Finovate Alumni News– August 27, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgFinanceIt’s split-cost marketing programs now available. Check out FinanceIt’s live demo at FinovateFall in a couple of weeks.
  • CertusBank launches new website based on Backbase Portal. Come see Backbase demo its new tech live at FinovateFall.
  • Cachet Financial Solutions partners with Nitro Mobile Solutions to integrate Cachet’s RDC platform in its mobile banking application.
  • miiCard updates its Digital ID Card. Come see miiCard’s demo at FinovateFall.
  • MasterCard appoints Raja Rajamannar Chief Marketing Officer. See MasterCard’s demo at FinovateFall 2013 in New York in September.
  • GMC Software Technology taps Scott Draeger for customer communications strategist role. Meet the GMC team at FinovateFall 2013.
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.

Meet the Innovators of FinovateFall 2013

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FinovateFall 2013 is right around the corner. That means it’s time to start getting to know the entrepreneurs and innovators that will be presenting their technologies on stage in New York City in September.

Remember, the early bird deadline is this Friday, August 2nd. So to reserve your spot and register now.

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Akimbo Financial offers a social bank account alternative that makes sharing money easier than ever.
authenticIDs identity tools pictureID and catfishID, are the most accurate, time-saving solutions for the forms of ID we already carry.
Backbase‘s Launchpad, the Commercial Banking Edition, making CFO’s work easier.
BehavioSec uses behavioral analytics to transparently tackle web and mobile security.
BillFloat revolutionizes credit delivery to consumers and businesses.
Biometric Signature ID has a patented software-only biometric for secure ID online verification.
BizEquity is the first and leading cloud-based business valuation engine, an innovative solution to small business lead generation.
Capital Access Network is the largest and most experienced small business finance specialist.
Cardlytics uses consumer purchase data to drive a patented advertising platform. Ads are so relevant–they’re expected. 
CoverHound is a comparison insurance adviser, helping people discover, buy, and manage insurance online.
CR2 is the innovative provider of self-service banking solutions including ATM, Internet, and mobile banking.
DoubleBeam‘s SDK powers mPayments inside other mobile apps, helping signup customers quickly and save a ton on the cost of payments.
FinanceIt offers businesses the ability to provide consumer financing to their customers at the POS.
Financial Guard helps you protect your investments, providing online investment advice at the right price, finally.
Finect is the leading online network for the financial services industry.
Fiserv is a leading global technology provider serving the financial services industry, driving innovation in payments.
FlexScore “gamifies” financial planning, gives a “score” of your financial fitness, and provides education, advice, peer comparisons.
Float Money offers interest-free credit to members of its shopping club and financial health partners.
FutureAdvisor manages your investments for better returns, making quality financial advice available to everyone.
GMC Software Technology is a leading software developer of solutions that transform the customer experience.
Guide Financial is like a healthcheck for your finances – automatically scanning your accounts for ways you can earn or save more, and providing simple, easy fixes.
Ignite Sales is the leader in retail banking, customer acquisition, and retention technology.
Innovation Agency, where you can execute on your innovation mandate and unlock the wealth of ideas in your ecosystems.
Instabank – Beautiful money.
Interactions provides natural language Virtual Assistant application services for the automation customer care processes.
Jumio is a next generation credentials management company offering payments and ID scanning and validation products for mobile and web transactions.
Kofax is a leading provider of smart process applications that simplify the business critical First Mile of information-intensive customer interactions.
LearnVest empowers people everywhere to take control of their money and live their richest lives.
Level Money is a financial GPS, designed to replace budgeting.
Lighter Capital provides growth capital to technology companies in a highly-automated basis – Capital-as-a-Service.
Lumesis provides software for the fixed income municipal market. Compliance and credit-focused. 
Luminous is a boutique innovation company that has become synonymous with innovative banking around the world.
Manilla is the leading free and secure service to simplify and organize daily financial life.
MasterCard is a technology company in the global payments industry, operating the world’s fastest payments processing network.
mBank is the biggest, pure-play online bank and the third largest retail bank in Poland.
miiCard is the first digital identity verification service to prove ‘you are who you say you are’ entirely online.
Mitek is positioned as the leading innovator in mobile imaging software. 
MoneyDesktop empowers financial institutions to provide online/mobile banking experiences to promote personal financial intelligence.
Motif Investing is a thematic, customizable, low-cost and crowdsourceable ETF-like product that is disrupting investing economics.

