Alumni News — Week of July 18, 2011

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ChargeSmart 
AOL’s Daily Finance highlighted Chargesmart’s secondary gift card market that allows 

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consumers to pay for bills in exchange for gift cards. Link
CheckFree 
Family Wealth Report stated that CheckFree is leading the way in UMA processing. Link
Credit Karma 
  • CBS Money Watch discussed Credit Karma’s data on America’s debt. Link
  • Fox Business News listed Credit Karma’s credit score simulator tool as a 15-minute fix for your credit score. Link
doxo 
Practical Ecommerce listed doxo as one of 17 apps for productivity. Link
Dwolla  
  • Dwolla hit $1 million in payments per day and Ben Milne, CEO, shared a sneak peak of future plans. Link
  • Ace Community Credit Union provided customers with access to Dwolla through its site.
  • Dwolla CEO Ben Milne explained why starting a business in Iowa isn’t hard. Link
  • Dwolla introduced a new Autoload feature. Link
  • Dwolla was listed on The Next Web as one of eight awesome ways to pay with your phone. Link
eToro 
eToro Partners began testing a new foreign exchange affiliate tool called Custom Links. Link
Expensify 
  • The Info.rmatics blog testified to Expensify’s ease of use. Link
  • ipCommerce showcased Expensify’s innovation. Link
GoalMine 

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Mango Money added GoalMine to its list of services. Link
HelpMyCash 
HelpMyCash revamped its website to be more consumer-friendly. Link
IDTheft 911
Barnstable County Mutual Insurance Company selected Identity Theft 911 for its LifeStages service. Link
iPay Technologies 
TechCrunch reported that Bill Ready, former President of iPay Technologies, joined Accel Partners as an Executive in Residence. Link
Lending Club 
  • ATM Options discussed seven good reasons to invest through Lending Club. Link
  • Netbanker discussed Lending Club’s record high growth. Link
Lendio 
  • Lendio added TAB Bank to its network of lenders. Link
  • Reuters reported that Swift Capital and Lendio partnered to help small businesses. Link
mFoundry 

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  • American Banker considered Bank of America’s recent investment in mFoundry. Link
  • Credit Union Journal discussed Colombia Credit Union’s adoption of mFoundry’s mobile banking. Link
Mint.com
  • Mint.com introduced a manual transactions feature for its iPhone app. Link
  • TechCrunch reported Mint.com’s debut of a new feature that tracks bills and sends reminders. Link
Monitise 
  • Monitise signed over 6,000 users in Nigeria to a mobile payments trial. Link
  • TechMarketView discussed Monitise’s financial success. Link
peerTransfer 
Yahoo! Finance reported peerTransfer’s growth in international student payment processing. Link
Prosper 
  • Netbanker discussed Prosper’s record high growth. Link
  • Prosper raised its interest rates by 2.5 percent. Link
SmartyPig 
SmartyPig introduced its back-to-school cash giveaway contest. Link
ThreatMetrix 
ThreatMetrix announced its upcoming user conference October 9th through 10th. Link
TradeKing 
TradeKing launched a new video series to help consumers understand options trading. Link
Tyfone 

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Oregonlive.com described Tyfone as a major player in mobile payments. Link
Wikinvest 
Forex Promos shared an interview with Mike Sha, Wikinvest CEO. Link
Xero 
Reuters reported that Xero agreed to acquire Paycycle, a payroll company. Link

Zecco 
Wealth Building Tips and Strategies blog shared Zecco’s options trading video series. Link
ZimpleMoney 
ZimpleMoney adjusted its services in response to the Dodd-Frank reform. Link

PayPal and Cortera Take Charge in May’s Web Traffic

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of our alums, using data from Web-analytics company Compete to review the sites they operate. 

Out of 255 alumni, 62 (24%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in May 2011 (see tables below). Of the 62 reviewed, 25 (40%) had fewer visitors than in the previous month and 28 (45%) saw a decline year-over-year.

Private Companies
The 44 private companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

  • Cortera saw the highest number of unique U.S. visitors in May, with almost 2 million hits.
  • HelloWallet experienced the greatest month-over-month growth, with more than four times as many visitors.
  • Betterment saw its traffic increase an impressive 38 times from May of last year.

