Guide, a publication for examining global market opportunities for mobile network operators, advisors, and FIs. Link

TradeKing

TradeKing CIO Dan Raju discussed security issues that may arise with the NYSE cloud community, citing its security. Link

Tyfone

Tyfone contracted with Star One Credit Union to use its NFC technology.
Link

UBank

CEO of UBank examined security concerns and competitors during an interview with ZDNet. Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News — Week of May 23, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 31, 2011
Categories: Aptys Solutions, Backbase, Betterment, Bill.com, Boku, Capital Access Network, Credit Karma, Doxo, Dwolla, edo Interactive, Expensify, Kabbage, Lending Club, LendingKarma, Lendio, Lodo Software, Monitise, Mortgagebot, PayDivvy, PayNearMe, peerTransfer, ProfitStars, Robot Dough, SecondMarket, Smarty Pig, Striata, ThreatMetrix, TILE Financial, TradeKing, Tyfone, Wikinvest, Wonga, Xero, Zecco, Zopa

Aptys Solutions
Aptys Solutions signed with Banker’s Bank, a top check depositor with the Federal Reserve Link

Backbase
Backbase to host webinar on how to use social media in financial services Link

Betterment

Betterment announced a growth of over $10M under management and over 4000 customers in first year Link
Betterment celebrated its first birthday Link

Bill.com
Bill.com is working to improve its mobile offering for small and midsized businesses Link

Boku
Mobile Entertainment explained how Boku will revolutionize pay-by-mobile for digital goods Link

Capital Access Network
CNBC explained how Capital Access Network solves the need to use financial creativity Link

Credit Karma
WiseBread Blog interviewed Credit Karma CEO Link

doxo

doxo’s first fan video was posted online Link
Oregon employees were the first to give its members doxo’s online file cabinet Link
TechFlash highlighted the benefits of using doxo to achieve paperless business Link
2Minute Finance interviewed doxo at FinovateSpring Link

Dwolla

Dwolla was listed by inc Tech as one of three startups you must know from Big Omaha Link
Credit Union Times listed Dwolla as a new P2P service rivaling ‘bank giants’ Link

edo Interactive
MyBankTracker interviewed edo Interactive COO about its Prewards service Link

Expensify
Slate explained how Expensify will help the ‘frequent flier’ Link

Kabbage
Technorati described how Kabbage works with eBay Link

Lending Club

Mint.com’s blog covered what you need to know about Lending Club Link
San Francisco Business Times commented on Lending Club’s strong backing from both investors and lenders Link
San Francisco Times reported that Lending Club stated it is not planning to go public for several years Link

LendingKarma
Entrepreneur featured LendingKarma as a good tool to use when borrowing money from family or friends Link

Lendio
San Francisco Chronicle reported that Lendio offers funding opportunities for new grads Link

Lodo Software
Lodo Software was described as a startup providing jobs in the “Silicon Prairie” region, a.k.a. Omaha Link

Monitise
Monitise released a report predicting that the majority of consumers will use mobile money services within the next three years Link

Mortgagebot
Mortgagebot reached 1000 clients, one of its goals from the beginning Link

PayDivvy
2MinuteFinanced interviewed PayDivvy about its services Link

PayNearMe
BillShrink examined PayNearMe’s cash payment service Link

peerTransfer
Mass High Tech interviewed Iker Marcaide from peerTransfer about becoming an entrepreneur Link

ProfitStars
ProfitStars announced a new version of Margin Maximizer that’s now available as a hosted solution Link

Robot Dough
2MiniuteFinance toured RobotDough’s demo during interview at Finovate Spring Link

SecondMarket

Wall Street Journal stated that SecondMarket helped fuel the tech boom Link
CNBC interviewed SecondMarket for an explanation of the change in trading numbers Link and Link

Smarty Pig
Smarty Pig launched new sharing features, including activity sharing and goal sharing Link

Striata
Striata will host a June 2 webinar for implementing successful ebilling strategies Link

ThreatMetrix
San Francisco Chronicle covered ThreatMetrix’s research around mobile transaction activity Link

TILE Financial
TILE Financial released a Financial Identity Profile to strengthen the connection between advisors and under-30 consumers Link

TradeKing
TradeKing divulged the lineup of its free webinars in June Link

Tyfone
Tyfone won 2010 Asia Pacific Smart Card Association Award for its NFC innovation and implementation Link

Wikinvest
Dow Jones Advisor highlighted Wikinvest as a way to analyze portfolios Link

Wonga

Wonga won 2011 Red Herring Top 100 Europe Award for exceptional accomplishments Link
Wonga won the Media Momentum Awards, a coveted award for digital media companies in Europe Link
Wonga’s Errol Damelin discussed consumer-centric credit Link

