Sezzle

Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bill.com, Bitbond, Gro Solutions, InComm, Insuritas, iQuantifi, Kony, Lighter Capital, Modo Payments, MX, Roostify, Sezzle, Signicat, Trustly

On Finovate.com

  • Roostify Powers TD Bank’s Digital Mortgage Experience.

Around the web

  • iQuantifi launches RoboPlanner roboadvisory tool for millennials.
  • Nummo selects MX to power user account aggregation.
  • Signicat digitizes in-store signing of credit agreements for Resurs Bank retail partners.
  • Kony helps PSECU deliver an updated digital banking application to enhance the digital user experience.
  • InComm partners with Japanese pharmacy chain Welcia to launch four mobile barcode payment solutions in its stores.
  • Sezzle adds ShipStation as client.
  • Ocurrency interviews Radoslav Albrecht, Founder & CEO of Bitbond.
  • Insuritas partners with Sound Community Bank to launch bank-owned digital insurance agency platform.
  • Bill.com partners with First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) to offer enhanced digital business payments solutions.
  • Lighter Capital’s investment in Springboard Retail reaches $1.1 million.
  • Provident Bank chooses Gro Solutions to boost mobile-first user-experience and drive account growth.

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.

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Sezzle’s $100 Million Line of Credit to Fuel Delayed Payment Tool

Sezzle’s $100 Million Line of Credit to Fuel Delayed Payment Tool
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Funding, Sezzle

Alternative ecommerce payment system Sezzle announced last week it pulled in a $100 million line of credit. The new round multiplies the Minnesota-based company’s existing funding by almost 10x, bringing its total raised to just shy of $111 million.

The funding, which comes from Connecticut-based investment firm Bastion, is being used to fuel Sezzle’s new pay-in-2019 initiative with online retailer Tobi. The promotion, which will be available throughout the holidays, gives Tobi.com shoppers interest-free purchase financing. After paying 25% of the purchase price at checkout, shoppers can wait to pay the remaining three-quarters of the purchase, interest-free, until after January 2, 2019, at which point they pay in three equal installments.

Tobi’s target market is focused on young females– a demographic which typically either has no credit or thin credit files. “Because these young consumers are credit-starved, they tend to abandon their online shopping cart instead of clicking through to purchase,” Sezzle CEO Charlie Youakim said. “With our option, those shoppers are more likely to convert to a sale. We even see them spending more and shopping more frequently.”

The pay-in-2019 payment model is a departure from Sezzle’s existing buy now, pay later offering, which typically allows users to spread the repayment of the purchase price across 6 weeks of financing. If the trial with Tobi yields increased sales results, Sezzle plans to move forward with the new financing model with other retailers, as well.

Founded in 2016, Sezzle demoed its alternative payment platform at FinovateFall earlier this year. Last month, the company teamed up with Priority Payment Systems which will offer Sezzle as an option to its merchant clients.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Azimo, Diebold, Entersekt, Five Degrees, ieDigital, Kantox, LoanScorecard, Onfido, Outsystems, Payment Ninja, RightCapital, Sezzle, TransferWise

On Finovate.com

  • Five Degrees Teams Up with ieDigital to Launch Digital Banking Portfolio.
  • Sezzle’s $100 Million Line of Credit to Fuel Delayed Payment Tool.

Around the web

  • LoanScorecard unveils SimpleCECL, its solution for loan-level analyses for Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL).
  • Onfido wins 7th place in Deloitte’s 11 fastest growing tech companies in the U.K. roster.
  • OutSystems earns recognition in two categories of the 2018 Gartner Peer Insights Customers Choice reviews: Mobile App Development Platforms and Enterprise High-Productivity Application Platform as a Service (HPaPaaS).
  • Payment Ninja introduces new invoice management feature of its platform.
  • Diebold Nixdorf inks Memorandum of Understanding with Europol to boost cybersecurity knowledge sharing.
  • Entersekt announces plans to expand to Nordic region.
  • RightCapital partners with Commonwealth.
  • Onfido, Azimo, TransferWise, and Kantox earn spots on Deloitte U.K.’s Fast 50.

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.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Ayasdi, Bambu, CardFlight, Corezoid, ebankIT, Ellie Mae, Eltropy, Enterprise Engineering, Experian, LoanScorecard, Moxtra, Onfido, PasswordPing, Roostify, Sezzle, ThetaRay

On Finovate.com

  • CardFlight Launches SwipeSimple Customers to Support Card Data Management.
  • Roostify Teams Up with Ellie Mae to Boost Efficiency in Mortgage Lending.