Narrative Science
 
enables companies to uncover the insight hidden in their data and create new content at a scale and frequency never before possible.
Numbrs – One App – Every Bank.
P2P Cash is the mobile wallet with switch technology that allows us to aggregate all other mWallets and mobile financial services.
PayWith is powered by MasterCard. Funded by Merchants. Loved by Consumers.
PhonyInvoices provides invoice fraud detection and prevention. We check a company’s vendor lists and transactions for suspicious activity.
Place2Give provides valuable and trustworthy information to make the most impactful social capital investment decisions.
QuarterSpot lending platform delivers the lowest cost and most favorable term small business loans.
RevolutionCredit is a revolutionary solution that transforms the credit decisioning process for both creditors and consumers.
SaaS Markets is the enterprise app store company for financial organizations looking to leverage cloud-based applications for their employees or customers.
SavedPlus is an automatic savings program that helps customers save money with every purchase.
Simple Verity provides business credit reports on any SMB in America.
Socure offers a social identity verification solution to combat the growing risk of online identity fraud for financial institutions.
SpearFysh leverages mobile, speech analytics, big data, and SaaS technology to improve sales processes and drive growth.
Spreedly provides vault cards in the cloud and work with more than 50 payment gateways.
StockSmart apps and platform offer insight and information on the world’s best companies and people.
StrategyCorps delivers local/mobile/social consumer checking solutions so appealing and relevant, your customers will gladly pay for them.
Tinkoff Credit Systems is Russia’s leading provider of online financial services.
TipRanks is a cloud-based service that measures the performance of anyone giving investment advice.
Toopher eliminates online fraud using your phone’s location. Simple, secure, your phone stays in your pocket.
Unleash is the cloud CFO that helps small businesses make better decisions faster.
VerifyValid and Deluxe are giving checks their first major upgrade in more than 200 years.
Versafe protects all users from all malware, threat types. On all devices, all transparently. 
WordSentry software analyzes messages during composition, identifying non-compliant components, for correction before sending.
Yodlee is the platform for financial innovation, powering the world’s largest collection of transactional data.
Yseop creates a new age where financial services delivered to customers are driven by AI and human collaboration.
Zenmonics is a global technology services and mobile product provider to the financial services market.
Zighra empowers banks and financial institutions to leverage implicit mobile user authentication and accelerate payments.
Zooz provides complete payment essentials at your fingertips: a robust set of tools that will improve the payment process.
Plus more stealth companies to be announced in the weeks to come.
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To find out more about the upcoming FinovateFall 2013 event in New York, September 10 and 11, visit our FinovateFall information page here.

Finovate Alumni News– July 25, 2013

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  • Silicon Prairie lists Banno and Dwolla as 2 Iowa startups to follow on Twitter.
  • Wakefield reports: Bolstr is navigating the legal complexities of crowdfunding.
  • PlayMoolah working with OCBC Bank for the second year running to teach children about saving.
  • FIS announces new prepaid card technology agreement with KeyBank.
  • WebrazziTV interviews miiCard marketing manager Cassie Anderson at Bitcoin London.
  • Finovate alumni Zopa, TransferWise, miiCard, and LICUOS highlighted in Innotribe co-founder Matteo Rizzi column on banking.
  • Invitations for Google Wallet for Gmail start arriving for registered early adopters.
  • All Things D profiles Motif Investing. See them in action at FinovateFall in September.
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– July 1, 2013

  • FinovateLOGO.jpgCorduro teams up with LendUp to provide loans to help pay for medical expenses.
  • Entrepreneur Handbook reports on EZBOB‘s 12-month loan for online retailers.
  • CrowdFundBeat features SeedInvest and its new feature, SeedInvest Groups.
  • TSYS announces completion of NetSpend acquisition.
  • Banking Technology takes a look at LICUOS and the company’s win of Innotribe Startup Disrupt at Next Bank Madrid.
  • SafetyPay and GlobalCollect partner to advance secure Int’l payment solutions to over 300 million consumers.
  • Navallo.net interviews BillGuard CEO Yaron Samid.
  • SecondMarket expands into Bitcoin.
  • Virtual Piggy teams up with Live Gamer.
  • AG Beat describes why Kabbage and other alternative lenders will remain prevalent.
  • miiCard wins award for Technology Innovation in Financial Services at the 2013 ScotlandIS Digital Technology Awards in Glasgow.
  • BlinkMobile Interactive announces partner agreement with Linktech Solutions.
  • Pymnts.com interviews CSI Enterprises CEO, Keith Stone, on recent updates to the company’s globalVcard platform.
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– June 11, 2013

