Alumni News– January 26, 2015

  • 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.jpgMIT Technology Review features Feedzai and Zumigo in a discussion on mobile authentication technologies.
  • Loan origination platform LoanLaunch (formerly Common Origination Platform) now available from Fiserv.
  • Experian partners with BillGuard to boost effectiveness of its anti-fraud solution, ProtectMyID.
  • Misys unveils FusionBanking Lending.
  • American Banker takes a look at the relationship between Google and Lending Club.
  • Kabbage named one of America’s top 100 Most Promising Companies 
  • Coinbase to open the first regulated Bitcoin exchange in the U.S. 
  • Actiance announces support for IBM Verse and IBM Connections Social Cloud.
  • Credit Sesame launches iOS app with Siri integration in its credit monitoring feature.
  • Google Wallet partners with WePay to put its Instant Buy API in 200,000 e-commerce shops.
  • TransferWise Raises $58 Million in Round Led by Andreessen Horowitz.
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.

FT Partners Publishes Post-IPO Profile of Lending Club

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Now that the dust has settled on fintech’s biggest startup IPO ever, FT Partners has put together an extensive profile of Lending Club. Lending Club’s IPO last year was one of the major events that helped put fintech in the headlines of not just technology news, but business news, as well. And FT Partners’ report so far serves as the definitive document on just how the alternative lender did it and gives clues to what comes next.

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The data-rich, 60-page document focuses mostly on Lending Club, though small business lender, OnDeck, is also covered. The review of Lending Club before, during, and after its public offering includes industry reaction as well as summaries of analyst coverage.
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Key milestones in the rise of Lending Club are shown graphically, from its launch in 2007, through the company’s first $25 million institutional investment five years later. An industry timeline shows Lending Club’s place in the evolution of the alternative lending market (interestingly contrasted with a graph of the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield).
The report discusses Lending Club’s competitive strengths, opportunities for growth, and includes seven pages of loan statistics and another nine pages of financial analysis focusing on revenue and revenue comparisons.
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Perhaps my favorite part is the 16-page section “Selected Alternative Lending Transactions.” Looking at the variety of financing, M&A, and other transactions in both the consumer and small business markets provides a robust sense of the history and diversity of the alternative lending space.
The full report is available here.
Financial Technology Partners is an investment banking firm dedicated to the financial technology sector. The company was founded by Steve McLaughlin and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Lending Club Pilots Program to Provide Low Interest Financing to Google Partners

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When you combine Lending Club’s entry into small business lending last March with its investment from Google in May of 2013, add in a successful IPO last December, what do you get?

A partnership with Google Partners.

Lending Club announced yesterday it is piloting a program that will enable Google to invest its own capital in its network of 10,000 partners by purchasing their loans. This differs from Google’s other investment arms, Google Capital and Google Ventures, as the partner investment program will offer capital without taking equity.

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The partner network consists of resellers, consultants, and system integrators that help Google distribute its applications and services. To be eligible for funding, Google partners must be based in the U.S. and meet certain requirements. Qualifying partners can get loans of up to $600,000 for a two-year term.

This six figure amount is double the $300,000 cap that Lending Club typically places on qualified small business borrowers. Also, while the interest rate for SMBs borrowing through Lending Club starts at a fixed 5.9%, those who take out loans through Google Partners will pay only interest the first year, and pay back the loan on an amortized schedule in year two.

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This isn’t Lending Club’s first time working with third parties. For a little over a year now, Lending Club has extended two-fold partnerships to banks and credit unions to 1) purchase loans from Lending Club to diversify their asset portfolios and 2) offer personal loans to their banking customers. It is also working with private equity companies.

Lending Club demonstrated at the first Finovate in 2007.

Alumni News– January 16, 2015

  • 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.jpgLinedata Capitalstream to offer e-SignLive by Silanis.
  • 13 Finovate alums win 2015 Paybefore Awards.
  • Payment Services Provider Anderson Zaks teams up with card-linked offers specialist, Birdback.
  • EZBOB launches scratch card promotion.
  • MarketWatch’s Your Digital Self column looks at Jingit.
  • Baseline magazine features a recent study by Arxan Technologies on the state of mobile app security.
  • The Mifos Initiative joins Microcredit Summit Campaign to integrate social performance management and poverty measurement tools into its free and open source cloud-based core banking system.
  • The Super early bird deadline for FinovateSpring 2015 ends tonight! Pick up your tickets now to save big time.
  • Monetise partners with MoneyPass to offer mobile money services to MoneyPass customers.
  • Lending Club Pilots Program to Provide Low Interest Financing to Google Partners.
  • In 2014, secondary transactions surged to a record $1.4 billion on SecondMarket.
  • Spend Matters debunks myths about Taulia. Check out Taulia at FinovateEurope next month.
  • Infosys announces $250 Million USD ‘Innovate in India Fund’ to support Indian start-ups.
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– December 23, 2014

