Finovate Alumni News– April 2, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgBottomline Technologies buys Andera for $48 million.
  • Marketing Land takes a look at Narrative Science’s free, Google Analytics app, Quill Engage.
  • Saudi Arabian Bank Albilad to deploy FIS’ card management system and switching platform.
  • TradeKing promotes Kevin Delo to Chief Information Officer.
  • Startups.co.uk interviews Tradeshift CEO, Christian Lanng.
  • Atlanta Business Chronicle looks at Pindrop Security’s growth: doubling its workforce and has quadrupled its workspace.
  • Check Point Software Technologies launches new ZoneAlarm 2015 security product line.
  • Finovate alums raise $600 million in first quarter of 2014.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News– March 20, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgMore than 25 banks have signed up for Matchi since its launch in November last year. 
  • American Banker looks at how Credit Karma and Credit Sesame provide more than just a credit score.
  • Thomson Reuters launches Know-Your-Customer service.
  • SecondMarket seeks to open Bitcoin fund to ordinary investors.
  • Pymnts features Feedzai’s CEO Nuno Sebastiao.
  • Striata unveils new logo, new website.
  • Fenergo appoints Oliver White to UK Head of Sales.
  • mBank and Orange partner to launch full-service, retail mobile bank in second half of 2014.
  • Narrative Science launches free app to turn data into readable documents.
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.

Narrative Science Launches Free App to Turn Data Into Readable Documents

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There is technology that turns reams of data into natural language reports that are virtually indistinguishable from copy produced by human analysts. And I’ve always felt as if it was some of the most underappreciated technology in fintech.

The new free app from Narrative Science may go some way toward helping change that.

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Quill Engage from Narrative Science takes data from Google Analytics and translates it into natural language reports for website owners. The technology is powered by Narrative Science’s Quill platform, which the company demoed at FinovateFall 2013 in New York.
In the words of Narrative Science CEO Stuart Frankel, the technology makes it possible for website users of all kinds to maximize their ability to gather meaningful business intel on their website’s performance. “Quill provides instant analysis in the form of easy-to-read, written reports that empower people to do their jobs better,” he said.
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“(It) is a powerful way for any Google Analytics user to experience the speed, scale, and personalization made possible with artificial intelligence.”

Quill Engage processes a number of key metrics and trends from Google Analytics data. This includes content engagement, web traffic, referrals, results of paid search, and audience segmentation.
Download Quill Engage for free at quillengage.com
Narrative Science’s products have been deployed in a number of industries, including financial services, insurance, and marketing. The company was founded in January 2010, and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Finovate Alumni News– March 13, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgPayments News: MasterCard, Fiserv partner on Debit EMV for Accel Network.
  • Xero named top choice in the list of “favorite online-based business accounting apps” by both PCWorld and Macworld.
  • Credit Karma brings in $85 million in financing led by Google Capital.
  • Compliance Week reports: Actiance’s partnership with Shoutlet provides companies with compliant social marketing.
  • Expensify integrates with NetSuite and Stripe, raises maximum expense report amount, and more.
  • Cardtronics announces agreement with BBVA Compass for branded ATMs in Texas H-E-B stores.
  • PayPal’s Pamela Rice joins OnDeck as SVP of Technology.
  • Azimo raises $10 million in round led by Greycroft Partners.
  • Freshminds explains how Tink, mBank and BBVA are “redefining customer centricity.”
  • Kashoo earns spot on ICT 2014 Ready to Rocket list.
  • Smart Data Collective highlights Quill from Narrative Science in a column on the business applications of artificial intelligence.
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 Raise $825 Million in 2013, Up 79%

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Cheers to a new year! After ringing in 2014, we wanted take a look back at the capital raised by Finovate alumni in 2013. It was quite a year, with alums pulling in $825 million, $365 million more than in 2012 for an increase of about 80%.
2013 funding summary:
    • 62 companies raised $825 million
    • Q4 had the most capital, with a total of $294 million raised by 17 companies (more than half by Xero, which landed $150 million). 
    • October was the busiest month, with $177 million raised (mostly Xero’s $150 million)
    • May was second highest with $91 million raised by 7 companies
2012 comparison
Last year Finovate alums took in almost twice as much as 2012, when 44 Finovate alums collectively raised $460 million. The chart below shows the quarter-by-quarter comparison for both years.
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Quarter 1 — blog post
More than $155 million raised by 14 companies
January — $57 million raised by 6 companies
February — $56 million raised by 5 companies