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  • miiCard partners with authentication company, Toopher, to help users and businesses more effectively fight fraud and secure new services online.
  • BBVA Compass deploys Mitek’s Mobile Photo Bill Pay.
  • TIBCO Software acquires StreamBase Systems.
  • Kofax issued patent that covers sending receipt confirmation for a fax.
  • AU Arts Hub profiles Narrative Science’s approach to journalism.
  • Cashstar announces patent for virtual gift card technology.
  • Keynote brings MITE Enterprise, DeviceAnywhere Enterprise to UFT users.
  • Green Dot to acquire Walmart’s reloadable prepaid card business, MoneyCard.
  • Affinity Solutions raises more than $21 million.
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 31, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgIDology launches photo ID scan & validation solution.
  • Aseanstartup reports: Big data becomes agile and beautiful with BellaDati.
  • BBC News features Nick Hungerford, Nutmeg CEO.
  • BusinessDating.com adds miiCard ID proofing for members.
  • ShopKeep POS iPad point of sale wins Red Herring Top 100 North America Award.
  • The WSJ features Personal Capital features Personal Capital and Jemstep.
  • The Economist looks at P2P lending through the eyes of Lending Club and Prosper.
  • peerTransfer adds 22 new payment methods from China and India.
  • Consumer Reports’ Money Minute takes a look at EyeVerify in a report on smart phone banking security.
  • ayondo offers spread betting for UK and Irish customers.
  • Four Finovate alumni featured in OBR crowdfunding report.
  • Founder and managing director of Mozo, Rohan Gamble interviewed by The CEO Magazine.
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.

CEO Interview: James Varga of miiCard

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We recently spoke with miiCard’s Founder and CEO, James Varga, who gave us some insight into miiCard’s usage, growth, and application to the financial services industry.

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It’s been a busy year for miiCard. The Edinburgh-based startup has already closed deals with Bitcoin exchange platform, TradeHillPA Consulting GroupYubico, and more. It most recently demoed at FinovateEurope 2012, and has also showcased at FinovateFall 2011 and FinovateEurope 2011.

Finovate: Where do you see miiCard’s role in the evolving space of security?

Varga: The current market is extremely active and now more than ever trust online, across a number of sectors and countries, is at the top of agendas. This is reflected by government initiatives such as the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) / Identity Ecosystem Steering Group (IDESG) in the U.S., the ID Assurance project in the U.K. and Trust in Digital Life in Europe.

As yet, the full market potential for identity and trust online remains unquantified, but in any one aspect it represents a huge opportunity, in aggregate it is simply enormous. Given the unique and patented approach adopted by miiCard, our geographical and industry sector coverage and the uses it supports, miiCard can become the predominant provider in this market.

Finovate: Give some specific examples of how miiCard benefits the banking industry.

Varga: By establishing trust in online identity, that a customer really is who they say they are, miiCard is directly addressing the key pains associated with selling high value and regulated products and services entirely online. Through a patented process that leverages the trust between an individual and their financial institution, miiCard establishes identity to Level of Assurance 3+ (LOA3+) and meets Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) identity guidelines, enabling the sale of regulated products and services purely online. 

This translates to three key benefits for financial services, the first being fraud related to identity theft where we can realise reduction of up to 80% in the first 30 days; significant reduction, between 50% to 70%; in dropout rates in the customer onboarding process when offline ID proofing is introduced; and our customer-driven, pay-per verified identity transaction model means the business is only charged for customers who meet the identity proofing requirements, not those who fail to verify, and removes the need for back office or outsourced verification teams.

Finovate: What’s the biggest hurdle miiCard has overcome?

Varga:As a provider of trust online our biggest hurdle has been to create trust within our own core member base. As a disruptive approach we have had to establish traction in a market where there are still a great number of assumptions towards online validation, trust and real identities. We now have a single, trusted digital ID founded on the principles of Bring Your Own Identity (BYOID), it is convenient and flexible providing members complete control over their online identity and personal information. With capabilities across five continents and over 350 million people, miiCard is creating trust online across a range of industries including finance, commerce, trading, gaming, healthcare, recruitment, dating, social and professional networking.

Finovate: How many people are currently using the miiCard platform and how do you plan to grow it?

Varga:miiCard has a core membership base that is quickly growing with each and every participating site that starts to accept miiCard as a trusted identity source. To support this growth we have established a channel distribution strategy to the market and gained a number of key partnerships. These include distributors; resellers; affiliates; technologies; consultancies and data providers. Key relationships include Yodlee; Call Credit Group; PA Consulting; Yubico; and Microsoft.

This market traction is driven by both marketing to our users (our C2C proposition) while selling to businesses (our B2B Identity as a Service platform). For businesses miiCard supports both full API access and a fully hosted offering for SME’s called DirectID. Every participating site becomes a channel and creates context for our members in building trust online. These now include consumer finance, dating, social networking, pre-employment screening and a wide range of other use cases.

Finovate: What is something you tried that didn’t work with the platform?