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  • The Tech Bulletin profiles Heckyl Technologies.
  • Sonavation announces acquisition of assets of Arkami.
  • Chelsea State Bank launches Larky-powered mobile app.
  • EVRY announces a four-bank, $160 million payments partnership.
  • Kashoo unveils version 4.1 of its cloud accounting and bookkeeping app for iOS. 
  • Walmart to distribute GreenDot prepaid products in 2015.
  • BMO Financial Group’s deployment of Xignite Enterprise wins American Financial Technology Award.
  • IT Qlick takes a look at Jwaala Personal Financial Manager and roomMaster.
  • CashStar teams up with Spafinder Wellness.
  • NY Times DealBook looks at disruptive startups in fintech including Lending Club, On Deck, and TradeKing.
  • Forbes.com column on how companies stand out from the crowd features Silanis Technology.
  • Jemstep to power Redhawk Online Advisor.
  • Continuity Control taps Peter Rawlinson as Chief Marketing Officer.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alums Fill Ranks of KPMG’s Fintech Innovators for 2014

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Draw up a list of the top fintech innovators of 2014. Got it? Now tell me how many of your top 50 companies are not just impressive companies in their respective fields, but Finovate alums, as well.

If you are global accounting and consulting group, KPMG, then the answer is “more than half.”

Of the 50 companies recognized by KPMG in its 2014 review of top fintech innovators, 27 have demoed their technologies at Finovate conferences. And of that 27, 13 have won Best of Show at least once.
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The inaugural “50 Best Fintech Innovators” report is a joint venture between AWI Ventures KPMG Australia and the Financial Services Council (FSC). 
The companies chosen were selected based on four factors: total capital raised, rate of capital raising, degree of sub industry disruption, and “degree of product, service, customer experience and business model innovation.” 
Writing in an introduction to the report, AWI Limited CEO Ben Heap explained why fundraising played such a prominent part of the selection process.
“These assessment criteria reflect the fact that venture capital invested is a relevant measure of innovation which in turn fuels enduring competitive advantage,” he wrote. 
“Venture capitalists seek this enduring competitive advantage over and above everything else.”
Here’s a breakdown of Finovate alums in the list, in order of appearance, along with links to their most recent demo video. Boldface indicates Best of Show winner.
“Ones to Watch” 
See the full list of companies here.

Alumni News– December 17, 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.jpgThe Jerusalem Post profiles Israeli startup, TipRanks.
  • CashStar Market Solution is now powering 150 promotions during this year’s winter holiday season.
  • Enterprising Investor highlights Betterment, LearnVest, Motif Investing, Venmo, and Wealthfront in its column on Millennials and money.
  • TechZone 360 discusses CrowdFlower in a review of “What’s Hot and What’s Not on Data Science for 2015.”
  • Yahoo! Finance features an interview with Rippleshot co-founder and CPO Yueyu Fu.
  • WingCash unveils Brand Cash, a digital currency that replaces merchant-specific gift and loyalty cards.
  • Financial Times profiles Betterment CEO and co-founder, Jon Stein.
  • After Manilla’s demise, Mint launches bill pay and bill management platform.
  • Time, Inc partners with Coinbase to accept bitcoin for subscriptions to Fortune, Health, This Old House and Travel + Leisure.
  • Tradeshift to waive 30% revenue share from organizations that build apps to support the circular economy http://bit.ly/13cY6S6
  • Wealth Management looks at the human advisors behind Personal Capital and SigFig.
  • Money Talks News lists alternative lending sites to consider: Prosper, Lending Club, and Kabbage.
  • ID Analytics names Timothy Laughlin as new CFO.
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– December 16, 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.jpgTop Image Systems announces closing “six-figure eFLOW5 deal” with leading Asia-Pacific bank.
  • ACCESSbank to deploy turnkey insurance agency courtesy of Insuritas.
  • Klarna payment solution now integrated into ekmPowershop.
  • D3 Banking partners with ProfitStars to offer iPay Consumer Bill Pay.
  • Pymnts interviews Jingit, Spreedly, and TSYS CEOs on what they think will make or break 2015.
  • Pymnts: PayPal Loan Program to Compete with Lending Club.
  • ShopKeep gives free NFC reader to new customers wanting to accept ApplePay.
  • Finovate Debuts: EyeLock’s Myris Device Authenticates Using Iris Identification.
  • Arroweye Solutions to Provide Debit and Prepaid Card Production to DMS Bank & Trust Ltd. 
  • ZenPayroll now lets companies match employees’ charitable donations.
  • Arxan Integrates With IBM Security AppScan and Trusteer Products.
  • Mint launches bill pay and management platform.
  • Entersekt Receives Honorable Mention in 2014 Gartner Magic Quadrant for User Authentication.
  • Interactions closes strategic deal to acquire AT&T Watson speech recognition and natural language understanding platform.
  • Consumer Reports features AnchorID, Betterment, Blooom, EverSafe, FutureAdvisor, iQuantifi, MaxMyInterest, and Wealthfront in its column, “Bright Ideas for a Prosperous 2015.”
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– December 15, 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.jpgSFGate column on the technology of mobile payments features thoughts from PayPal’s Max Levchin and Loop’s Will Graylin.
  • Stockpile teams up with Yodlee to provide Invest Your Change, Stock Purchasing and Gifting products.
  • American Banker takes a look at “post-IPO expectations” for newly-public Lending Club.
  • Golden Pacific Bank adds mobile remote deposit capture to its mobile banking offerings courtesy of Digital Insight.
  • National Association for Business Resources names Billhighway Best and Brightest Company to work for in 2014.
  • Time asks: What is Venmo?
  • Nine of the 15 fintech startups Forbes recommends watching in 2015 are Finovate and FinDEVr alums.
  • eWeek reports on Arxan Technology’s mobile Runtime App Self Protection (RASP) enhancements.
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.