Around the web

  • Experian and Close Brothers Retail Finance pilot Mobile for Credit service for U.K. gamers.
  • New Penn Financial goes live with Portfolio Underwriter from Loan Scorecard.
  • PasswordPing earns finalist spot in 2018 “Innovation Quotient” IQ Awards.
  • Ukraine’s Akhmetov Bank leverages Corezoid’s cloud-based operating system.
  • ebankIT and Enterprise Engineering forge strategic partnership for the North American market.
  • Bambu, Eltropy, Moxtra, and Onfido are among the startups selected for Plug and Play Singapore’s inaugural fintech and insurtech program.
  • TECHdotMN profiles Sezzle founder and CEO, Charlie Youakim.
  • Forbes Middle East highlights Ayasdi and ThetaRay in look at how AI is helping solve financial crime.

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.

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Priority Payment Systems to Offer Sezzle’s Shop Now, Pay Later Solution

Priority Payment Systems to Offer Sezzle’s Shop Now, Pay Later Solution
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Sezzle

Fresh of its return to the Finovate stage, alternative payment platform Sezzle announced this week that Priority Payment Systems will offer Sezzle as a payment option for its merchants. This will allow Priority Payment Systems merchants to add the e-commerce financing technology both at the product page and at checkout.

“We’re excited to offer our clients and their merchants a new alternative payment method, providing more choices for consumers and differentiation in the marketplace,” Priority Payment Systems CEO John V. Priore said. Founded in 2005, Priority Payment Systems has 174,000+ SME merchant customers, and processes 39+ billion electronic transactions a year. Sezzle founder and CEO Charlie Youakim praised the company’s “scale and breadth in e-commerce,” and called the Alpharetta, Georgia-based firm “an excellent financial services partner for Sezzle.”

Sezzle provides POS financing that enables consumers to pay for purchases in four interest-free installments over a six-week period. Sezzle pays the merchant directly, assuming all repayment risk, and has helped more than 1,800 e-commerce retailers boost average order values by an average of 20%. Sezzle is also a popular option with younger consumers who are less likely to have a credit card. The company noted that 80% of the 100,000+ shoppers on its platform are less than 35 years old.

Brent Sandor, Marketing Director at 686, a fashionable outerwear and technical apparel retailer, underscored Sezzle’s value in providing payment flexibility. “Our products are very popular with young consumers, but it’s hard for some of them to afford the full purchase price, and Sezzle enables them to budget and spread their purchase over time.”

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sezzle demonstrated its “Shop Now, Pay Later” alternative payment system for e-commerce checkouts at FinovateFall 2018 last month. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with fellow Minneapolis startup, CartStack, to help e-commerce merchants better engage with their customers. In May, Sezzle added former Bluestem Brands VP and U.S. Bank executive Karen Hartje as CFO.

With $10.9 million in funding, Sezzle includes E-Merge and CSC Upshot among its investors.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Anorak, HackerOne, Meniga, Sezzle, The ID Co.

On Finovate.com

  • Priority Payment Systems to Offer Sezzle’s Shop Now, Pay Later Solution.
  • The ID Co. Launches NoMo Cashflow Tracking App.

Around the web

  • IDG’s Techworld features U.K.-based insurtech innovator, Anorak. The company was also selected to participate in the Plug and Play Insurtech innovation platform in November.
  • Silicon Republic highlights Meniga in its roundup of “cool start-ups from Reykjavik.”
  • In partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, HackerOne uncovers 150 cybersecurity vulnerabilities during Hack the Marine Corps challenge.

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.

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FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Sezzle

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Sezzle
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: FinovateFall 2018, FinovateFall 2018 Sneak Peek, Sezzle

FinovateFallA look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 24 through 26, 2018 in New York. Register today and save your spot.

Sezzle is an interest-free installment product designed to financially empower young ‘prime-to-be’ consumers at retail checkouts.

Features

  • No ‘hard’ credit checks for new users
  • Four automatic and interest-free installments per checkout
  • Simple user signups and one-click repeat user checkouts

Why it’s great
Sezzle’s simple and easy-to-use payment system enables consumers to get what they desire today without any additional interest or fees.

