Finovate Alumni News– March 9, 2012

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  • Credit Union Times reports Geezeo signs Alabama Telco & San Francisco FCU, totals over 85 clients.
  • P2P Money blog reports Zopa celebrates its 7th birthday.
  • Finextra reports MoBank announces the launch of MoPowered mCommerce service.
  • Detroit Free Press shows how BillGuard has helped people avoid unnecessary charges.
  • SafetyPay selects ZipZap’s CashPay solution as its preferred cash payment option.
  • AppStorm shows off doxo.
  • Finovate shares Best of Show winners from 2007 to present.
  • Linkable Networks launches mobile app & API.
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– December 5, 2011

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgFox Business News recommends banking with Simple as a way to counter bank fees.
  • The Sacramento Bee reports SafetyPay expands to U.S. marketplace in the airline & travel payments industries.
  • GeekWire reports Lighter Capital awards undisclosed amount of cash to HireAHelper.
  • Barganeering looks at what sets Personal Capital apart from Mint.com.
  • Business Insider explores the differences between SecondMarket and SharesPost.
  • Sun Life partners with Kony on claims mobile app.
  • Weemba adds 3 financial institutions to its network of lenders.
  • Two credit unions deploy Credit Karma’s tools on their online banking platforms.
  • GoalMine to launch holiday gift card trade-in 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.

SafetyPay Available as Payment Option for Facebook Credit Purchases

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Online payment solution company SafetyPay recently announced that its payment platform can now be used to purchase Facebook Credits:

“SafetyPay will be a payment option for Facebook Credits in Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, Spain, Canada, United States, Austria, Germany and Brazil starting on December 9th, 2011. Facebook Credits can be purchased through SafetyPay without a credit card and without disclosing any personal financial information, which provides a safe online buying experience.”

Users can redeem the credits for virtual in-game elements, movies, Target gift cards, and more.

To learn more about SafetyPay, watch its FinovateSpring 2010 demo.

Finovate Alumni News– October 14, 2011

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAlphaClone launches “Alternative Alpha” index.
  • Forbes discusses Cardlytics and Offermatic’s approach & how they rival GroupOn.
  • Smart Money Mag details how FeeFighters can help cut costs in small businesses.
  • Jack Henry ProfitStars announces availability of the Gladiator NetTeller Enterprise Security Monitoring solution.
  • MyCyberTwin launches DIY Intelligent Virtual Agents.
  • Tyfone Introduces iCashe Mobile Wallet That Combines Mobile Banking With Digital Commerce.
  • UseMyServices partners with SafetyPay for mutual network expansion.
  • NYConvergence reports BankSimple prepares for its New York debut.
  • Business Insider recommends using BillGuard and Mint.com.
  • 24/7 Wall St looks at the P2P opportunity that Prosper brings.
  • McGuireWoods consulting is lobbying to Congress for the use of Dynamics smart cards.
  • Business Insider mentions Xero as a “great Web-based accounting tool.”
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 at BAI Retail Delivery Conference

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The BAI Retail Delivery conference begins tomorrow with 29 Finovate alumni participating in sessions and/or exhibiting on the trade show floor.
Session Speakers
  • Tuesday, Global Game-Changer Session
    Speaker: Jim Taschetta from FreeMonee
  • Wednesday, Technology for Business Summit 
    Speaker: Mitch Jacobs from On Deck Capital
  • Wednesday, Technology for Business Summit Session 
    Speaker: David Eads from Kony Solutions
  • Thursday, Technology for Business Summit Session
    Speaker: Eric Connors from Yodlee
  • Thursday, Marketing & Product Management Summit Session 
    Speaker: Rod Witmond from Cardlytics
Exhibitors 
BAI Mobile Link
Mobile Link Panel Discussions
Solutions Theatre
Jim Bruene and I (julie@netbanker.com) will be in attendance and will update the blog and Twitter with new developments throughout the event. 