Private Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011

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Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

Public Companies
The 18 public companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

  • PayPal experienced the highest number of U.S. visitors in May, with over 32 million visitors.
  • TransUnion Interactive saw the highest month-over-month growth with more than two times the number of visitors in May than in April.
  • Sybase 365 experienced the highest year-over-year growth, with its traffic up almost 80% from last year.

Public Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011 

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Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

_____________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 255 unique sites. Data was unavailable or irrelevant for 201 sites because: 

  • They had been acquired.
  • They were no longer available online.
  • They were not covered by Compete for various reasons (including some that were not U.S. domestic companies).
  • The number of unique visits was too small to be considered accurate.
  • They were subdomains of larger websites.

2. Numbers have been rounded to three significant digits.

3. The charts include companies that did not have measurable traffic in May 2011, indicated by “N/A.”

4. Compete draws its information from the online activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic, and may undercount at-work usage.

Alumni News — Week of June 27, 2011

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ActivePath
A top Brazilian card issuer implemented an ActivePath solution. Link
AlphaClone
AlphaClone incorporated new sentiment scores into its stock view pages. Link
Bills.com
Bills.com released the results from its Consumer Money Survey that gauges money attitudes and behaviors. Link
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Blaze Mobile
Blaze Mobile was awarded a patent for NFC on stickers. Link
BOKU
BOKU released 1-Tap Mobile Billing for the Android and took it live in 56 countries. Link
Braintree
Braintree received $34M in Series A funding from Accel. Link
Currensee

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Reuters outlined the benefits of Currensee. Link
Credit Karma
Credit Karma CEO Ken Lin advised consumers how they should deal with credit card offers. Link
doxo 
doxo won the Stevie Award for New Product of the Year for financial services in the 2011 American Business Awards. Link
Dwolla
Dwolla said its Grid payment network is more secure than Visa and MasterCard’s card networks. Link
Dynamics
Dynamics raised $35M for computerized smartcards and payment systems. Link
eToro

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Reuters outlined the benefits of eToro. Link
eWise
gotoBilling, Inc. added eWise’s Secure Vault Payments as another payment platform. Link
Expensify
The Wall Street Journal listed Expensify as a must-have mobile tech tool for entrepreneurs. Link
Fiserv
Fiserv entered into an agreement to acquire CashEdge for $465 million to advance its digital payments and channel strategies. Link

Guardian Analytics

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Yahoo! Finance reported that Guardian Analytics’ FraudMAP is helping financial institutions meet FFIEC guidelines. Link
HelloWallet
HelloWallet was added to Mercer’s Outsourcing business benefits administration. Link
Intuit
Intuit purchased Mobile Money Ventures’ web banking technology to augment its mobile banking capabilities. Link
Kony Solutions

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The American Business Awards selected Kony Solutions as the Most Innovative Company of the YearLink
Lendio
The Launch blog highlighted Lendio. Link
Outright
Outright rolled out a new report function allowing clients to view sales by state. Link
PayPal
PayPal reached 100 million active users. Link

Profit Stars
Profit Stars introduced its new Remote Deposit Anywhere solution. Link
Prosper
  • Former Lending Club director Joseph Toms joined Prosper as its Chief Investment Officer. Link
  • The San Francisco Times reported on Prosper’s growth. Link
Q2ebanking

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Q2ebanking was noted as a service to help community financial institutions meet FFIEC Guidance. Link
SimpleTuition
SimpleTuition expanded its student loan payment options by partnering with Discover Card. Link
SmartyPig
SmartyPig was recommended by Mint.com as a way to save for impulse purchases. Link
TradeKing
TradeKing implemented SunGard’s MarketMap to deliver market data to its active trading platform. Link
UBank
Mashable highlighted UBank’s feedback forum. Link
Voice Commerce
Voice Commerce launched a payment solution for the iPhone. Link
Wikinvest

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PC mag reviewed Wikinvest’s mobile app. Link
Xero
Tech Day assessed Xero’s Debtor Daddy service. 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 Updates — Week of April 18, 2011

To follow updates from Finovate alumni companies in real time, be sure to follow us on Twitter.
 