March — $42 million raised by 4 companies


Quarter 2 — blog post
More than $205 million raised by 15 companies
June — $81.7 million raised by 6 companies
May — $91.5 million raised by 7 companies
April — $32 million raised by 2 companies

Quarter 3 — blog post
More than $171 million raised by 22 companies

July — More than $63 million raised by 8 companies
August — More than $26 million raised by 6 companies
September — $82 million raised by 9 companies
Quarter 4
More than $294 million raised by 17 companies

October— $177 raised by 6 companies
November — More than $87 million raised by 7 companies
December — More than $30 million raised by 6 companies

Note: Funding that companies received before they first appeared at Finovate was not counted. Questions? Comments? Email us at julie@finovate.com or david@finovate.com.

Finovate Alumni News– December 20, 2013

  • Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgTipRanks, Narrative Science, Spreedly, and Fiserv earn “True Innovators Awards” in Bank Innovation’s 2013 GonzoBanker column.
  • Jos White of Notion Capital talks about credit card fraud and his firm’s investment in Trustev.
  • Braintree CEO Bill Ready discusses the future of online payments on Bloomberg TV.
  • Nordea, SEB, and Swedbank announce plans to offer MasterPass-powered digital wallets courtesy of MasterCard.
  • FIS launches e-learning suite to help FIs comply with new CFPB regulations.
  • Business ETC takes a look at growing interest in Irish start-up, Trustev.
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.

Third Quarter 2013 Funding for Finovate Alumni — More than $171 Million Raised

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The third quarter of 2013 revealed that even during the sleepy days of summer, the business of putting capital into the coffers of fintech innovators remained as busy as ever.

Finovate alumni were the beneficiaries of more than $171 million during July, August, and September. This brings the total year-to-date funding for Finovate alumni to at least $526 million (some of the funding amounts were undisclosed).

Here is the Q3 summary for 2013:

July — More than $63 million raised by eight companies
August — More than $26 million raised by six companies
September — $82 million raised by nine companies
Note: Fundings prior to a Finovate appearance not included. Questions? Comments? Email us at julie@finovate.com or david@finovate.com.