Xero

Diversity Limited commented on Xero’s move to the US markets Link
Xero and Keebo teamed up to help you manage and process receipts Link
New Zealand Herald commented on Xero’s surging revenue Link

Zecco

The Wall Street Journal reviewed Zecco’s new Facebook app Link
Zecco launched an app for stock trades & viewing realtime market data on Facebook Link

Zopa
Zopa shows how it helps consumers protect against inflation Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni News: Week of May 2 and May 9

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 16, 2011
Categories: Backbase, Bill.com, BrightScope, CashEdge, Check Point, Cortera, DebtGoal, eToro, Expensify, Fiserv, ID Analytics, IP Commerce, Lending Club, Mint.com, MoneyAisle, PayNearMe, Plastyc, Prosper, Yodlee

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Cambria}
p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px ‘Times New Roman’; min-height: 15.0px}
span.s1 {text-decoration: underline ; color: #053df5}

Backbase

Backbase will provide TCS Bank in Russia with a website integration solution through Bank 2.0 Portal. Link

Bill.com

Bill.com rolled out Sage Peachtree Sync, software for controlling bill payment and management. Link

BrightScope

BrightScope released its second annual list of the Atlanta-based companies with the best 401k plans. Link

CashEdge

CashEdge expanded Popmoney service by adding Popmoney for Prepaid. It also announced a partnership with TxVia. Link

Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point was listed on Acadian Asset Management’s Top 15 Buys list. Link

Cortera

Cortera announced a new version of its PULSE app, a customer monitoring service. The new version will add Growth Clues alert. Link

DebtGoal

DebtGoal hired Igor Vaks, former Experian CIO, as new COO. Link

eToro

eToro emerged as the preferred platform for building forex wealth through web trading. Link

Expensify

Expensify advertised on giant billboard in the Bay Area. Link

Fiserv

Fiserv announced improvements to its Relationship Rewards. Link

ID Analytics

CoreLogic partnered with ID Analytics to integrate ID Network with LoanSafe Fraud Manager. Link

ID Analytics will host Advance 2011, its 9th Consumer Risk Management Conference, this September. Link

IP Commerce

IP Commerce recently raised another round of funding. Link

Lending Club

Lending Club issued a record high of $17.5M loans in April. It is the 4th record month in the past 5. Link

Lending Club won Webby Award for the Banking/ Bill Paying category. Link

Mint

Mint won Webby Awards for the Financial Services category. Link

MoneyAisle

Mone
yAisle launched live auctions for unsecured personal loans to help consumers across a wide range of credit scores. Link

PayNearMe

PayNearMe raised $16M in funding from new and current investors. Link

Plastyc

Plastyc won a patent for improved online payment methods. Link

Prosper

Prosper increased loan volume by more than 50% compared to 3 months ago, issuing over $5M in new loans in April. Link

Yodlee

Yodlee is looking into developing mobile apps with new “FinApp Store” strategy. Link

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Alumni Updates — Week of April 18, 2011

By finovate Posted on April 25, 2011
Categories: Backbase, BancVue, BillFloat, Doxo, Dwolla, eToro, Kashoo, Lending Club, Mint.com, PayPal, SmartyPig, Yodlee

To follow updates from Finovate alumni companies in real time, be sure to follow us on Twitter.

Backbase extends content services offerings. Backbase CMS is available as an add-on module. http://bit.ly/finovate420112

BancVue launched “Money Island,” an educational game for children to be offered by banks and financial institutions. https://demo.moneyisland.com/

BillFloat partners with Online Resources to offer small-dollar loans to biller clients. Online Resources will now offer BillFloat as a payment option. http://bit.ly/finovate418112

Doxo signs Oregon Federal Employees Credit Union (OFECU). Members will be able to receive statements and banking documents via the service. http://bit.ly/finovate421111

Dwolla will provide an online payments option at Tikly, an online ticketing startup expected to launch within the next thirty days. http://bit.ly/finovate418113

eToro surpasses 1.5 million users. The company cites the growth of thousands of members joining per day since the launch of eToro’s social platform, OpenBook. http://prn.to/finovate421113

PayPal and Discover partner on person-to-person payments. Rollout begins this week for Discover’s person-to-person payments system. http://bit.ly/finovate42112

Several Finovate Alumni firms have been nominated for Webby awards. Good luck to Lending Club, Mint, Billeo and Kashoo. http://bit.ly/finovate420116

SmartyPig eliminates redemption fees. Transferring SmartyPig savings account funds to a retailer gift card is now free. http://bit.ly/finovate418111

Yodlee partners with Boursorama to provide Money Center service. Boursorama customers will receive the Money Center PFM service free of charge. http://bit.ly/finovate420115

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook