Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate debuts: LiftForward Allows Clients to Offer Risk-free Purchase Financing”
  • “Trizic raises $2 Million to Help Advisers Compete with Algorithms”

Around the web

  • Financial Planning speculates about Personal Capital’s future.
  • Utah Business Magazine names Lendio one of the best companies to work for in Utah for the third consecutive year.
  • Arroweye Solutions selected to provide prepaid card production and personalization services for The Members Group.
  • Microsoft partners with Boku for carrier billing.
  • Financial Times mentions MaxMyInterest (paywall).
  • Wealthforge one of three winners of the UBS Future of Finance Challenge.

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

20 Alums Make the First Forbes Fintech 50

20 Alums Make the First Forbes Fintech 50

ForbesFintech502015

There’s more to the Forbes Fintech 50 list than just an awesome logo featuring George Washington wearing wrap-around shades. Forbes compiled the list by soliciting information from 300 startups, then interviewing more than 150 CEOs, founders, and industry experts. To make the cut, companies were required to have operations in the U.S. and a viable product.*

Simply put, Forbes describes the companies on the list as “small firms destined to have a big impact on your financial future and possibly upend your portfolio.”

This year, 20 Finovate and FinDEVr alums made the cut:

Algomi

  • Founded: 2012
  • HQ: London
  • Funding: $30 million
  • Customers: 14 large banks and 140 buy-side firms
  • FinovateFall 2014 demo

Betterment

Braintree

Chain

Credit Karma

HelloWallet

  • Founded: 2009
  • HQ: Washington, D.C.
  • Exit: Purchased by Morningstar in 2014 for $52.5 million
  • FinovateFall 2015 demo

Kensho

LearnVest

  • Founded: 2009
  • HQ: New York City, New York
  • Exit: Purchased by Northwestern Mutual in 2015 for $250+ million
  • FinovateFall 2013 demo

Motif

Personal Capital

Plaid

Prosper

Quantopian

Ripple

Simple

TransferWise

TrueAccord

Vouch

Wealthfront

Xignite


*While the list excludes financial giants, Forbes included startups acquired by larger companies but operating independently.

FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVr2016-NY-(Stacked)V2

Building a new financial technology? Mark your calendars for our spring developer event in New York City, 29/30 March 29, FinDEVr 2016 and check out the first round of FinDEVr New York presenting companies.

The latest from FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 presenters

  • Modest Money asks: “Are Personal Capital’s Financial Advisers for the Small-time Investor?”
  • Let’s Talk Payments features BehavioSec in a roundup of top Nordic fintech startups.
  • JPMorgan announces partnership with OnDeck Capital.

Alumni updates

  • Xero adds two-step authentication to its accounting platform.

Stay current on daily news from the fintech developer community! Follow FinDEVr on Twitter today!

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: Gro Solutions Takes Mobile Account Opening Beyond ID Capture”
  • “20 Alums Make the First Forbes Fintech 50″

Around the web

  • Kasasa wins 2 MarCom Gold Awards for its 2015 Kasasa Rewards Rush program.
  • Modest Money asks: “Are Personal Capital’s Financial Advisers for the Small-Time Investor?”

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

FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVr2016-NY-(Stacked)V2

Building a new financial technology? Check out our coverage from our developer conference in San Francisco this fall, and mark your calendars for our spring developer event in New York, March 29 and 30, FinDEVr 2016.

Developer news:

  • BankNXT interviews Stefan Weiss, head of APIs at Fidor Bank, on the APIs, regulation, and expansion.
  • American Banker quotes Simon Redfern, founder of the Open Bank Project, in a look at the drive for open bank APIs in the United Kingdom.

The latest from FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 presenters:

  • Kashoo launches period-locking feature to lock data within prescribed timeframes.
  • CenturyLink and Cogent enter into interconnection agreement.
  • Deluxe Corporation celebrates its 100th birthday by ringing the opening bell at the NYSE.
  • Entrust Datacard’s Kurt Ishaug named 2015 CFO of the Year by Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal.
  • The TRADE names Markit to its Hall of Fame.
  • Personal Capital lowers investment minimum from $100,000 to $25,000.

Alumni updates:

  • PRUDENA launches online marketplace for stock market research.
  • StockTwits offers brokerage functionality powered by Robinhood.
  • CardFlight announces EMV approval and certifications via TSYS for mPOS solution.

Stay current on daily news from the fintech developer community! Follow FinDEVr on Twitter today!