FinovateFall 2013 in the Press

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Affluent Strategies
Finovate Fall 2013 Best of Show Winners
by JP Nicols
All Marketing (in Hebrew)
הסטארט-אפ הישראלי, TipRanks, זוכה זה בפעם השנייה בכנס Finovate
by Shirley Asa
American Banker
Business Lender Finds Trove of Insights in Client CRM Data
by Penny Crosman
MoneyDesktop Launches Long-Term Goal Setting Tool
by Sean Sposito
PFM Apps Dominate FinovateFall Day One
by Mary Wisniewski
Reporter’s Picks: Three Top Apps at FinovateFall
by Sean Sposito
The Cutting Edge of Online Banking, as Practiced by a Polish Bank
by Mary Wisniewski
The Top 10 Tweets of Finovate
What Engagement Banking Needs Is Less Engagement
by Jeanine Skowronski
Backbase Blog
Backbase Unveils New Commercial Banking Portal Solution at FinovateFall 2013
by Prue Duggan
Bank Innovation
‘Electronic Checks’ Give Paper Payments New Life
by Philip Ryan
European Innovators Throw Down the Gauntlet: Where’s the Innovation, Americans?
by Philip Ryan
Finovate 2013: Our take on the Best of Show winners
by Steven Ramirez
Finovate Fall ’13: Numbrs, Pixeliris, Word Sentry, and Mitek Come on Strong
by Philip Ryan
Finovate Fall ’13: Strong Demos from Float Money, BizEquity, Zighra & SpearFysh
by Philip Ryan
Finovate Fall ’13: Strong Demos from Instabank, SavedPlus & TipRanks
by Phillip Ryan
Finovate Fall ’13: Think Finance, MBank Lead the Pack
by Philip Ryan
Bank Marketing Strategy
Ten Tips To Doing Finovate Like A Pro
by Jim Marous
Bank Systems & Technology and Wall Street & Technology
5 Game-Changing Financial IT Startups
by Becca Lipman
5 Ways Mobile Banking Is Evolving: Finovate
by Jonathan Camhi
Finovate Fall 2013: A Few FinTech Providers for Capital Markets
by Zarna Patel
Finovate 2013: We’re All Infected With Malware
by Becca Lipman
Making Personal Finance Social Spotlighted At Finovate
by Jonathan Camhi
Barlow Research Associates
Innovations that Improve Business Banking Workflow
by Donna Arce
BostInno, Streetwise Media
Franklin-Based Interactions Reinvents the Virtual Assistant Application, Wins Finovate’s Best in Show
by Andrew Amato
Crain’s New York Business 
Financial-technology startups roil banking’s status quo
by Judith Messina
Hottest tech sector is all about money
by Judith Messina
Credit Union Times
Mitek Debuts Mobile Photo Account Opening
by Robert McGarvey
CreditUnions.com
5 Areas Of Innovation All Credit Unions Need To Monitor
by Scott Patterson
The Role Of Innovation In Today’s Credit Union
by David Mooney
CU Insight
Barclays Just Showed Up to the Party We’ve Been Hosting for a Year
by 
Ron Daly
Discerning Technologist
Just In Time For Finovate: Adding More Fun (And More Focus) To Fintech Applications
ExecutiveBoard.com
Scores of fun at Finovate and Money2020
by CEB Icono
Finextra
Yodlee launches financial relationships app
Finovate blog
FinovateFall 2013 Best of Show Winners
by Julie Schicktanz
Forbes
4 New Online Money Management Tools Worth A Try
by Richard Eisenberg
Forrester blog
Highlights and Thoughts From Finovate Fall 2013
by Peter Wannemacher 
GonzoBanker
Finovate Fall 2013 – The Big Apple
by Scott Hodgins
Hotwire PR blog
Mobile, data and security are hot at FinovateFall
by Lindsay Goldwert
Huffington Post Tech
NextGen Investment Advisory Firms–Go Tech Or Go Home!
by April Rudin
Investment News
Start ups pitch automated advice at tech confab
by Trevor Hunnicutt
Javelin Strategy & Research Blog
FinovateFall 2013. Drinking from the Proverbial Firehose.
by Nick Holland
The Jerusalem Post
Tel Aviv-based start-up TipRanks takes top prize at Finovate
by Niv Elis
Medium.com
Reflections On Five Hundred Minutes of Fintech
by Bradley Leimer
miiCard
Fintech Trends From The Innovators at FinovateFall
by Cassie Anderson
Mindful Insights blog
FinovateFall 2013 
The Modesto Bee
Modesto financial planners offer online tool for success
by Patty Guerra
My Bank Tracker
FlexScore Aims to Complement FICO Credit Scores
by Simon Zhen 
FutureAdvisor: Automated Investing With Tax Efficiency in Mind
by Simon Zhen 
Mitek to Simplify Account Opening on Mobile Devices
by Simon Zhen 
MoneyDesktop: Declutter and Visualize Your Financial Goals
by Simon Zhen 
SavedPlus Makes You Save Every Time You Spend
by Simon Zhen 
Yodlee’s New Mobile App Deals With Money Side of Relationships
by Simon Zhen 
The New Age Online
Finovate and the Rise of the African Entrepreneur
by Douglas White
PandoDaily
Taking data analysis to a new plateau: Narrative Science raises $11.5M
by cale Guthrie Weissman 
Payments Source
E-Check Service Offers an Alternative to Online ACH Payments
by Austin Kilgore
PC World
New services tackle small business finance challenges
by Yardena Arar
Plus World (in Russian)
Инновация ТКС Банка представлена на
PYMNTS.com
Payment Innovators Impress At FinovateFall 2013
by Dan Rosen
Silicon Hills
Akimbo and Toopher Pitching at Finovate in New York
by Laura Lorek
Snarketing 2.0
Finovate Fall 2013: Snarketing’s Best-In-Show Awards
by Ron Shevlin
What To Look For At Finovate Fall 2013
by Ron Shevlin
TechCrunch
Mobile-First Banking App Numbrs Bags Further $3.8M For U.S. Launch
by Steve O’Hear
Upstart Business Journal
Bitcoin’s missing link sneaks into main event at Finovate
by Michael del Castillo
Financial gladiator battle ends with 8 startups standing tall
by Michael del Castillo
The Wall Street Journal