Presenter

Charlie Youakim, CEO
Youakim is a serial tech entrepreneur who has founded two successful payments companies that have raised over $68 million in venture capital. His first company was Passport. His second is Sezzle.
LinkedIn

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Crypterium, DigiByte Holdings Limited, Fiserv, Modo Payments, PaySimple, Round Pegs, Sberbank, Sezzle, Xero

On Finovate.com

  • PaySimple Adds New Integrations for Targeted Email Marketing.
  • Deutsche Bank Takes Equity Stake in Modo Payments.

Around the web

  • US Alliance Group looks to Fiserv Debit Gateway and Accel Network partnership to support growth.
  • Xero opens new Americas HQ in downtown Denver.
  • Sberbank becomes Founding Partner of World Economic Forum Centre for Cybersecurity.

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.

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Spring Forward: FinovateSpring 2016 Alums Top $200 Million in Funding

Spring Forward: FinovateSpring 2016 Alums Top $200 Million in Funding
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: BanQu, CallVU, Civic, CUneXus, Cyberfend, Earnix, Empyr, Finova Financial, ForwardLane, Linqto, Neustar, NYMBUS, OneVisage, OurCrowd, Qumram, savedroid, Sezzle, ThreatMetrix, WealthForge

FinovateSpring2016_scene

With FinovateSpring 2017 coming next month, we thought we’d take a look back at how the alums from our last spring conference a year ago have fared on the fundraising front.

And after a quick review, it seems that investors continue to be interested in the innovations of Finovate alumni. In fact, even without the $1.8 billion Golden Gate Capital spent on its acquisition of Neustar late last year ($2.9 million with debt included), the alums from FinovateSpring 2016 have had an impressive year of fundraising. While the specific funding amounts for a number of alums were not officially disclosed, our review shows more than $200 million raised by 20 FinovateSpring 2016 alums over the past year alone.

Among the bigger deals of the past year, the $72 million raised by OurCrowd stands out. OurCrowd, a crowd investing platform for venture capital, was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel. With a growing network of more than 17,000 investors, OurCrowd has raised $400 million on its platform, providing funding for 110 companies. Also noteworthy was the $29 million raised by FinDEVr/Finovate alum NYMBUS in two separate fundings in August and February. NYMBUS is an innovator in developing advanced, cloud-based core banking systems. Known as a “bank in a box” NYMBUS technology gives smaller banks and credit unions the ability to compete with larger FIs when it comes to providing customers with the latest digital banking services.

So to help get you ready for FinovateSpring 2017, here’s a list of the investments scored by alums from last year’s conference. And remember you can see live demos from all 20 of our fundraising FinovateSpring 2016 alums in our Video Archives.

February 2017

  • FinDEVr New York Alum NYMBUS Announces $16 Million in New Funding
  • Qumram’s Regtech Offering Lands $1.49 Million
  • Empyr Raises $3 Million in Funding

January 2017

  • ForwardLane Raises $1.1 Million in New Funding
  • Earnix Receives $13.5 Million in Growth Capital from New and Existing Investors

December 2016

  • Cyberfend Acquired by Akamai Technologies for Undisclosed Amount

November 2016

  • Sezzle Raises Seed Funding Ahead of Shopify Debut ($1.85 million)
  • Neustar Acquired by Golden Gate Capital for $1.8 Billion (including debt $2.9B)

October 2016

  • ThreatMetrix Picks Up $30 Million in Growth Capital from Silicon Valley Bank (debt financing)

September 2016

  • OurCrowd Pulls In $72 Million
  • WealthForge to Raise $2.5 Million in New Convertible Note Offering
  • OneVisage Earns Seed Funding in Round Led by Polytech Ecosystem Ventures (amount undisclosed)

August 2016

  • CUneXus Closes $5 Million Series A
  • Automobile Title Lending Platform Finova Financial Raises $52.5 Million
  • NYMBUS Raises $12 Million in Round Led by Vensure Enterprises

July 2016

  • Linqto Announces New Venture Funding from Keiretsu Capital (amount undisclosed)

June 2016

  • NICE Funding! CallVU Raises $3 Million
  • Civic Announces New Debt Financing from Blockchain Capital (amount undisclosed)
  • savedroid AG Completes €1 ($1.1 USD) Million Seed Round; Announces Beta Launch
  • Cyberfend Earns Undisclosed Non-Equity Assistance from MasterCard Start Path Global Program.
  • BanQu Secures $100,000 in Financing (convertible note)

Are you a FinovateSpring 2016 alums whose funding we missed? Send us an email research@finovate.com and we’ll be happy to make the update.

