Intuit’s $7 Billion Bid for Credit Karma; FinovateEurope Salutes its Best of Show

Intuit’s $7 Billion Bid for Credit Karma; FinovateEurope Salutes its Best of Show
Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom from Pexels

How’s $7 billion for good karma? One of Finovate’s earliest alums Credit Karma is reportedly the target of what would be Intuit’s biggest acquisition to date. According to The Wall Street Journal, the cash and stock deal could be announced as early as Monday.

Credit Karma will continue to function as an independent company with founder and CEO Kenneth Lin at the helm. The acquisition gives Intuit, maker of online tax filing service TurboTax, another contact point with the online personal finance world. Credit Karma provides its members with access to their credit scores and borrowing histories, helps them monitor their accounts for security breaches and, perhaps most relevantly, has offered a free online tax preparation service since 2017.

If the deal holds up, Intuit will be paying a significant premium for Credit Karma. The personal financial wellness company was last valued at $4 billion, based on a 2018 private market transaction.


With another Finovate conference in the books, our Finovate Best of Show ranks has a new set of members. Congratulations to Dorsum, Glia, Horizn, iProov, Sonect, and W.UP for taking home top honors earlier this month at FinovateEurope!

The victory may have been especially sweet for Sonect, whose Best of Show award-winning demo was also the company’s Finovate debut. The Switzerland-based start-up offers what it calls “the world’s first social cash network” that enables consumers to access cash without having to visit a bank branch or ATM. Sonect offers merchants the ability to grow their business via increased traffic and gives financial institutions a way to extend their ATM networks without the cost of additional hardware.

The Best of Show win was also a first for Horizn. The company, which made its Finovate debut three years ago at FinovateEurope, offers a platform that helps employees and customers maximize the opportunities of digitized financial services. Horizn uses simulator microlearning, as well as gamification and advanced analytics, to promote digital adoption across channels.

And last but not least, a special tip of the hat to Dorsum, Glia, iProov, and W.UP, all of whom won Best of Show honors at FinovateEurope for a second year in a row.


Here’s a round up of recent news from our Finovate alumni.

  • Larky enters reseller agreement with Access Softek.
  • Bison Bank in Lisbon, Portugal selects PSD2-ready software from ndigit.
  • Techround interviews Tradeshift co-founder Mikkel Hippe Brun.
  • Bremer Bank leverages Backbase’s digital-first banking platform to fuel digital transformation.
  • Paysend’s multi-currency global account launches in Europe.
  • Kinetica launches Kinetica Cloud.
  • Futurex taps ISARA to bring quantum-safe cryptography and crypto-agility into its Key Management Enterprise Server (KMES) Series 3.
  • With new FCA license, Meniga seeks to expand product offering.
  • StrategyCorps and Digital Onboarding partner to help banks grow checking account relationships.
  • Baker Hill renews partnership with Washington Trust Bank to streamline loan origination and portfolio risk management.
  • Aire launches Credit Insight Suite to improve access to credit.
  • Coinbase becomes Visa principal to offer more feature for Coinbase Card customers.
  • InComm partners with Eezi to launch Poundland’s gift card program.
  • Enveil secures $10 million in Series A funding for secure data collaboration.
  • Trulioo adds image capture SDK to Trulioo GlobalGateway.
  • Amaiz taps ValidSoft for voice authentication.
  • OurCrowd expands focus on growing early stage tech companies.

Finovate Alum Features and Profiles

eToro’s Evolution – Social trading and investment platform eToro has never been one to stand still for very long. The company’s development cycle is fast enough to make even the most sprightly fintech jealous.

Lending Club Snaps Up Radius Bank for $185 Million – When Lending Club was founded in 2007, the startup aimed to serve as a place to help borrowers avoid dealing with banks. In a somewhat ironic move today, that same startup is becoming a bank itself.

Breach Clarity’s New Offering Provides Consumers Personalized Protection – Fraud detection and prevention company Breach Clarity announced this week it has developed a new platform to help financial service providers offer personalized protection for their customers.

