Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • With Dashlane’s Spaces for Mobile, Passwords Connect the Professional and the Personal
  • Peter Thiel Takes $3.5 Million Stake in Curated Investor Platform, nextmarkets GmbH
  • A Look at the First Week of Nasdaq’s Fintech Index

Around the web

  • Bill.com co-founder and CEO Andrew Housser weighs in on the relationship between new and traditional credit scoring.
  • Dakota Plains Credit Union to deploy integrated technology suite from Fiserv.
  • American Banker column on new core banking vendors features Corezoid.
  • Deposit Accounts blog features Kasasa.
  • Finextra: Q2 ready to support same-day ACH 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.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “San Francisco Times Recognizes Credit Karma as Best Fintech Company”

Around the web

  • Markit partners with BitSight Technologies to enhance its Know Your Third Party (KY3P) platform.
  • Coinbase launches Buy widget to create a better Bitcoin buying experience.
  • Wipro open sources its big data solution, Big Data Ready Enterprise (BDRE).
  • itBit publishes its Bitcoin OTC Market Recap for March.
  • American Banker looks at the relationship between EyeVerify and Wells Fargo.
  • Money Q&A reviews Wall Street Survivor.
  • AltFi investigates how the loan-validation expertise of Global Debt Registry might help the P2p lending market.
  • Q2 subscribes to FI Navigator’s cloud-based mobile banking module.
  • Top Image Systems delivers $100,000 eFLOW project to subsidiary of a national postal service group in Asia-Pacific.
  • Barron’s features Student Loan Genius and PayActiv as employee benefits aimed at millennials.
  • Xero featured as one of first New & Notable Apps on Google Apps Marketplace.
  • SF Business Times features CEO Talbott Roche of Blackhawk.

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

Q2 Acquires Social Money in $10 Million Deal

Q2 Acquires Social Money in $10 Million Deal

Q2_homepage_SocialMoney_Dec2015

Q2 Holdings just got social.

The virtual banking solution provider today announced it will acquire fellow Finvoate alum Social Money for $10.6 million. Q2’s President and CEO Matt Flake said the “strategic” acquisition will help its customers “expand their reach, grow market share, and engage account holders.”

Formerly known as Smarty Pig, Social Money helps financial services companies better engage their customers by offering them savings solutions such as GoalSaver, a customized, goal-directed and bank-audited saving system. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, Social Money is geared toward millennials and gen-Y consumers, a point underscored by Flake. “The digital banking experience matters when it comes to reaching millennials and retaining existing account holders,” he said, adding that Q2 is committed to serving the “increasingly digital modern consumer.”

SocialMoney_stage_FS2012b
Social Money CEO Scott McCormack demonstrated GoalSaver at FinovateSpring 2012.

The Social Money acquisition is the second for Q2 in 2015. In July, Q2 Holdings acquired anti-fraud, risk-management specialist Centrix Solutions for $20 million. Q2 is still studying how it will integrate Social Money’s portfolio into its offerings, saying it plans to provide a “rebranded suite of Social Money technologies” in 2016. For its part, Social Money sees the acquisition as an opportunity to continue helping community banks and credit unions “establish direct-to-digital capabilities in the future,” according to CTO Adam Anderson.

Q2’s solutions are used in more than 275 community banks and credit unions. At their Finovate debut, FinovateSpring 2011, Q2 demoed its risk and fraud analytics technology. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Q2 Holdings was founded in 2005.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Fintech Developers, Lock in Presale Savings for the Very First FinDEVr in NYC”
  • “Q2 Acquires Social Money in $10 Million Deal”
  • Check out the latest developer news in this week’s edition of “FinDEVr APIntelligence”

Around the web

  • Employee Benefit News features Financial Guard in a discussion on the rise of robo-advisers.
  • Misys unveils its next-generation capital markets trading platform in the cloud, Misys FusionCapital.
  • CO-OP Financial Services to help credit unions deploy MasterPass from MasterCard.
  • ING expands its host card emulation (HCE) mobile payment service to all of its customers in the Netherlands. Join ING in London for FinovateEurope 2016.
  • Intuit partners with Fundbox to provide invoice financing for SMEs.
  • Technical.ly Delaware profiles Global Debt Registry.
  • Nostrum Group urges personalization in digital lending in new report on digital finance. See Nostrum at FinovateEurope 2016 in February.