Alumni News — Week of August 1, 2011

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Bobber Interactive

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Tech Flash interviewed Eric Eastman, Bobber Interactive’s CEO, on how the gamification of money management aims to help Generation Y better manage their money. Link 
BrightScope
BrightScope released a report detailing the top 12 small-cap funds in America’s 401k plans. This report is part of a series that provides insight into the top funds and managers in the retirement marketplace. Link
ChargeSmart
Discover is offering an instant rebate to customers who pay their utility bills using a Discover Card on ChargeSmart’s website. Link

Check Point Software Technologies
  • Check Point enhanced its Software Blade Architecture by releasing R75.20, a comprehensive approach to security that includes a URL filtering Software Blade, SSL inspection, and data loss prevention. Link
  • The Wall Street Journal discussed Check Point’s ZoneAlarm SocialGuard that helps parents protect children on Facebook in a non-intrusive manner. Link
Clairmail
Clairmail announced  record growth this quarter, with more than a 60% increase in bookings from last quarter. Link
Clovr Media

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  • BostInnovation stated that Clovr Media is changing the way consumers collect loyalty rewards through its Card-Linked Ads that allow consumers to access rewards by clicking on an advertisement. Link
  • Mass High Tech’s weekly Startup Watch listed Clovr Media as one of five startups to follow. Link
Credit.com 
EQuicknews listed Credit.com as a free way to check your credit score with no strings attached and highlighed the Credit Report Card feature. Link
doxo 
The Appvita blog profiled doxo, noting insider tips and practical uses, such as comparing bills on a month-to-month basis. Link
Dwolla
Bank Technology News looked at the players in the mobile payments space and listed Dwolla as a formidable competitor. Link
EDO Interactive

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EDO Interactive received $20 million in Series B funding to grow its Prewards platform that enables advertisers to offer digital deals and incentives that consumers redeem by using their existing credit, debit, or prepaid cards. Link
eToro
eToro began a trading contest for users with both demo and live trading accounts. Traders who accumulate the greatest gains will win each round. Link
eWise
eWise added Renasant Bank to its customer base, providing Renasant customers access to Secure Vault Payments, an alternative payment method. Link
Expensify
  • Expensify added a new feature that provides QuickBooks users a way to easily identify billable expenses to add to invoices. Link
  • The Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal listed Expensify as one of ten business apps for empowering your inner geek. Link
Kony Solutions 

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Tower Group, in its Review of North American Consumer Mobile Banking Technology Vendors, ranked Kony Solutions among the top mobile banking technology vendors. Kony excelled in the feature/function and customization categories. Link
Lending Club 
TechCrunch highlighted Lending Club’s announcement of $25 million in Series D financing from Union Square Ventures and other existing investors. Link
Lendio
Lendio added Cardinal Bank to its network of lenders providing clients with more options in finding equipment loans, business lines of credit, acquisition financing, commercial real estate, SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 loans. Link

Mitek Systems
Mitek Systems launched  Mobile Imaging Cloud Service that captures, extracts, and routes information contained in documents. The service helps app developers create smartphone and tablet apps that use a camera input function. Link
Monitise 
Monitise Asia Pacific launched its mobile banking, payments, and commerce services in Indonesia and signed a joint venture agreement with PT Astra Graphia Information Technology, an information and communication business. Link
On Deck Capital

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On Deck Capital raised $19 million of its own in a Series C round of funding. Link

RobotDough 
RobotDough founder, Wilton Risenhoover, revealed why he started RobotDough and how it works. Link
SafetyPay
SafetyPay received a Payment Services Directive License to provide cross-border payments throughout Europe strengthening its position in that market. Link
SecondMarket 
BostInnovation used SecondMarket’s alternative investments platform to discover top Boston companies. Link
Striata

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Baton Rouge Water Company selected Striata, along with payment services company Western Union, to provide email billing with integrated electronic payment service. Link
The Receivables Exchange 
Treasury & Risk profiled The Receivables Exchange, describing the process companies use to sell their receivables on the online platform. Link

TradeKing
TradeKing launched a $100 bonus for new customers who open an account by August 31, 2011. Link
Wonga 
Smarta interviewed Wonga director, John Moorwood, about Wonga’s growth over the past 12 months. Wonga is now issuing over 1.5 million short-term loans. Link
Xero
Xero released Xero Touch, its new accounting app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Link