Backbase extends content services offerings. Backbase CMS is available as an add-on module. http://bit.ly/finovate420112
BancVue launched “Money Island,” an educational game for children to be offered by banks and financial institutions. https://demo.moneyisland.com/
BillFloat partners with Online Resources to offer small-dollar loans to biller clients. Online Resources will now offer BillFloat as a payment option. http://bit.ly/finovate418112
Doxo signs Oregon Federal Employees Credit Union (OFECU). Members will be able to receive statements and banking documents via the service. http://bit.ly/finovate421111
Dwolla will provide an online payments option at Tikly, an online ticketing startup  expected to launch within the next thirty days. http://bit.ly/finovate418113
eToro surpasses 1.5 million users. The company cites the growth of thousands of members joining per day since the launch of eToro’s social platform, OpenBook. http://prn.to/finovate421113
PayPal and Discover partner on person-to-person payments. Rollout begins this week for Discover’s person-to-person payments system. http://bit.ly/finovate42112
Several Finovate Alumni firms have been nominated for Webby awards. Good luck to Lending Club, Mint, Billeo and Kashoo. http://bit.ly/finovate420116
SmartyPig eliminates redemption fees. Transferring SmartyPig savings account funds to a retailer gift card is now free. http://bit.ly/finovate418111
Yodlee partners with Boursorama to provide Money Center service. Boursorama customers will receive the Money Center PFM service free of charge. http://bit.ly/finovate420115

Alumni News — Week of April 4, 2011

To see our Alumni companies’ updates in real time, follow us on Twitter

eWise officially relocates from Australia to Denver, Colorado. http://bit.ly/finovate44114
Fiserv and Cardlytics partner for merchant-funded in-statement rewards. http://bit.ly/finovate45112.   See last month’s Online Banking Report for more info.
Southwest Louisiana Credit Union joins Kasasa with fun and games on April Fools’ Day. SLCU has served the Lake Charles, LA, region since 1952. http://bit.ly/finovate45111 
Mint introduces mobile advice for iPhone. The feature will come to the Android app this summer. http://bit.ly/finovate44111
SmartyPig launched a free mobile app for Android. http://bit.ly/Finovate44112
Follow the markets through the StockTwits blog network. Users can follow more than 40 profiles in StockTwits network. http://bit.ly/finovate45113

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 17, 2011

To see Finovate alumni company news in real-time, follow our feed on Twitter here
Acculynk brings PaySecure PIN security to mobile devices. – The mobile PIN payment system should be available to consumers in first quarter 2011. http://bit.ly/finovate119113
AlphaClone is mentioned on Wall Street Journal front page article, “Pack Mentality Grips Hedge Funds.” – The story ran Jan 15, 2011 and details the similar strategies in hedge fund management. http://bit.ly/finovate118113
Backbase opens a New York City office to house field operations staff and help to serve East Coast financial institutions. http://bit.ly/finovate117112
Bill.com partners with Track1099 for easy, paperless IRS-1099 filing. – Users can report independent contractor payments in two easy steps direct from their bill.com page. http://bit.ly/finovate118112
iPay Technologies launches Biz 2.0 Crossover to help small businesses convert to business online bill payment. – The system identifies businesses using consumer online bill pay and targest them for upgrade to the business version. http://bit.ly/finovate119111
Kasasa adds Neighborhood Credit Union to the fold. – NCU is the largest credit union in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. http://bit.ly/finovate117114
Kony solutions raises $19.1 million for mobile application platform. – Kony creates mobile applications for numerous industries including banking and investments. http://tcrn.ch/finovate119115
Frost and Sullivan names mFoundry “Entrepreneurial Company of the Year” in the mobile banking category. http://bit.ly/finovate121114
Mint and TurboTax team up to make taxes easier. – Mint allows for tagging of deductible transactions and free e-filing via Turbo Tax. http://bit.ly/finovate121111
SilverTail Systems is hosting a Webinar on Jan 27 covering the differences between ecommerce and online financial Fraud. — http://bit.ly/finovate117111
SmartyPig’s cash rewards card wins Paybefore award twice. – Congratulations to Smartypig for winning in two categories, “best general purpose reloadable program” and “best consumer value in prepaid.” http://bit.ly/finovate12112
Joseph Leone, former vice chairman and CFO of CIT Group, joins the board of advisors at The Receivables Exchange. – Leone is a nationally recognized expert in commercial lending.  http://bit.ly/finovate118111