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “StockTwits Offers Brokerage Functionality Powered by Robinhood”
  • “Finovate Debuts: bleu Unveils its Beacon-powered, Point-of-Sale Solution”

Around the web

  • TechCrunch names Stockpile gift card on list of Awesome Gifts For Your Favorite 20-Something.
  • Prosper recognized as 24th fastest-growing company on Deloitte’s Fast 500. San Francisco Business Times places Prosper as number 3 of the Fastest Growing Companies of 2015.
  • Kashoo launches period-locking feature to lock data within prescribed timeframes.
  • Built in Colorado names Google, OnDeck, Ping Identity, Personal Capital, Xero, and PaySimple on list of top 100 tech companies in Colorado.
  • TickSmith’s TickVault platform earns the fast-growing firm an Innovators Award from FIA.
  • CenturyLink and Cogent enter into interconnection agreement.
  • RAGE Frameworks partners with Genpact, leveraging AI to automate financial processes.
  • Los Alamos National Bank chooses FIS as its new core banking provider.
  • National Bonds to deploy AML Risk Manager from Fiserv.
  • Geezeo launches its Life Infused Financial Experiences custom apps.
  • Let’s Talk Payments looks at edo Interactive and its partnership with Visa Europe.
  • Azimo extends its money-transfer service to Nigeria.
  • Fidelity Clearing and Custody teams up with EverSafe to help prevent elder financial abuse.
  • TransferTo joins forces with Continental Money to bring remittance services to Africa.

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

Personal Capital Lowers Investment Minimum From $100,000 to $25,000

Personal Capital Lowers Investment Minimum From $100,000 to $25,000

PersonalCapitalHomepage1115

Robo-advisers have been on a roll. By year-end they are expected to amass $53 billion under management, up more than 3x from $16 billion last year. While these numbers are dwarfed by the $20 trillion wealth-management market, robo-adviser growth has garnered much attention.

In an effort to capture more of that growth, Personal Capital is lowering its minimum investment from $100,000 to $25,000. The San Francisco-based company expects the lower threshold will help tap into its 850,000 users who track their investments with its free online platform. About half of these users are eligible to meet the new $25,000 investment minimum.

Lowering the minimum will also help Personal Capital compete with Wealthfront which requires a minimum of $500, and Betterment which does not have a minimum investment requirement.

The New York Times recently reported stats from three robo-advisers:

Company Min. Investment Req’d Users AUM Average AUM/ User
Personal Capital $25,000 6,000 $1.6 billion $260,000
Wealthfront $500 37,400 $2.6 billion $70,000
Betterment $1 118,000 $3 billion $25,000

Personal Capital most recently presented to a crowd of developers at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco. The company launched One Click Investment Proposals at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

Betterment last demoed its multiple goals feature at FinovateFall 2011, and before changing its name in 2010, Wealthfront launched as KaChing at FinovateSpring 2009.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Finovate Debuts: DriveWealth Brings U.S. Stocks to Overseas Investors”
  • “FinovateEurope 2016 Presenting Companies Announced
  • “Personal Capital Lowers Investment Minimum from $100,000 to $25,000″

Around the web

  • Intuit teams up with Kiva to provide small business financing via QuickBooks financing platform.
  • National Bank of Abu Dhabi, (Nbad) Egypt, to deploy BankWorld from CR2.
  • Xero announces new partnerships with Bigcommerce and KPMG.
  • Open Bank Project partners with Ulster Bank to organize Hack Make the Bank, Jan 29 thru 31, 2016.
  • CIBC and Thinking Capital partner to expand SMB lending in Canada.
  • Entrust Datacard releases Datacard MX Series Laser 350 that provides new personalization features.
  • CardFlight announces EMV approval and certifications via TSYS for mPOS solution.
  • Taulia joins the OFS portal community.
  • Fidelity Charitable partners with Coinbase to allow people to contribute bitcoin to their donor-advised funds.

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

FinDEVr Live: Personal Capital Describes Data-driven Retirement Planning

FinDEVr Live: Personal Capital Describes Data-driven Retirement Planning

PersonalCapitalHomepage

personalcapital.com | techblog.personalcapital.com | @PersonalCapital

PersonalCapitalLogoPersonal Capital is a next-generation financial adviser, named by CNBC as a “Top Disruptor” for our innovative approach to wealth management. Our award-winning free tools and mobile apps give clients a complete picture of their net worth, and we offer comprehensive financial advisory services previously available only to the ultra-wealthy. This combination of high-tech and high-touch drives our ability to deliver truly personal and objective wealth management for the internet and mobile age. We believe this is the best way to empower individuals and their money.

Data-driven retirement planning
We are presenting the inner workings of a truly data-driven retirement planner created by leveraging a user’s aggregated financial data, enhanced by machine learning and personalized by user’s life events and goals. We will discuss how the investing and financial planning strategies are triggered to update as the user moves through different stages of her life and makes changes to her spending and saving behaviors. Finally, we will show how this functionality is visualized through a UI that makes sophisticated algorithms and complex data easy to use for any user, regardless of investing knowledge.

Key takeaways:

  • How we employ machine learning techniques to forecast growth of a user’s portfolio and
    estimate available retirement spending
  • How we create a connected ecosystem that allows a user and his/her dedicated adviser to collaborate on the same financial data and retirement plan
  • How we use AWS infrastructure to supercharge our data-driven retirement planner

personalCapital_findevr

Presenters:

Fritz Robbins, CTO
LinkedIn | @fritz_robbins | fritz@personalcapital.com
Fritz Robbins is the CTO of Personal Capital, responsible for definition and execution of the technology roadmap and leadership of the technology teams. He has previously led technology and engineering efforts at Wells Fargo, Excite@Home, RSA Security, and elsewhere.