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Sezzle Raises Seed Funding Ahead of Shopify Debut

Sezzle Raises Seed Funding Ahead of Shopify Debut
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Funding, Fundings, Sezzle

sezzle_homepage_november2016

It’s a good time to be Sezzle.

The alternative payments company that made its Finovate Debut earlier this year at FinovateSpring has just completed a seed round of funding, raising $1.85 million. The funding surpassed expectations, according to Sezzle founder and CEO Charlie Youakim, who stated that the company has seen continued interest from investors, oversubscribing their round. “Our ultimate goal is to be successful, even if the founding team ends up owning a little less,” he said. Participating in the seed round were Belgium’s E-Merge and China’s CSC Upshot, as well as “angels, superangels, friends and family.”

The funding for Sezzle accompanies news that the company will launch on Shopify with its first set of merchants. Sezzle is in final testing with clients now and expects to be able to announce the names of its merchant partners in mid-December. Merchants are expected to roll out the integration over the next couple of weeks, Youakim said.

sezzle_stage_fs2016

CEO and founder Charlie Youakim demonstrated Sezzle at FinovateSpring 2016.

Founded in January 2016 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sezzle introduced its payment solution at FinovateSpring 2016. Sezzle is a payment platform that leverages bank sign-on technology and ACH rails to give merchants a cheaper option—fees of 1.5% and 15 cents for transactions—that is half the cost of credit cards and PayPal. At the same time, consumers using Sezzle benefit from rewards—currently 1% cash back—on purchases that are essentially debit-card transactions. “Typically, people convert to credit cards because of rewards,” Youakim explains, “but there are issues and anxieties for young people [when it comes to credit cards and debt].” For these consumers, debit payments are much more familiar. Youakim also points out that Sezzle is a cardless option, which also appeals to younger consumers.

Going forward, Youakim hopes to add merchant-backed rewards as well as potentially increasing the cash-back amount as adoption of Sezzle increases. “We are getting more attention from users and merchants,” he said, pointing out that some merchants who are planning to deploy the technology are waiting until after the Christmas season. “We are definitely getting some interest out there from merchants,” Youakim added, “a few ‘not yets,’ but not very many [saying] ‘No.'”

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Compass Plus, IBM, Klarna, Lighter Capital, NYMBUS, PayNearMe, Prosper, Sezzle, Student Loan Genius, Trustly

On Finovate.com

  • “The Best of FinovateAsia 2016 in Photos“
  • “Sezzle Raises Seed Funding Ahead of Shopify Debut”

Around the web

  • PayNearMe to power cash payments at Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.
  • IBM to launch 4 new data centers in the U.K.
  • NYMBUS partners with QTS Realty Trust to enable financial institutions to move legacy core systems to NYMBUS’s private cloud.
  • Compass Plus enabled processing center Quipu to reach 100% service availability in 2015.
  • PYMNTS.com takes a look at the challenges facing Prosper and its incoming CEO David Kimball.
  • Trustly hires new Head of People Operations, Ulrica Falkenberg.
  • HVAC manufacturer Mestek to offer Student Loan Genius benefit via Prudential.
  • Lighter Capital ranked #4 in Puget Sound Business Journal’s list of fastest-growing private companies in Washington state.

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.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on
Categories: ACI Worldwide, Alloy, FinanceIt, Fiserv, FTPartners, Klarna, Kyckr, Linkable Networks, MX, NCR Corporation, On Deck Capital, RightCapital, Sezzle, Smartwave, Temenos, Zopa

On Finovate.com

  • Financeit Recruits CFO from Capital One Canada
  • Wave Mechanics: FT Partners Report Highlights Trends Driving Rise of Insurtech

Around the web

  • Fiserv inks deal with FCTI to provide transaction processing for 8,000 ATMs in 7-Eleven convenience stores in U.S. Video of Fiserv’s recent live demo from FinovateFall is now available.
  • NCR launches cloud-based developer portal.
  • ACI Worldwide and Vocalink partner to provide real-time payments solution.
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews Tom Burgess, Linkable Networks founder and CEO.
  • Visions FCU signs with MX for money-management app.
  • Zopa releases its first-ever rating of a batch of securitized Zopa loans.
  • Sezzle Wins $10,000 from Securian in Minnesota Cup Startup Competition.
  • Aurionpro joins Temenos MarketPlace.
  • OnDeck launches marketing campaign featuring Shark Tank judge Barbara Corcoran.
  • RightCapital launches Leads, a tool to help financial advisers turn leads into clients.

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.

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