Alumni News — Week of June 13, 2011

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AcceptEmail
AcceptEmail partnered with WorldPay to launch an e-billing and online payment service. Link
Balance
GeekWire interviewed Balance Financial CEO, Devin Miller. Link
BancVue
BancVue executives won Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Link
BankOns
Examiner.com referred to BankOns as the new GroupOn. Link
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BillShrink
BillShrink was featured in The New York Times. Link
BrightScope
Forbes reported on BrightScope’s list of exchange-traded funds held in America’s 401k plans. Link

CheckFree
CheckFree expanded its functionality to support account-to-account and peer-to-peer transfers. Link
Clairmail

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Clairmail joined the RSA Secured Partner Program to provide secure access to mobile banking. Link
doxo
  • doxo CEO explained paperless billing in a video interview, highlighting the mobile app. Link
  • doxo was featured on the Top Productivity Apps website. Link
  • Northwest Innovation reviewed doxo’s mobile app. Link
Dwolla
TechCrunch reported that Dwolla hit a milestone of $1M in transactions per week. Link
Enloop
  • Business News Daily interviewed Enloop CEO, Cynthia McCahon, about creating a “living business plan”. Link
  • Huffington Post spotlighted Enloop. Link
eRollover
eRollover launched an online solution for financial advisors to grow practices. Link

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eWise announced its partnership with Affirmative Technologies to speed the adoption of
alternative payment methods. Link
Kiboo
Kiboo launched a public site called “Know Your Money”.  Link
Lending Club
  • Lending Club posted a video of their five-word acceptance speech at the Webby Awards. Link
  • The Wall Street Journal noted Lending Club as leading the way in P2P lending. Link
mFoundry
  • mFoundry helped Starbucks build an app for Android. Link
  • mFoundry passed the 400 customer milestone. Link
Mitek
Mitek’s mobile check deposit was cited as the number one feature that would cause you to switch banks. Link
Monitise
  • ComputerWeekly discussed the survey Monitise conducted on mobile banking. Link
  • Forbes discussed Monitises’ deal with Visa. Link
peerTransfer
  • peerTransfer is hosting a free webinar on international student payment processing this Wednesday, June 22. Link
  • peerTransfer won the Innovation Award from Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange. Link
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  • Prosper announced that it is giving away an iPad2 to new investors. Link
  • The Wall Street Journal noted Prosper as leading the way in P2P lending. Link
SafetyPay
SafetyPay was selected by BorderJump as its preferred payment solution for cross border transactions. Link
SmartyPig
Fox Business News suggested using SmartyPig.com as a tool to help “pump up” savings. Link
Tagit 
Tagit helped Commonwealth Bank launch its first mobile app. Link
ThreatMetrix
  • ThreatMetrix announced its cloud-based fraud prevention platform. Link
  • ThreatMetrix launched “ThreatMetrix Fraud Facts,” a free downloadable report. Link
Tyfone
  • Tyfone was awarded an NFC over-the-air and over-the-wire seminal patent. Link
  • American Banker reviewed Tyfone’s mobile payment patent. Link
  • NFC Rumors looked at how Tyfone uses SD cards to enable NFC transactions. Link

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/

Weekly Updates — Weeks of Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, 2010

