FinovateSpring 2015 Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateSpring 2015 Best of Show Winners Announced

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Going into this year’s tally of FinovateSpring 2015 ballots, it was anybody’s guess which companies had won the hearts and minds of our attendees and would take home one of our coveted Best of Show awards.

But after two days of great demonstrations of the latest in fintech innovation from companies near and far, the votes are in, and we want to be among the first to congratulate those startups and industry veterans whose technologies wowed our record-setting crowd at the City National Civic in San Jose, Calif., this week.

Congratulations to the Best of Show winners for FinovateSpring 2015, listed in alphabetical order:

AlphaPaymentsCloudLogoAlpha Payments Cloud, for AlphaHub, its omnichannel access platform that helps banks, merchants, MSPs, and ISOs gain access to any solution-provider in the world.

 

Avoka_logo_VectAvoka, for Avoka Transact for Financial Services, which combines social, cloud services, and crowdsourcing into the world’s fastest credit card application.

 

 

FS2015_MoneyAmigo_logoMoney Amigo, for its technology that brings financial services to the underbanked and underserved, delivering traditional banking products in an innovative way.

 

MovenMoven, for its Moven Financial Health Platform, providing real-time contextualized notifications and interactions that create “gamified money moments.”

 

FS15_NAMU_logoNAMU Systems, for its “Joyful Banking” which uses new and intelligent behavior-modeling to focus on customer behavior and digital experiences to create a new standard in mobile banking.

 

 

Shoeboxed logo copyShoeboxed, for its Receipt Capture for Banks solution, which boosts the functionality of online and mobile banking apps while providing fraud protection.

 

STRATOS_ID_10.07.14Stratos, for its dynamic Stratos Bluetooth Connected Card and Digital Card Issuance Platform that analyzes card-usage trends and interactively engages card members.

We hope you enjoyed the show! As always, thanks to everyone who attended and participated in FinovateSpring 2015. We’ll see you next year!


Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The seven companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners.

Stratos’ Bluetooth Connected Card Digitizes the Card Issuance System

Stratos’ Bluetooth Connected Card Digitizes the Card Issuance System

This post is part of our live coverage of FinovateSpring 2015.

StratosLogoStratos debuted its digital card issuance platform:

Stratos is reinventing your wallet and cards like the iPod and iTunes reinvented your CD collection. Stratos consolidates your debit, credit, loyalty and gift cards into one dynamic card. Stratos Card works in conjunction with Stratos Digital Card Issuance Platform which will debut virtual card issuance, allowing cards to be downloaded instantly, digitizing the physical fulfillment system that issues billions of cards in the U.S. The platform analyzes card-usage trends and interactively engages card members. Stratos works with the mobile lockscreen, making real-time location or history-based suggestions, and offers patented security card-lockdown and insights for a superior customer experience. Its dual stripe technology ensures 100% compatibility with existing card-acceptance infrastructure.

Presenters: Co-founders Thiago Olson, CEO; Henry Balanon, CTO

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Product Launch: The Stratos Card began shipping to consumers in April 2015; however, the Stratos Digital Card Issuance Platform is being announced and demonstrated for the first time at FinovateSpring 2015.

Metrics: Stratos has raised over $7M in funding to-date. The company has more than 50 employees, contractors, consultants and overseas manufacturing teams.
Product distribution strategy: Direct to Consumer (B2C), Direct to Business (B2B)

HQ: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Founded: 2012
Website: stratoscard.com
Twitter: @StratosCard

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • MX Raises $30 Million in Series A Investment

Around the web

  • Encap Security to support Samsung fingerprint scanner as part of version 3.0 of its Smarter Authentication technology. See Encap at FinovateSpring 2015 next month in San Jose.
  • Dutch banking group ABN AMRO to deploy wealth-management solution, WealthSuite, from Temenos.
  • Top Image Systems wins recognition at 2015 IT Innovation Awards (IT Innovationspreis) for MobiPAY.
  • PayPal partners with Tillster, an online ordering platform.
  • Green Dot names MasterCard its exclusive transaction processor and network gateway.
  • American Banker: New Moves by Coinbase, Ripple Advance Digital Money Tech.
  • Currency Cloud appoints former Deutsche Bank CIO, Mitchel Lenson, as a non-executive director.
  • IP Commerce launches new version of Commerce Sync to automatically transfer sales info from a POS system or e-commerce solution into accounting software on a daily basis.
  • InComm partners with Russian internet giant Mail.Ru Group.
  • Stratos now shipping its all-in-one smart credit card. Come see Stratos at FinovateSpring in San Jose.
  • Open Source Project.com features Open Bank Project.