Lending Club Launches IPO, Shares Rally 70% in Early Trading

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P2P lending innovator Lending Club made its public debut on Thursday. After an initial overnight pricing at $15, shares of LC opened higher this morning by more than 64% before finishing their first day on the New York Stock Exchange at $23.43.

The 57 million share offering raised more than $865 million for the San Francisco-based alternative lender, which now has a valuation of more than $8 billion. Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche, CEO and founder of the company, owns 4% of the company, a stake worth more than $200 million as of today’s close.

Lead underwriters for the IPO were JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse.

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Lending Club’s growth since its founding in 2007 has been impressive. Operating revenues grew from $1.3 million to $98 million in the four years from 2009 to 2013. In the first nine months of 2014, Lending Club’s net revenues climbed to $143 million, more than double last year’s mark. Since its founding, Lending Club has financed more than $6 billion in loans and investors on the platform have earned more than $590 million in interest.
Here are a few more metrics for Lending Club:
    • Average customer FICO credit score: 660
    • Average interest rate is 14%
    • Maximum loan amount is $35,000
    • Terms typically range from 3-5 years
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(Above: Lending Club CEO Renaud Laplanche on CNBC)
One of the under-discussed aspects of Lending Club’s decision to become a public company is the fact that the platform will be available to a significantly larger number of Americans. Previously, access to Lending Club was a patchwork quilt of differing state regulations, with some states allowing borrowing from the service but not investing and others having the exact  opposite regulation (investing, but no borrowing). And there were some states were the service was not available at all. As a public company under federal regulations, Lending Club can operate in any state.
Another interesting theme of the Lending Club IPO is the way it will be seen as a test of the public investor’s appetite for what Mad Money’s Jim Cramer referred to as “crowdsourced lending” in his discussion of the company. Alternative lender OnDeck, which specializes in small business lending, is scheduled to go public within days in an effort to raise between $150 and $180 million. Others see the Lending Club IPO as potential validation of broader interest in fintech innovators as a whole.
Lending Club demoed its technology as part of the inaugural Finovate conference in 2007 and again in 2009 for Finovate Startup. Read our CEO interview with Renaud Laplanche.

Alumni News– December 11, 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.jpgMalauzai Software announces launch of its SmartMarketing program to promote mobile banking.
  • Azimo extends £1 money transfer service to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
  • Information Week takes a look at mobile payment apps including Flint.
  • Mortgage Harmony rebrands as Rate Reset.
  • Contact Solutions, IDology, and Pindrop Security team up to Cut IVR Fraud.
  • Examiner.com: Dynamics‘ next-generation credit card features buttons to log-in PIN security code.
  • Lendio CEO explains how his company is fueling the American dream.
  • Prosper comments on Lending Club IPO, expects to top $9 billion in loans this year.
  • PayNearMe partners with Department of Health and Human Services to spread the word about healthcare.
  • Bluefin Payment Systems to provide its PCI-validated Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) Solution to Priority Payment clients.
  • Career Bliss lists PayPal, Intuit, and Google in the top 50 happiest companies in the U.S.
  • Lending Club launches IPO, shares rally 70% in early trading.
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– December 3, 2014

  • iQuantifi announces million-dollar angel investment.
  • LendingTree unveils its small business loan marketplace with loans from $5,000 to $1 million.
  • Young Adult Money explains how to invest using Motif Investing.
  • Betterment reaches 50,000 customer milestone.
  • SK Planet promotes its Bluetooth Low Energy powered mileage app, Syrup, in Seoul.
  • True Potential announces the launch of 15 new, open-ended investment company funds in Q1 2015.
  • Bank of South Pacific to deploy ACI Proactive Risk Manager from ACI Worldwide to help protect against fraud.
  • Klarna to invest $100 million over the next three years to launch its payments systems in the U.S.
  • Finovate Debuts: Loyal3’s Stock Investments Democratizes Access to Stocks and IPOs.
  • Entrepreneurial Finance Lab gets a new look.
  • Pymnts features conversation with Currency Cloud’s Chief Commercial Officer on how they modernize money movement.
  • Coinbase now enables some customers to hold USD balances in their Coinbase wallets.
  • Time names Braintree’s Venmo as 1 of the top 10 apps of 2014.
  • Blockchain issued a .SSL certification.
  • TechVibes features Trulioo’s new design.
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.