Varga: We are constantly iterating the product and actively engaged with our members and customers. This agile approach provides its own challenges but allows us to test, assess and deploy functionality at a rapid basis. There are always things that don’t work, things that we could do better and things we shouldn’t even have started – it’s all part of the process.

What is most important is to build the service that our members and customers want while still changing the world.

Finovate: What is miiCard’s latest news?  

Varga: We have recently announced our work with Tradehill and PA Consulting and have a number of exciting customers launching throughout the year.

To check out miiCard for yourself, go to miiCard.com or watch its FinovateEurope 2011 demo.

Finovate Alumni News– May 6, 2013

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgBraintree’s Bryan Johnson provides columnist James Altucher with an example of “how to go from $0 to $1,000,000 in two years.” See Braintree demo at FinovateSpring in San Francisco.
  • TransactionAge takes a look at Klarna as an alternative to Google Wallet.
  • Digital Mailer’s My Virtual StrongBox deployed by Redstone Federal Credit Union.
  • Investment News features Finect, a social network for financial advisors. Join them in San Francisco for FinovateSpring.
  • miiCard partners with Bitcoin Exchange Platform, Tradehill.
  • Innovation Agency updates Innovation Café to support formal judging process and integrated rewards payment process.
  • TIO Networks announces partnership with mobile app developer iFactor Consulting.
  • Bloomberg Businessweek reports: On Deck Capital Targets Businesses Banks Won’t Touch.
  • David Barrett, Expensify CEO, interviewed on SkyNews to talk about Bitcoin. Come check out what’s new at Expensify at FinovateSpring next week.
  • Best Vendor profiles Gremln. See them in action at FinovateSpring in San Francisco.
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.

miiCard Partners with Bitcoin Exchange Platform, Tradehill

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Yesterday, online identity verification service miiCard announced a partnership with Tradehill, the first U.S.-based Bitcoin exchange platform.

Through the partnership, Tradehill is using miiCard’s identity-as-a-service platform to verify users’ identities online, which helps it comply with AML and KYC compliance standards.

Tradehill has already integrated, tested and deployed miiCard for its first product Prime.The whole process took fewer than 3 days.

To learn more about miiCard, watch its FinovateEurope 2012 demo.

Finovate Alumni News– April 30, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgCortera now offering free Cortera Business Directory accounts.
  • Lendio announces record year-over-year revenue growth of 97% for the first quarter of 2013.
  • Zopa launches Safeguard offer that protects lenders from faulty borrowers through a fund held by a non-profit.
  • PayMyStudentLoans.com reviews ReadyForZero can help students save money in college.
  • PA Consulting Group will deliver identity verification solutions using miiCard.
  • MoneyDesktop launches new version of PFM & updates MoneyMobile app.
  • South Bangla Agriculture & Commerce Bank is the fifth Bangladeshi bank to deploy Temenos T24 banking software.
  • Leaf announces Leaf Membership Network. Join Leaf in San Francisco for FinovateSpring in May.
  • Financial Advisor introduces Finect. Come see Finect demo their technology at FinovateSpring.
  • appPicker reviews Kashoo Accounting for iPad.
  • Small Business Association of Michigan selects Billhighway Give as its mobile fundraising solution.
  • Intuit releases Android tablet banking app. Come to FinovateSpring to watch Intuit unveil its new 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.

Finovate Alumni News– April 16, 2013

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  • Upstart Business Journal features SeedInvest. See them demo at FinovateSpring in San Francisco in May.
  • Experian announces acquisition of Decisioning Solutions.
  • Volunteer Federal Savings Bank and Peoples Bank of the South choose Jack Henry Banking for  enterprise-wide automation.
  • GFT Blog interviews Matthias Kroner, chairman of the Fidor management board for Fidor Bank.
  • Authentify placed in Visionaries quadrant of the Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant for User Authentication.” 
  • Boku partners with Bigpoint SARL and Co to allow users to make virtual payments.
  • Kony Solutions partners with Blue Shield of CA to develop and deploy apps on the KonyOne Platform.
  • miiCard adds YubiKey Authentication to online identity proofing solution.
  • SF Gate lists Mint and Expensify as 2 of 4 services to keep tax records organized.
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 18, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgBella Dati opens office in Singapore.
  • Business solutions company Neopost USA to use Striata as its electronic document delivery partner.
  • Mitek facilitates more than $40 billion in check deposits.
  • GigaOM reports Braintree’s recent move overseas helps double its payments volume to $8B.
  • Blackhawk Network files for IPO of up to $200 million.
  • miiCard 1 of 50 listed on the 2013 FinTech 50 Watchlist, a list companies in Europe that are redefining financial services.
  • Kashoo to partner with InfoStreet’s SkyDesktop.
  • Consumers.com asks whether Klarna will become a “major player” in online payments.
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.