Alumni News — Weeks of January 24, 31, and February 7, 2011

To see Finovate alumni company news in real-time, follow our feed on Twitter here.


Betterment and Mint.com partner for “set it and forget it” investment accounts. The accounts have no minimum balance. http://bit.ly/finovate210111

Bling Nation rolls out the “fan connect” platform in Chicago. The Chicago rollout is part of a broader national rollout to come. http://bit.ly/finovate210112

Cardlytics and NetSpend partner to bring reward offers to the underbanked. The partnership will create opportunities for targeted offers to reach users of prepaid debit cards. http://bit.ly/finovate28112

Cardlytics wins Red Herring Global 100 winner. — Cardlytics is a pioneer in in-statement merchant-funded rewards. http://bit.ly/finovate27114

CashEdge and NYCE join forces to provide person to person payment technology. Popmoney will now be available to 3,000 NYCE financial institution clients. http://bit.ly/finovate211112

ClairMail announced that revenue tripled in 2010. The company attributes the growth to the launch of their mobile connectivity architecture in early 2010. http://mwne.ws/finovate28115

DebtGoal launches OWEing.com. The new site acts as the flagship domain and provides a tools and content supporting debt reduction. http://bit.ly/finovate131112

eRollover launches Advisor Center. Ask retirement questions online in the new Advisor Center. http://bit.ly/finovate124112

Fiserv and WorkLight partner to make mobile application deployment and development faster. http://bit.ly/finovate125111

Frost and Sullivan names mFoundry “Entrepreneurial Company of the Year” in the mobile banking category. http://bit.ly/finovate121114

Guardian Analytics announces 150%  growth. The company attributes the rapid growth to the success of its FraudMap technology. http://bit.ly/finovate210113

Jack Henry’s ProfitStars.com launches new services to help small businesses accept online payments. http://bit.ly/finovate211111

Lending Club increased the maximum loan amount from $25,000 to $35,000. http://bit.ly/finovate27113

mFoundry launches standalone mobile deposit solution that can be implemented at a financial institution within 30 days. http://bit.ly/finovate28114

Intuit’s Mint and TurboTax team up to make taxes easier. http://bit.ly/finovate121111

Mozo launches Money Q & A portal where users can ask questions or answer questions posed by others. http://bit.ly/finovate211113

On Deck Capital secures $15 million Series-C funding. The funding round was led by SAP Ventures. http://bit.ly/finovate131111

Plastyc closes $2 million strategic investment from Core Innovation Capital. Core Innovation Capital is the investment partner for the Center for Financial Services Innovation. http://bit.ly/finovate28111http://www.silvertailsystems.com/

Silver Tail Systems announces the addition of a user-specific monitoring system. http://bit.ly/finovate124111

SmartyPig.com adds sixty new online retailer cash-back partners, and six more gift card partners. Expedia, Hotels.com, Cabela’s and Babies R Us are included in this latest offering. http://bit.ly/finovate131113

SmartyPig’s cash rewards card wins Paybefore award twice. http://bit.ly/finovate12112

The Receivables Exchange partners with Biz2Credit, an online loan-matching portal. http://bit.ly/finovate125113