New SumUp Card Empowers SMEs as Business Payment Makers and Takers – The company that has helped bring fintech innovation to e-commerce with its mobile point-of-sale (mPOS), card reading solutions now offers merchants a card of their own.

The Winning Ten: Finovate Alums Earn Spots on the 2020 Fintech Power 50

The Winning Ten: Finovate Alums Earn Spots on the 2020 Fintech Power 50

The newly-released Fintech Power 50 for 2020 features ten Finovate alums. The roster is produced every December and bills itself as “meant to be controversial and provoke debate” while at the same time providing “inspiration to the rest of the industry.”

“Throughout its first year the Fintech Power 50 has seen consistent success for our members and we are very proud of the opportunities that being a member of the Power 50 has offered the companies involved,” Fintech Power 50 Managing Director and co-founder Jason Williams said. “We look forward to continuing the traction we have made this year with the 2020 cohort, with a more ambitious and exciting programme.”

The Finovate alums to make the cut are:

The Fintech Power 50 aims to help fintechs reach a broader audience around the world. Over the course of 2020, the program will offer media partnerships and networking, business development and branding support, and investment and talent acquisition. This year marks the third edition of the program; coincidentally, the 2019 Power 50 featured ten Finovate alums, as well.

“We’re incredibly excited at this announcement, which is clear recognition of Keepabl’s value to customers, and to trusted advisers alike, and our potential to keep disrupting compliance-as-a-service,” wrote Keepabl CEO Robert Baugh in an email.

CREALOGIX CEO David Joyce added that he was “looking forward to exchanging ideas with the renowned digital leaders in this unique group.” He praised the way the roster reflected “the breadth, diversity, and creativity of the global fintech scene.”

The Fintech Power 50 2020 also features ten fintech thought leaders whose names will be familiar to Finovate veterans. Nine of the ten – David Birch, Ghela Boskovich, Theo Lau, Brett King, Jim Marous, Devie Mohan, David Parker, and Ruth Wandhofer – have made major contributions to our Finovate conferences since we expanded our format in 2017. We’ll have to get Mr. Lawrence Wintermeyer, co-founder of Global Digital Finance and the tenth thought leader on this year’s Fintech Power 50, to a Finovate stage sooner than later!

See the full Fintech Power 50 2020 list.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Credit Karma Unveils New High Yield Savings Accounts
  • Finovate Global: PayPal Goes to China; Dubai Named Top Ten Global Financial Center

Around the web

  • Tradeshift to implement QEDIT’s privacy solution to preserve the full privacy of transactions.
  • Pendo Systems announces a new strategic partnership with Market Alpha Advisors.
  • Meniga to collaborate with Nordic Innovation House in Singapore.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

Around the web

  • Nice Actimize introduces surveillance system, SURVEIL-X.
  • Scalable Capital teams up with Raisin to offer its customers the ability to invest in fixed-term deposits at partner Baader Bank.
  • Standard and Premium customers of Revolut in 26 markets now have access to stock trading via the platform.
  • Financial Times highlights Meniga as a fintech to watch. Come see Meniga’s live demo at FinovateFall next week in New York!
  • NYMBUS appoints Dr. Joerg Richter as its new Chief Operating Officer, Platforms. NYMBUS will showcase its newest technology at FinovateFall next week in New York!
  • Tradeshift to help Spendency app users leverage their transaction data.
  • iProov releases HTML v.2 Beta on GitHub to help users secure user identity in HTML5.
  • Onfido earns the top spot in FinTechCity’s 2019 Fintech 50 roster.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Meniga Helps Grupo Credito Agricola Launch Banking App

Meniga Helps Grupo Credito Agricola Launch Banking App

Rekyvik-founded software company Meniga has announced its partnership with Portuguese national financial group Grupo Crédito Agrícola to launch its new banking app, moey!reports Ruby Hinchliffe of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The free app will give Crédito Agrícola customers “a better understanding of their spending and finances”, as well as providing “seamless payments through services like Apple Pay and MB WAY”, said inovação e digital director Ricardo Madeira.