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.

 

 

FinovateSpring 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 2

FinovateSpring 2015 Sneak Peek: Part 2

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FinovateSpring 2015 is just over a month away. Our annual spring conference returns to San Jose, 12/13 May for two days of live demos of the latest in fintech innovation.

Today we introduce you to another seven companies that will be on stage presenting their technical solutions to some of the financial community’s biggest challenges—from improving engagement through mobile and social channels to improving security and reducing friction for business and individual consumers.

Be sure to check out Part 1 of our Sneak Peek series featuring Alpha Payments Cloud, CUneXus, DRAFT, FundAmerica, SayPay, StockViews, and TrueAccord, as well.

Tickets are going fast. Register today and save your spot at our second Finovate show in San Jose.


Bento_logo_box_snaggit_resizeBento for Business provides financial solutions that fit small businesses, combining the security of a bank with the ease and convenience of a modern technology company.

Features:

  • The Bento Prepaid Commercial MasterCard provides small business owners with controls, such as where, when, and how much their employees can spend without putting their owners’ personal credit at risk.

Why it’s great
Bento’s solutions are designed to save owners time and help eliminate expense ‘leaks,’ a type of fraud that can cost them up to 5% of their revenue each year.

Presenters

Bento_FAhamd_cropFarhan Ahmad, Co-founder and CEO

Ahmad was formerly managing director at Barclays and the global head of emerging payments and prepaid for Discover Financial Services. He has held leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase, Bank One and First USA.
LinkedIn

 

Bento_SAnderson_cropSean Anderson, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer

Anderson was formerly senior director of emerging products at Blackhawk Network, where he built and launched their open API platform, launched an offers platform, and developed a prepaid processing platform.
LinkedIn

 


DoubleNetPay_logo_box_snaggit_resizeDoubleNet Pay automatically pays bills and funds savings goals directly from an employee’s paycheck, eliminating guesswork, late fees, and budgeting hassles.

Features:

  • Seamless integration with major payroll processors
  • Allows an employee to simply snap a picture of a current bill stub
  • Employees can easily create, fund, and redeem custom savings goals

Why it’s great
Bills are paid and savings funded automatically on payday, just like payroll taxes.

Presenters

DoubleNetPay_BCosgray_cropBrian Cosgray, Founder and CEO

Cosgray has spent his entire career in financial services. Working with customers across the economic spectrum convinced him of the need to simplify and automate how people pay bills and save money.
LinkedIn

 

DoubleNetPay_CLaird_cropCody Laird, Co-founder and COO

Laird is a financial technology veteran. Prior to co-founding DoubleNet Pay, Cody spent 21 years with SunTrust Bank helping to design and build their current retail banking platform.
LinkedIn

 

DoubleNetPay_BLevy_cropBret Levy, Co-founder and CTO

Levy has been responsible for the architecture of many innovative, highly scalable software systems, most notably the Scientific Games system that powers most state lotteries.
LinkedIn

 


KarmicLabs_Dash_logoKarmic Labs provides API-based payment and SaaS solutions for card issuance (initially commercial market). Karmic offers Dash, FIS, and also uses Karmic’s APIs to offer its own product to FIs.

Features:

  • Robust API infrastructure for commercial card issuance
  • Payment virtualization layer
  • Creates a marketplace of innovative financial technology and SaaS solutions for the commercial market.

Why it’s great
Karmic labs offers API-based payment and SaaS solutions, of which its first product is Dash; the APIs are also used by FIS, a global leader in banking and payments technology, for its own product to FIs.