How to Get Investment Advice for Less Online

by Andrea Coombes

‘Stupid’ Banks Look for Innovation
by Michael Hickins
William Mills Agency blog and Beyond the Arc blog
Day 1: Live Blog, FinovateFall 2013 by William Mills III & Steven Ramirez
by Steven Ramirez and William Mills III
Day 2: Live Blog, FinovateFall 2013 by William Mills III & Steven Ramirez
by Steven Ramirez and William Mills III
Finovate 2013: Our take on the Best of Show winners
by Steven Ramirez
We’ll continue to add coverage throughout the next few weeks. If you have FinovateSpring press coverage you would like to add, please email the link to julie@finovate.com.

Narrative Science’s Quill Financial Helps Institutions Process and Understand Big Data

This post is part of our live coverage of FinovateFall 2013.

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Next, Narrative Science demonstrated how Quill Financial helps financial institutions analyze their data at a large scale:
“Quill Financial is a product suite that enables financial institutions the ability to automatically analyze, understand, and communicate what’s happening in their data at a speed and scale never before possible.
Portfolio Commentary: Quill automatically creates and delivers on-demand portfolio communications for wealth and investment management firms so that portfolio managers, sales, and marketing teams can access tailored, up-to-date commentary whenever they need it.
Investment Research: Quill analyzes both proprietary and market data to produce monthly and intra-month research reports that assess company expectations, upside and risk to help analysts, bankers, and investors make long-term investment decisions.”
Product Launch: September 2013
Product distribution strategy: Direct to Business (B2B), through financial institutions, & through other fintech companies and platforms
HQ: Chicago, IL
Founded: January 2010
Twitter: @narrativesci
Narrative Science recently announced it raised $11.5 million in Series C funding from Jump Capital and SAP Ventures along with Battery Ventures and Northwestern University.
Presenting Kris Hammond (CTO, Narrative Science) and Tim Bixler (Credit Suisse Managing Director — Global Head of HOLT)
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The full demo video will be available at finovate.com in mid-September.

Finovate Alumni News– September 6, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgFiserv launches Predictive Scores tool that models customer behavior. Come see Fiserv at FinovateFall next week.
  • First Federal Savings Bank implements PFM through MoneyDesktop. Check out MoneyDesktop’s new solution at FinovateFall in NYC.
  • PayPal Updates iOS And Android Apps With The Ability To Order Ahead, Pay Restaurant Bills, Access Bill Me Later And More.
  • Woodinville Water District Achieves Significant Increase in Paperless Water Bills in the First 90 Days of doxo Implementation.
  • Members Choice CU To Offer PFM Powered By Geezeo.
  • Braintree adds new layer of fraud protection for merchants.
  • Finovate alumni driving growth in online investment advisory industry.
  • Forbes features article on Narrative Science’s
    Quill. Come see them at FinovateFall next week.


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– August 22, 2013

  • FinovateLOGO.jpgForbes Magazine names FIS one of the 100 most innovative companies in the world.
  • BusinessManager from ProfitStars is driving revenue growth and customer acquisition for Great Western Bank.
  • Arroweye Solutions launches data-driven card marketing with CustomerConnect.
  • Ameriana Bank to deploy Picture Pay from Allied Payment Network.
  • Mashable takes a look at PayPal’s face-verification system for mobile payments.
  • Yodlee, Moven, and Mint featured in Wired column on the “banks of tomorrow.”
  • Narrative Science co-hosts this week’s InnovationChat at built in Chicago. See them demo at FinovateFall in September.
  • Segmint CIO David Hadley writes about building a cybersecurity framework today in BAI Banking Strategies.
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.