The financial advice app, which will also integrate with Android Wallet and Group expenses, inflicts no costs for account opening or maintenance.

“Through the moey! app’s intuitive interface and features, users will enjoy a seamless mobile experience which will significantly improve their everyday banking and personal finances,” said Madeira.

moey! will rely on Meniga’s technology as an engine, and will offer various services including an activity feed for personalised messages and targeted rewards, insights and expense reports which can be filtered, as well as budget and financial planning advice which will automatically generate your budgets and manage them for you.

Meniga’s CEO and co-founder Georg Ludviksson is “very proud” to be working with one of Portugal’s “most reputable banking groups.”

He said the bank’s team has “unrivaled insight” about the needs of its local banking customers, feeling confident that the new app “will excite users right across the region”.

The century-old Portuguese bank has more than one million clients and is one of the larger, more financially stable groups in the country.

Founded in 2009, Meniga demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2018, winning Best of Show for its white-label, digital banking solutions that help banks boost customer engagement.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Clinc’s Conversational AI Gives Voice to New App from Singapore’s OCBC Bank.
  • Finovate Global: ThetaRay Opens Mexico City Office; Dubai’s Foloosi Turns to KSA for Expansion.

Around the web

  • Meniga to enable consumers to donate cashback from their Meniga Rewards app to help combat climate change.
  • Mambu forges partnership with Swiss online lender bob Finance.
  • We Write Code joins Dwolla’s Partnership Ecosystem.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • HackerOne Cracks into $36.4 Million in Funding.
  • Arival Bank Nets $2.3 Million in Equity Crowdfunding Campaign.
  • Winners Circle: Finovate Honors Fintech’s Finest with New Awards Series.

Around the web

  • Cinchy voted “Top Pick” for TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2019 and selected as a CIX Top 20 company for 2019. Check out Cinchy’s upcoming demo at FinovateFall later this month!
  • ThetaRay unveils new office in Mexico City.
  • Epcor partners with data-driven solution provider Segmint to help FIs better leverage payment data.
  • Dwolla teams up with Currencycloud to make international payments easier for businesses.
  • Luxoft to collaborate with Fenergo as part of the company’s Global Platinum Partner program.
  • Meniga helps Grupo Crédito Agrícola launch its new banking app, moey!.
  • Nomis Solutions expands presence in the Midwest with the opening of a Center of Excellence in Cleveland, Ohio.
  • WePay launches same-day deposits to Chase bank accounts for free.
  • Blackhawk Network appoints Harel Kodesh as chief technology officer.
  • Lendio Southwest Michigan franchise opens to offer funding to local businesses.

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.

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Meniga

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Meniga

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateMiddleEast on November 20 and 21, 2019 in Dubai. Register today and save your spot.

Meniga is a global leader in digital banking solutions working with some of the largest banks in the world to improve customer engagement and develop new business models.

Features

  • SaaS banking data consolidation, enrichment, and categorization
  • Personalized rewards and offers for banking customers
  • Social responsibility by helping the planet

Why it’s great
Banking data can help save the planet.

Presenters

Ólafur Óskar Egilsson, VP of Product
Egilsson has been instrumental in leading Meniga’s product team for three years. He has extensive experience in working in fintech and banking.
LinkedIn

Isabel Moratiel, Business Development Manager
Moratiel has experience in diverse areas of fintech, SME lending, international credit scoring, and digital banking. She has been at Meniga for over three years working in business development.
LinkedIn

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • BNP Paribas to Deploy Dynamic Hedging Tech from Kantox.
  • Terafina Teams Up with Alabama’s Listerhill Credit Union.