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.

Ask Finovate: Who’s Who in Voice-banking Technology?

Ask Finovate: Who’s Who in Voice-banking Technology?

Telephone with piggy bank – call for help

A few days ago, we received a query from a Finovate follower:

“Can you please provide a list of companies that have demoed their voice-banking technology over the last few years?”

Interesting question! We trolled through our archives and here’s what we found.

When it comes to voice banking, ebankIT (FinovateEurope 2015); Interactions (FinovateEurope 2014); and ETRONIKA (FinovateEurope 2014) have all demonstrated innovative voice-banking technologies on the Finovate stage in recent years. It may not be a coincidence that all three companies won Best of Show awards for those demonstrations, as well.

ebankIT_FEU2015_stage

ebankIT Director Joao Lima Pinto and Omnichannel Specialist Paulo Oliviera demonstrated omnichannel social banking at FinovateEurope 2015 in London.

Another company worth mentioning is Finantix. The three-time Finovate veteran demoed its Smart Banking Assistant which responds to commands and queries posed in natural language, and is a part of the company’s Finantix Sharp multichannel platform.

Larger alums also have made inroads into voice banking. This cohort includes Fiserv, whose Voice Response for DNA solution is providing voice-banking services to a growing number of FIs, including credit unions, and ACI Worldwide, specializing in providing voice banking technology to community FIs via its Voice Banking suite within the ACI Self-service Banking platform.

Interactions_FS2014_stage

Interactions Marketing Manager Dan Fox demoed conversational solutions for banks and FIs at FinovateSpring 2014 in San Jose.

A number of Finovate alums have built and deployed voice-banking technologies, while emphasizing on stage only a small component of that technology, such as real-time authentication. These companies include NICE Systems (most recently at FinovateEurope 2015 and a Best of Show winner at FinovateFall 2014) and Q2ebanking (FinovateSpring 2011).

Also, many alums have focused on voice biometrics as an authentication solution without being a full voice-banking-platform provider. These companies include Canada’s VoiceTrust (FinovateEurope 2013); Great Britain’s ValidSoft (FinovateSpring 2013); Best of Show winners AnchorID (FinovateFall 2014) and BehavioSec (most recently at FinDEVr 2014) from New York and Sweden, respectively.

ETRONIKA_FEU15_stage

ETRONIKA CEO Kęstutis Gardžiulis and Head of Marketing Asta Sabaite demonstrated BANKTRON at FinovateEurope 2014.

Additionally, a handful of alums have developed technologies that complement voice banking. SayPay Technologies made its Finovate debut in London this year with a voice-driven bill-pay solution. IntelliResponse, which was recently acquired by [24]7 for its customer service chat resources, last deployed its virtual agent technology at Bank of Internet USA, adding the oldest internet bank in America to its roster of more than 450 deployments across more than 150 brands and institutions.

There is an even broader field of companies that leverage voice technologies to help consumers make payments and transfer money, manage their finances, and even direct investments. Some of these companies, e.g., Credit Sesame, are using Siri-like functionality to improve the customer experience, while others such as mBank are combining voice and video to bring customers real-time assistance from live agents as opposed to virtual ones.

Is there a Finovate alum we left out? If you’re an alum with interesting innovations in the field of voice banking, send us an email at research@finovate.com, and tell us all about it.