Alumni News — Week of January 9, 2011

To see Finovate alumni company news in real-time, follow our feed on Twitter here
Backbase is holding an engagement banking seminar on January 27. — Attendance is free, but pre-registration is required. http://bit.ly/finovate114111
Blippy has been nominated for a Crunchie award. — The awards, given in a number of startup  categories, are a joint effort by three tech blogs: TechCrunch. VentureBeat and GigaOM. http://tcrn.ch/finovate113114
FeeFighters (formerly TransFS) has raised an additional $1.6 million in funding. — FeeFighters helps businesses comparison shop for credit card processing services. http://tcrn.ch/finovate113112
Fifth Third Bank will offer Popmoney from CashEdge. — Popmoney, an e-mail based money transfer system, will be available to Fifth Third customers in mid-2011. http://bit.ly/finovate110113
Firstmark Credit Union selects Geezeo for PFM platform. — The credit union, with  90,000 members with $700 million in assets, will use Geezeo’s white label platform . http://bit.ly/finovate1101
iBearSoft releases Money 5.0 mobile app. — The new release includes several speedups and new features. http://bit.ly/finovate1112
Jwaala offers free trials of the Better Online Banking (BOB) platform for credit unions. — The trial platform can be launched within two days of the request and allows prospective clients to see all of the available features. http://bit.ly/finovate113113
Kabbage raises an additional $6.5 million to support its loan business targeted to eBay and other online sellers. — This round was led by BlueRun Ventures and UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund. http://tcrn.ch/finovate113111
Kashoo users get a 30% discount on electronic tax filing with eSmart Tax. http://bit.ly/finovate114112
PerkStreet and Lending Club offer cash prizes for creatively shredding credit cards. http://bit.ly/finovate111113 or shredyourcreditcard.com
Plastyc and eBillMe launch a new banking system for self-employed users. — The platform allows users to receive clients’ electronic payments directly. http://bit.ly/finovate112112
SafetyPay signs deal with Brazil’s Banrisul. — This will allow Banrisul Bank’s three million customers to make purchases in their own currency by way of SafetyPay’s service. http://bit.ly/finovate111111
SmartyPig launches its first iPhone app. — Users can add to their savings,  manage goals and even contribute to another user’s goal. The app also includes a location-based tool to find participating merchants.  An Android app is planned for February. http://bit.ly/finovate110112
Tyfone receives a fourth patent for mobile e-wallet technology. — This newest patent, is entitled, “Asymmetric cryptography with user authentication.” http://bit.ly/finovate112111
The Mii card, powered by Yodlee, becomes a digital passport for online authentication. — See the Mii card in Action at FinovateEurope. http://www.miicard.com/

Alumni News — Weeks of November 28 and December 5, 2010

PopMoney (from CashEdge) wins award for excellence in Web design from the Interactive Media Council. http://bit.ly/finovate11301
Speculation from MarketWatch: Could ClairMail be headed for an IPO? http://bit.ly/finovate11306
ClairMail and Cardlytics partner to provide transaction marketing opportunities. http://bit.ly/finovate1281 
Expensify continues to grow its currency support base — Expensify is now supporting 159 currencies. http://bit.ly/finovate1232
Robert Scoble uses Expensify for expense reports. http://scoble.it/finovate11305
FIS launches innovative new mobile banking product. — Users can establish mobile account management with their debit card, no online banking signup needed. http://bit.ly/finovate1291
GoalMine hosting cash contest via Facebook to spread the word. http://bit.ly/finovate1292
This week’s Jem 5 at Jemstep explores diversified fixed income funds. http://bit.ly/finovate1294
Generations FCU goes live with Jwaala’s “Better Online Banking.” http://bit.ly/finovate1237
Just for fun: Kasasa releases banks’ playlists. See this week’s from Jeff Davis Bank. http://bit.ly/finovate1236
Lending Club enjoyed a flurry of news coverage. Read the summaries  here: http://bit.ly/finovate1224 
Lending Club mentioned in PBS nightly business report. http://to.pbs.org/finovate1297
Mint.com now available in Canada. http://tcrn.ch/finovate1234
Congratulations to Mint founder, Aaron Patzer; winner of a TechFellow Award for General Management. http://tcrn.ch/finovate1296
Monitise to bring mobile payments to Nigeria. http://bit.ly/finovate1231
Mozo powering new “Compare, Ditch and Switch” campaign to allow Australians to shop around for better banking services.  http://bit.ly/finovate1283
Just in time for the Holidays, PopMoney gift cards at www.giftcardmall.com
The new SmartyPig rewards MasterCard provides up to 10% cash back at select retailers. http://bit.ly/finovate11303
Tyfone receives additional patent for electronic wallet technology. http://bit.ly/finovate11304
Wikinvest is even more mobile with Blackberry and Android Apps. http://bit.ly/finovate1235
Y Combinator and Yodlee cooperate to provide financial data services to startups. 

FinovateFall 2010 Demo Videos Now Available

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We’re pleased to announce that the demo videos from FinovateFall 2010 are now available for free download (or immediate consumption) from the Finovate archives.

This fall’s NYC conference showcased 56 handpicked companies doing 7-minute demonstrations (no slides allowed) of their latest technology innovations to a sold-out audience of 650 financial & banking executives, venture capitalists, press, analysts and entrepreneurs.

Check out these cutting-edge ideas in financial, banking, payments, mobile, lending, investing and security technologies today for inspiration and your next edge on the competition! 

(P.S. If you’re interested in joining us at the next Finovate event, tickets are now on sale for FinovateEurope (Feb, 1, 2011 in London). It is going to be an amazing showcase of European and global fintech innovation!)


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Eric Mattson is CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. He can be reached at eric@netbanker.com.