From PayPal X Conference: Bill.com uses PayPal business payments to transform how businesses get paid. http://bit.ly/finovate10273 and gets a makeover. http://bit.ly/finovate10255
From PayPal X Conference: Bling Nation launches “FanConnect” platform. FanConnect helps consumers and businesses to connect at checkout via social media platforms like Facebook. http://bit.ly/finovate10272
Blippy and Sephora work together to spread the word about cosmetic products via Twitter. See TechCrunch’s story. http://tcrn.ch/finovate10271
Continuity Control and uMonitor partner for compliance automation. http://bit.ly/finovate11334
Dynamics Inc. is profiled in “the future of credit cards” in the New York Times. http://j.mp/finovate102510
From PayPal X Conference: Expensify announces support for expense reimbursement via PayPal. See a demonstration: http://bit.ly/finovate1142.
How Finsphere is helping to prevent identity theft with geo-location and mobile check-ins. http://rww.to/finovate10281
Ixaris partners with Apigee to create payment application development API platform.  — The new platform will be named Ixaris Opn (pronounced “open”). http://bit.ly/finovate1121
From PayPal X Conference: More on Kabbage’s service to provide working capital for eBay Sellers. http://bit.ly/finovate10276
Lending Club welcomes North Carolina and Kansas. Peer-to-peer personal loans are now available in 42 states. http://bit.ly/finovate1141
Mint.com launches MintData to delve into the spending habits of Mint’s 4 million users. The data is anonymous and provides insight into the pocketbooks of customers in 300 U.S. cities. http://tcrn.ch/finovate1122
From PayPal X Conference: Outright.com launches free accounting app in PayPal apps marketplace. http://bit.ly/finovate10274
Citi takes CashEdge’s Popmoney Service live. FinVentures breaks it down. http://bit.ly/finovate1123
The Receivables Exchange Co-Founder and CEO Justin Brownhill was named one of  Silicon Alley Insider’s “Silicon Alley 100.” The list covers New York’s “Coolest Tech People in 2010.” http://bit.ly/finovate11335
SafetyPay pioneers new ways to provide micropayments in the gaming industry. http://bit.ly/finovate10277

Last Chance for FinovateSpring Early-Bird Tickets — Only 2 Days Left to Save!

FinovateSpring 2010 LogoJust a quick reminder that the early-bird ticket prices for FinovateSpring 2010 (May 11, San Francisco) will expire at the end of March (less than 2 days from now). If you register by March 31, you’ll save $100 on your ticket and lock in your spot to see debuts and demos of dozens of new financial and banking technological innovations. 

We’ve handpicked an amazing list of companies to demo their latest including:

Tickets are selling well with hundreds of registered attendees from great organizations like: 

  • AARP
  • BNP Paribas
  • CBS
  • Experian
  • Google
  • Intuit
  • Kaiser Permanente
  • Mechanics Bank
  • Tower Group
  • USAA
  • Visa
  • Aite
  • Capital One
  • Celent
  • Filene
  • H&R Block
  • Jack Henry
  • Motley Fool
  • Target
  • PayPal
  • US Bank
  • Wells Fargo
  • Alliant Credit Union
  • Canaan Partners
  • Discover
  • Forrester Research
  • ING DIRECT
  • Highland Capital
  • Javelin Research
  • NY Times
  • TransUnion
  • Venrock
  • Wired Magazine

FinovateSpring is one of our twice-yearly showcases of the best new ideas in banking and financial technology. The show is built around a unique blend of fast-paced demos of actual technology (no slides!) and high-quality networking with an audience of senior FI executives, fintech entrepreneurs, VCs, press, industry analysts and bloggers. It’s an awesome environment to find your next competitive edge.

Don’t miss out on the early-bird price on your ticket to this great show. Register now!

P.S. Online Banking Report subscribers are entitled to an extra discount to our Finovate conferences. Email me to get it.


ericphoto.jpgEric 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.

FinovateSpring 2010 Demo Companies Revealed

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We’re very pleased to announce the lineup for the upcoming FinovateSpring 2010 conference. Taking place on Tuesday May 11 in San Francisco, the conference will showcase dozens of handpicked companies debuting and demoing their latest and greatest fintech innovations. The quality of the new ideas that will be demoed on stage is very high this year and we’re incredibly excited to showcase them to you.

The demoing companies selected (that we can reveal so far) are:

These companies will be showcased to an audience of senior financial/banking/credit union executives, influential press, industry analysts, venture capitalists, bloggers, tech companies and entrepreneurs.

A sampling of the great organizations already registered to attend includes: AARP, Aite, Alliant Credit Union, BNP Paribas, Capital One, Celent, Discover, Experian, Fidelity, Filene, Forrester Research, Google, Highland Capital, Intuit, Javelin Strategy, Jack Henry, Mechanics Bank, Motley Fool, NY Times, PayPal, Tower Group, USAA, US Bank, Venrock, Wells Fargo, and Wired Magazine.

We’d love to have you join us at the spring event and watch the future of finance/banking unfold onstage. If you register today you’ll save $100 via the early-bird ticket discount. Please note that the early-bird prices expire at the end of this month and space is limited so lock in your spot now!


ericphoto.jpgEric 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.