Ehsan Lavassani, VP Engineering, Founding Engineer
LinkedIn | @EhsanLavassani | ehsan@personalcapital.com
Ehsan Lavassani is Personal Capital’s VP engineering and its first employee. He was the architect of Personal Capital’s core systems from the ground up and formed its world-class engineering team. Previously, he was one of the main architects of RSA’s Adaptive Authentication system.

FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVr2015LogoV2DateAre you building new financial technology? Be sure to register soon for the only event exclusive for fintech developers, FinDEVr 2015, 6/7 October (just a few days away!) in San Francisco.

Developer news

  • “Thomson Reuters considers how APIs are changing the fintech narrative”

The latest from upcoming FinDEVr 2015 presenters

  • FinDEVr San Francisco 2015 Presenters All Mapped Out.
  • PayPal unveils its chip-card reader in the U.S.
  • Hyperwallet counts down to next week’s FinDEVr developer conference.
  • Munich-based Fidor Bank Launches in the U.K.
  • OnDeck partners with Association for Enterprise Opportunity to facilitate up to $10 million in small-business loans.
  • Aerospike releases version 3.6 of its NoSQL operational database.
  • TechCrunch: Klarna adds American Express as a partner.
  • Emerging Payments Awards selects Hyperwallet as a finalist for the Best Corporate/Government Payments Program award for 2015.
  • Braintree and PayPal reflect on their two-year anniversary.
  • CNET features Personal Capital in a look at investment in robo-advisers.
  • Kaspersky’s blog mentions Twilio’s Authy as a way to protect your ID on a smartphone.
  • Avalara announces the availability of a benefits program exclusively for U.S. QuickBooks ProAdvisors® and their clients.
  • Celent advises banks to be more like Fidor Bank in order to remain relevant.
  • The Neutral Internet Exchange NL-ix will use Interxion Cloud Connect to connect to Microsoft Azure as a part of its new cloud connectivity services.
  • MX Lands $4 Million from CheckFree Founder Pete Kight.

Alumni updates

  • Xero surpasses milestone of 100,000 subscribers in the U.K.

Stay up to date on daily developments by following FinDEVr on Twitter.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Munich-Based Fidor Bank Launches in the UK” —Check out Fidor Bank at FinDEVr, 6/7 October, in San Francisco.

Around the web

  • New P2P lending app, Ledge, leverages Venmo technology.
  • CNET features Wealthfront, Betterment, FutureAdvisor, SigFig, and Personal Capital in a look at investment in robo-advisers.
  • American Banker profiles PaySwag and its strategy to put a gamified face on debt collection.
  • Kashoo unveils version 4.4 of its iOS app.
  • American Legion magazine interviews Mark Rockefeller, StreetShares CEO and co-founder.
  • itBit announces new higher withdrawal limits.
  • Digital Retail Apps CEO and founder Wendy MacKinnon Keith wins 2015 Women in Payments Innovation Award.
  • InvestorJunkie lists its top 15 robo-advisers, featuring eight Finovate alums.
  • Braintree and PayPal reflect on their two-year anniversary. See Braintree show off its APIs at FinDEVr in San Francisco, 6/7 October.
  • EQ features DAVO’s sales-tax solution.
  • Bank Innovation highlights Ldger’s demo at FinovateFall last week.
  • Forbes features Aerospike. See Aerospike’s presentation at FinDEVr San Francisco on 6/7 October.

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.

FinDEVr APIntelligence

FinDEVr2015LogoV2DateAre you building new financial technology? Be sure to register soon for the only event exclusively for fintech developers, FinDEVr 2015, to be held on 6/7 Oct in San Francisco.

Developer news

  • Fusion, Switzerland’s first fintech accelerator, selects 10 startups for its 12-month acceleration program that starts on 5 October.

The latest from upcoming FinDEVr 2015 presenters

  • PayPal explains its recently launched API Transactions Dashboard.
  • BehavioSec joins PwC’s Accelerator Programme.
  • Personal Capital appoints Mark Goines as CMO.
  • Business Insider ranks Currency Cloud among top fintech companies in Britain.
  • Let’s Talk Payments lists 25 top alternative lending startups including OnDeck.
  • Kanto X hits $2+ billion in currency exchange transactions.
  • 7-Eleven and PayNearMe launch PayNearMe Bill Pay app, a full-service bill payment center.
  • OnDeck and Intuit join forces to launch $100 million lending fund for small businesses.

Alumni updates

  • Dynamic Trend integrates with Tradier Brokerage API.
  • Xero previews two new features—billable expenses and invoice reminders—for small-business users of its platform.

Stay up to date on daily developments by following FinDEVr on Twitter.