Around the web

  • Klarna deepens ties with H&M to enable customers to shop now and pay later using the H&M app.
  • NICE’s AML and fraud SaaS solutions to power financial crime strategy for both anti-money laundering compliance and enterprise fraud protections.
  • Terafina to power Listerhill Credit Union’s omnichannel sales strategy and continue its digital transformation to increase member satisfaction and deepen relationships.
  • OurCrowd expands U.S. operations, opens office in Chicago.
  • ID R&D’s IDLive Face to power remote customer account openings and digital ID verification for Innov8tif’s EMAS eKYC.
  • ndgit and Synpulse launch international fintech marketplace in Switzerland.
  • Macrosoft joins Quadient’s Partner Advantage Program.
  • Onfido reports strong revenue growth momentum for Q2 2019; earns recognition from The Sunday Times as one of the fastest growing private companies in the U.K.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Insurwave onboards Xceptor to digitize insurance documents.
  • Finovate Global: A Look at Fintech Talent in Singapore; Mobile Money Goes Live in South Sudan.
  • New Investment Makes Numbrs Europe’s Latest Fintech Unicorn.
  • Xendpay Joins RippleNet to Bring Fee Free Cross Border Payment Options to SE Asia.

Around the web

  • ABC TECH Group and Mambu partner to support banks’ digital transformation.
  • Meniga appoints Arpit Kaushik as new Chief Operating Officer.
  • Pagaya Investments partners with Prosper for to issue unsecured consumer loans from its securitization platform.
  • European Business Awards names Featurespace on its Ones to Watch list.
  • Revolut adds three banking veterans to its senior executive team.
  • Personetics Opens R&D Center in Nazareth.
  • ProfitStars marks 500 banks and financial services companies leveraging its commercial lending technology.
  • Onfido tests portable identity with U.K. fintechs.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • ID R&D Unveils Passive Facial Liveness Detection.
  • Finovate Global: Brazil’s NuBank Scores $400M; Poland Launches $737M Co-Investment Project.

Around the web

  • On Deck earns spot in Selling Power’s 50 Best Companies to Sell for in 2019 roster.
  • Mambu named a “Challenger” in Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant for Global Retail Core Banking.
  • Data-in-use security specialist Enveil is honored at the FCA Global AML and Financial Crime TechSprints showcase.
  • The IDCo. makes the finalist list in the Affordability Assessment Solutions category of the Credit & Collections Technology Awards.
  • NuData Security wins Gold and Silver in the 14th Annual 2019 IT World Award in CIO of the Year, Company of the Year, and Women in Technology.

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.

DriveWealth Democratizes Investing in Nigeria; Meniga Sets Up Shop in Singapore

As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Central and Eastern Europe

  • VTB Factoring and Venture Engineering Lab introduces end-to-end multifactor digital supply chain finance platform, GetFinance, to Russian market.
  • Austrian telecom Hutchison Drei Austria teams up with Revolut to offer prepaid debit cards and banking services.
  • Coinspeaker profiles Slovakian cryptocurrency trading platform, StockPoint.

Middle East and Northern Africa

  • Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) announces four new fintech additions to its summer sandbox.
  • Morocco’s CIMR to use Daon to make sure its clients are still living.
  • Beirut, Lebanon-based ecommerce management platform Ecomz raises $4 million in Series A funding.

Central and Southern Asia

  • Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to build blockchain-based banking platform.
  • New partnership between ICICI Bank and IndoStar Capital Finance to bring financing options to help underserved Indian SMEs purchase commercial vehicles.
  • Fidor Solutions inks memorandum of understanding with Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) to promote fintech innovation in Kazakhstan.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Ingenico ePayments to provide advanced payment services to online Latin American marketplace Linio Colombia.
  • Jamaican wealth manager Proven Wealth to deploy core banking system from ERI.
  • BNAmericas takes a look at the emerging fintech scene in Costa Rica.

Asia-Pacific

  • Japanese payment app Kyash raises $14 million in Series B round led by Goodwater Capital and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.
  • WeInvest sets up shop in Thailand.
  • Singaporean cross-border payments company Instarem to pursue banking license.
  • Meniga opens new office in Singapore.

Sub-Saharan Africa

  • DriveWealth to help democratize investing in Nigeria.
  • Ventureburn features eight Kenyan fintech startups “to keep an eye on.”
  • CNBC Africa presents a roundtable discussion on the future of fintech and blockchain technology in Nigeria.

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