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 December 13 and 20, 2010

To see Finovate news updates in real-time, follow our feed on Twitter

Backbase explores mobile banking in its fall webinar series. http://bit.ly/finovate1293

BlazeMobile creates smart payments sticker.http://bit.ly/finovate12133

BrightScope releases top 30 retirement plans. http://bit.ly/finovate12143

Capital Access special report on “Black Friday” and small business sales data. http://bit.ly/finovate1282   

SunTrust has added the “Transfer Now” product suite from CashEdge including person-to-person and me-to-me transfers. http://bit.ly/finovate12165

ClairMail and Cardlytics partner to provide transaction marketing opportunities. http://bit.ly/finovate1281 

Expensify is hiring for multiple positions. – The company is currently looking for Web developers and computer engineers at several levels. http://bit.ly/finovate1216

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

Geezeo selected by University Federal Credit Union as PFM provider. http://bit.ly/finovate12151

GoalMine hosting cash contest via Facebook to spread the word. http://bit.ly/finovate1292

Kapitall closes series A funding round. — The company did not release funding amounts or sources. http://bit.ly/finovate12163

Kasasa on “green” community banking. — See what a green bank looks like. http://bit.ly/finovate12132

Seventy percent of US Airlines have migrated to Kony Mobile-powered travel apps. http://bit.ly/finovate12142

Lending Club featured in San Fransisco Chronicle, Black Enterprise, and PBS. http://bit.ly/finovate12131

mFoundry deploys Washington Trust Bank’s mobile banking app. — This makes 260 customers so far using the mFoundry mobile applications. http://bit.ly/finovate12161

Congratulations to Mint founder, Aaron Patzer, winner of a TechFellow Award for General Management. http://tcrn.ch/finovate1296

Mozo powering new “Compare, Ditch and Switch” campaign. — The services allows 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

SmartyPig launches cash rewards card with only a one-time activation fee of $4.95. http://bit.ly/finovate12134

Victrio receives $5 million investment for voice-printing technology. http://bit.ly/finovate12141

2010 Saw 40-Fold Growth in the Number of Financial Institution iPhone Apps

image As hard as it is to believe, last year at this time only 30 financial institutions had apps in the U.S. iTunes App Store (note 1). And that was a full 18 months after Apple’s phone had opened its OS to third-party programs. A few in the industry still questioned whether smaller banks and credit unions would ever need a native iPhone app.

I think that question has been answered: In the past 12 months, the total financial institution app-count has rocketed upwards to more than 1,200, a 40-fold increase. That’s 100 new apps per month for the past 12 months.

In raw numbers, the past seven days have been relatively unremarkable with just 17 new FI apps. But it’s been one of the biggest weeks in terms of major launches:

  • BofA Merrill Lynch research library for iPad only (note 4; iTunes)
  • Capital One, whose app was released on Sunday, went to #5 Monday and is up to #4 when I checked a few minutes ago (see inset; note 2; iTunes)
  • NetSpend (iTunes)
  • Schwab, both v1 of its iPhone app (iTunes) and an iPad version of its On Investing magazine (iTunes)
  • SmartyPig (pending Apple approval)
  • Stanford Federal Credit Union, which used a striking background for its app home page (see below; iTunes)

imageAnd while it’s not nearly as crucial as the iPhone, we are waiting for a slew of iPad apps. Apparently, BBVA Compass demo’ed a cool unreleased iPad app at a mobile conference (note 4). And just today, Schwab released its monthly magazine in iPad format, an industry first.

——–

Notes:
1. See Online Banking Report #176, Table 18 (link subscription required)
2. Rank is of free apps in the Finance category in the U.S. store. The apps above it are #1 Bank of America, #2 Chase, #3 PayPal
3. HT David Eads in Mobile Manifesto
4. At the same conference as note 3, Bank of America revealed it hit the 6-million mark in active mobile banking users.

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.