Finovate Alums Raise $600 Million in First Quarter of 2014

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Want some context on the torrid pace of fintech financing in the first three months of 2014?

Consider this: a year ago, fourteen Finovate alums raised a total of more than $150 million in the first quarter of 2013.

A year later, we have just nine alums raising more than twice as much in the month of March alone.

March Madness, indeed.
Q1 of 2014 saw 23 Finovate alums walk away with just under $600 million in capital. The biggest haul of the quarter came courtesy of Klarna, which raised more than $125 million. 
But there were plenty of similarly impressive fundraisings, including the $85 million raised by Credit Karma, and the $77 million and $75 million secured by OnDeck and Tradeshift, respectively.
Total raised = More than $592 million
January — $91 million raised by seven companies
February — $139 million raised by seven companies
March — $362 million raised by nine companies

Note: Funding prior to becoming a Finovate alum not included. Questions? Comments? Email us at David@finovate.com or Julie@finovate.com

SmartAsset Brings in $5.2 Million in Series A Financing Round

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The team at SmartAsset, a company that aims to answer consumers’ complex financial questions, has been busy lately. Not only are they preparing their 7-minute demo for FinovateSpring next month, they also recently launched a retirement planning tool, and this week announced they just closed on $5.2 million.

The Series A financing round was led by Javelin Venture Partners. Denis Grosz, SV Angel and Brendan Wallace, founder of Identified, also contributed.

SmartAsset plans to use the round to grow its New York-based team by around a dozen new employees and expand its platform’s capability to give users more control of their financial future.

To see SmartAsset’s newest tech and meet the innovators behind the platform, don’t miss its live demo at FinovateSpring.

Finovate Alumni News — March 25, 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.jpgEleven Finovate alums win awards at PYMNTS Innovation Project 2014.
  • Bazaarvoice announces partnership with Spredfast.
  • TechCrunch: Wealthfront, OnDeck, Lending Club, Credit Karma, Betterment, and Kapitall “come of age.”
  • CMS Wire reviews Backbase’s customer experience platform.
  • Top Image Systems’ eFLOW to process the digital census of a country in EMEA in a deal worth more than $1 million.
  • Place2Give releases GIVE-API to provide access to its database of charities as well as its payment processing tech.
  • SmartAsset raises $5.2 million in series A funding. Come see their live demo at FinovateSpring next month in San Jose.
  • Netherlands Queen Maxima visits Entrepreneurial Finance Lab (EFL) to see its psychometric credit scoring methodology in action.
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 17, 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.jpgrplan announces new “simple, transparent” charging structure.
  • Crypt.la lists its top 10 most interesting Ripple protocol services.
  • Tech Cocktail Austin interviews Dwolla COO, Charise Flynn.
  • SmartAsset launches Retirement Planning Tool, Announces 40% Month-Over-Month Growth.
  • The Tally focuses on India-based Heckyl Technologies.
  • Zopa embraces ThoughtWorks technology to improve data analysis capability.
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.

SmartAsset Launches Retirement Planning Tool, Announces 40% Month-Over-Month Growth

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SmartAsset, which originally launched as a tool for home buying, is making its platform more robust this week with the launch of its retirement planning tool.

The New York-based company, which has a user base that’s growing by 40% month-over-month, aims to bring transparency to retirement by giving users personalized answers to their questions about implications of taxes and social security.

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What’s most notable about the launch is the partnership with eTrade, which provides resources and tools for SmartAsset users.

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SmartAsset will be launching its latest development at FinovateSpring next month in San Jose. To see the live demo on stage, get your ticket here to join our audience.