Presenters

KarmicLabs_RWeidenmiller_new_small_cropRyan Weidenmiller, CEO

Weidenmiller is an entrepreneur who built a top-ranked venture capital fund in China, now working on Karmic Labs’.
LinkedIn

 

KarmicLabs_CAgerton_crop2Chris Agerton, CTO

Agerton was previously at Google, and was a founding engineer at Pinterest, responsible for developing high-availability architecture at Scribd.
LinkedIn

FIS_TLand_FS15Troy Land, Group Executive of Emerging Commerce, FIS

Land is the group executive of emerging commerce at FIS within the retail payments division; he holds expertise in business and product development.
LinkedIn

 


SizeUp_logoSizeUp: SizeUp FI (financial insitutions) is big-data for small businesses. It enables FIs to provide their customers with business intelligence through the FI’s own website.

Features of SizeUp FI:

  • Enable your FI’s customers to :
    • Compare their business performance with that of industry competitors
    • Find customers, suppliers, and competitors
    • Discover best locations to advertise

Why it’s great
SizeUp FI delivers a deeper business-customer partnership through success assistance; “sticky” client engagement; FI services awareness; and big-data insights that SMEs couldn’t previously access.

Presenters

SizeUp_AUbalde_cropAnatalio Ubalde, CEO and Co-founder

Ubalde is a successful entrepreneur leading Software as a Service (SaaS) ventures focused on data-driven solutions for small businesses and economic development.
LinkedIn

 

SizeUp_TBarron_cropThomas Barron, VP Business Development

Barron has developed corporate partnerships for 15 years from Fortunte 500 companies to 5-person startups. He previously worked at Visa developing strategic partnerships.
LinkedIn

 


Stratos_logo_snaggitfromboxStratos consolidates cards into one dynamic card, making payments secure and smart. Stratos Digital Card Issuance Platform allows cards to download instantly, digitizing physical fulfillment.

Features:

  • Ensures virtual top of wallet, increases consumer engagement and loyalty
  • Provides secure card and wallet data
  • Eliminates costly physical card fulfillment

Why it’s great
Starts card working with Stratos Digital Card Issuance Platform to reinvent, not only your wallet, but also cards—just like the iPod and iTunes reinvented your CD collection.

Presenters

Stratos_TOlson_cropThiago Olson, Co-founder, CEO

Olson worked at CERN and the Department of Defense and is a leader in next generation payments. He graduated with honors in engineering and physics at Vanderbilt.
LinkedIn

 

Stratos_HBalanon_cropHenry Balanon, Co-founder, CTO

Balanon brings technical leadership and expertise to Stratos from his previous experience as co-founder of Detroit Labs, a leading mobile-app agency.
LinkedIn

 


TickerTags_logoTickerTags connects trending social content to investable companies through the monitoring of 250,000+ crowdsourced Tags that have the potential to impact a company’s business.

Features:

  • Track social velocity and sentiment of products/brands driving your investment
  • Create your own Tags to associate with Tickers for personalized trending notifications
  • It’s free

Why it’s great
We are a community-maintained platform intent on democratizing information-flow by evolving new monitoring from view-limited tickers to social -monitored tags.

Presenters

TickerTags_CCamillo_cropChris Camillo, Co-founder, CEO

A pioneer in social arbitrage investing, Camillo’s audited portfolio has averaged 84% annual returns over the past 8 years.
LinkedIn

 


Trulioo_logoTrulioo’s bank-grade AML/KYC identity-verification product, GlobalGateway, enables businesses to perform frictionless ID verification for 3 billion people in more than 40 countries via 140 data sources.

Features:

  • Builds confidence and trust by preventing fraud and identity theft
  • Saves time, money, and resources through automated online ID-checks
  • Eliminates barriers to market entry

Why it’s great
Trulioo’s GlobalGateway provides advanced analytics from cyber and traditional data sources to verify identities online by powering fraud and compliance systems worldwide, increasing trust and safety.

Presenters

Trulioo_SUfford_cropStephen Ufford, Founder, CEO

Ufford has founded four data-focused startups over the last decade while working in the role of CEO. As a serial entrepreneur, he challenges the status quo and if it’s broken, he likes to fix it.
LinkedIn

 

Trulioo_AKvitnitsky_cropAnatoly Kvitnitsky, Director of Corporate Development

With solid startup and corporate experience, Kvitnitsky leads strategic partnerships and data acquisition for Trulioo.
LinkedIn