Alumni News– June 12, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAmerican Banker: Monitise launches Monitise Create, its mobile app design arm, in North America.
  • Zopa has now funded over 100k loans for UK borrowers. Its 52k active lenders have made 27.9 million loans since 2005.
  • ID Analytics to enhance products by incorporating Mattersight’s speech and behavioral analytics technology.
  • First Financial Bank to use Q2’s digital banking platform to connect local businesses to bank clients.
  • peerTransfer now supports currencies from over 95 countries at more than 475 institutions across the US, Europe, Canada, and Australia.
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– May 30, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgThreatMetrix wins Judges Choice for Best Overall Fraud/Security Solution at 2014 CNP Awards.
  • HelloWallet acquired by Morningstar in $52.5 million deal.
  • PandoDaily takes a look at Venovate and its platform for enabling alternative investments.
  • Gonzobanker lists five ingredients in his Franken-banking product: all Finovate alums in Q2ebanking, Digital Insight, ACI Wordwide, and Alkami Technology, and Jwaala.
  • Fast Company profiles NICE Systems in a new feature on voice biometrics.
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– May 9, 2014

  • Q2ebanking releases first quarter results with 2014 Q1 revenue of $16.8 million, up 31% YOY.
  • Stockr voted Top 100 Website by PC Magazine.
  • Dell Services improves enterprise mobility offerings with Kony partnership.
  • Silicon Slopes: MoneyDesktop snags AtTask executive for EVP of Sales.
  • MasterCard launches “auWallet” prepaid card program for APMEA region in partnership with KDDI.
  • Nymeo Federal Credit Union to deploy account processing technology from Fiserv.
  • Klarna, Provenir launch project to combine fraud risk decisioning with compliance, risk management automation.
  • Entrepreneurial digital startup hub, 1871, features Rippleshot.
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 21, 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.jpgTechCrunch features an interview with App Annie CEO, Bertrand Schmitt.
  • MasterCard announces MasterPass debut in China.
  • Q2 goes public, shares rally early in trading debut as company earns $533 million market cap.
  • miiCard working with eMerchantPay to offer merchants a more secure payment processing platform.
  • PayNearMe partners with self-storage management software E-SoftSys to enable users to accept cash payments online.
  • PayPal to let UK users order food ahead of visiting a restaurant, and use its app to pay for their food with a four-digit code when eating at a restaurant.
  • Venture Beat: Ping Identity acquires Accells Technologies.
  • Payoneer wins role as payments provider for Google Trusted Stores.
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– January 7, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgState of Iowa expands government payment partnership with Dwolla; Iowa DOT begins using service for IFTA and IRP.
  • Urban Partnership Bank introduces upbAnywhere, the New Virtual Banking Platform from Q2 (Q2ebanking).
  • ABL Advisor looks at BancVue’s BancAssets advising partnership with UHaul.
  • Zopa wins “Best Peer to Peer Lender” award from Moneynet Personal Finance.
  • TSYS announces partnership with Womply to provide TSYS Merchant Insights business analytics dashboard.
  • Jack Henry Banking to provide its clients with access to American Express’ FX International Payments service.
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%

FinovateFundingIMG.jpg

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.
2013YearEndTable.jpg
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– October 22, 2013

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgUS Storage Centers and PayNearMe unveil convenient electronic cash payments for self-storage tenants.
  • Actiance expands partnership with ZL Technologies to deliver enterprise and public social data into unified archive.
  • Blackhawk Network to acquire InteliSpend Prepaid Solutions.
  • Cachet Financial Solutions launches CheckRisk Pro, a tool to mitigate RDC risk.
  • Netbanker: Simple to launch bluetooth-based P2P payments.
  • The American Bankers Association endorses Q2’s enterprise solutions for secure virtual banking.
  • Flint Mobile announces launch of swipe-free mobile payment app for Android.
  • Bloomberg Businessweek takes a look at Motif’s “design-it-yourself investing.”
  • TechWorld Australia features P2P currency exchange innovator, CurrencyFair.
  • Fenergo, Aite Group report: Capital market firms prefer centralized client onboarding.
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.