Alumni News– October 24, 2014

  • Smarty Pig featured in Washington Post column on ways to save on holiday gift shopping.
  • Wealth Management.com talks with Motif Investing CEO Hardeep Walia on tech trends in the financial services industry.
  • TransferWise and CurrencyFair are highlighted in Forbes review of ways to save on foreign currency exchange.
  • Bob’s Guide profiles cloud-based market data provider, Xignite.
  • Technology Tools for Today interviews Tom Nally, president of TD Ameritrade Institutional.
  • Pymnts interviews EVO Snap* CEO Peter Osberg about Apple Pay.
  • Fitsmallbusiness.com highlights OnDeck, PayPal, & other Finovate alums as small business lending innovators.
  • D3 Banking brings in $7 million, with $3 million more on the way.
  • ABA Banking Journal looks at Karrot, the automated online lending service demoed by Kabbage last month at FinovateFall 2014.
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.

TransferWise Announces Redesign, Takes on Banks in First National TV Ad

TransferWise Announces Redesign, Takes on Banks in First National TV Ad
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When we last looked at international money transfer innovator, TransferWise, the company was on the receiving end of a major investment from the likes of Sir Richard Branson, and Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.

Today we are happy to see some of that capital put to work.

TransferWise has announced a major redesign, including a new national television ad. Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of TransferWise, noted that part of the challenge for startups like his are a “handful of major players” who dominate retail banking in the U.K. 

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This forces companies like TransferWise to come up with new, innovative ways to attract customers from the brand names they’ve grown up with.
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To this end, TransferWise’s makeover comes in three parts: web, design, and mobile. The website has been streamlined to speed customer onboarding and make the interface more intuitive. And a new logo has been designed to help distinguish the company’s brand from traditional money transfer organizations like banks and brokers.

But the most exciting part of the redesign are the changes on the mobile side. TransferWise is now optimized for iOS8 for iPhone 6, iPhone 6+, and the iPad. This includes what the company calls “deep integration” with the iPhone contact book.
“We believe that just being a little better isn’t enough,” added Hinrikus. “So we strive to offer something that’s ten times easier, faster, and better than the banks to make mainstream consumers of alternative finance providers like us.”
This leads us to what might be the most talked about aspect of TransferWise’s redesign: the company’s cheeky new TV spot. TransferWise’s first national television ad humorously features a “Wolf of Wall Street” like banker walking through his offices and lightheartedly lamenting the rise of TransferWise. 
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TransferWise was founded in March 2010 and is headquartered in London. The company demoed its technology at FinovateEurope 2013. See a video of their demo here.

Alumni News– September 3, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgCortera announces Caine & Weiner as the Latest Open Receivables’ Partner to Join Network.
  • Personal Capital launches Private Client Service. Come see Personal Capital’s presentation at FinDEVr in San Francisco Sept 30 and Oct 1.
  • Blackhawk Network announces integration with Google Wallet.
  • Nutmeg, TransferWise featured in Growth Business’ look at the top 10 technology venture capital investments of Q2.
  • ValidSoft wins 4th European Privacy Seal award for its Zero Latency Correlation process.
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.

Alumni News– August 8, 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.jpgTransferWise earns a spot on Wired UK’s list of the “100 hottest start-ups” in Europe for 2014.
  • TMC Net takes a look at CU of America’s deployment of mobile banking solutions from Malauzai Software. See Malauzai at FinovateFall 2014 in New York.
  • First Access Funding Corporation to deploy loan origination system (LOS) from defi SOLUTIONS.
  • MasterCard Indonesia launches e-commerce initiative.
  • Intuit acquires PaySuite, bringing cloud-based payroll services to Quickbooks.
  • American Banker: Authentify introduces extension of xFA called Smart Choice to determine authentication mechanisms the user’s device has access to.
  • Cachet Financial Solutions and Contact Solutions bring Mobile Customer Care to Prepaid Clients.
  • CNBC looks at how LearnVest, Tuition.io, and ReadyForZero are making student loan payback easier.
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 Alums Raise More than $600 Million for Second Quarter in a Row

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In the first quarter of 2014, 23 Finovate alums raised more than $592 million

And as the second quarter draws to a close, it’s clear that a comparable cohort of alums have kept the pace.

Over the course April, May, and June, 28 alums raised significant amounts of capital ranging from Gremln’s $100,000 to the $65 million raised by Lending Club. The quarterly total of $594 million is almost exactly the same as the previous quarter.

And given that some amounts are undisclosed (I’m talking about you, Holvi, RevolutionCredit, and Tuition.io), we’re confident that Finovate alums have notched their second $600 million fund-raising quarter in a row.
How does this compare with the less recent past? Very well, indeed. 
In the second quarter of 2013, 15 alums raised more than $200 million. This was a major improvement on the second quarter from 2012, which featured 14 companies raising more than $120 million. 
Total raised for Q2 2014 = $594 million
April — $217 million raised by 11 companies
May —  $226 million raised by 11 companies
June — $151 million raised by six companies

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

Alumni News– June 23, 2014

  • CEOs and founders from eToro, BehavioSec, TransferWise, The Currency Cloud, and Nutmeg earn spots on FN’s 40 fintech leaders list.
  • Bill Harris, Personal Capital CEO, featured on CNBC to Personal Capital and how it differs from robo-advisors.
  • Investment News looks at the humans behind FutureAdvisor’s robo-advisors.
  • Betterment adds municipal bonds asset class to make client’s non-IRA portfolios more efficient.
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.

Alumni News– June 18, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgThreatMetrix integrates with Ping Identity’s PingFederate ID bridge to provide contextual employee authentication.
  • Kony brings in $50 Million in Financing Led by SoftBank Capital.
  • Eight Finovate alums earn spots on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list: Motif Investing, TransferWise, Personal Capital, Wealthfront, Lending Club, Coinbase, Bill.com, and Betterment.
  • Umpqua Bank announces plans to transition to a scalable core solution from FIS.
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.

Eight Alums Earn Spots on CNBC’s Disruptor 50

Eight Alums Earn Spots on CNBC’s Disruptor 50
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Hats off to eight Finovate alumni for winning spots on CNBC’s Disruptor 50.

2014 marks the second year of CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list. The selection credits companies for being “forward-thinking” and working to discover untapped markets en route to becoming “billion-dollar businesses.” Read more about CNBC’s selection methodology here.
CNBC’s David Spiegel wrote: 
“All of these companies entered traditional sectors and turned them upside down … It’s the power of a company to displace the established incumbents in its own industry, prompting a ripple effect throughout its economic ecosystem.”

See CNBCs inaugural Disruptor 50 here. The 2013 list included alums boku, CircleUp, Lending Club, and Wealthfront.

TransferWise Announces $25 Million Investment; Support from Sir Richard Branson

TransferWise Announces $25 Million Investment; Support from Sir Richard Branson

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Many fintech startups have an impressive array of informed investors backing them up. But not every fintech startup can cite the support of a knight.

Along with Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Index Ventures, and addition investors, Sir Richard Branson has thrown his financial support behind TransferWise, the P2P money transfer specialist. Branson’s investment, along with that of his fellow investors, means that TransferWise now sits with $33 million in total funding.

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Branson said in a statement, “Financial services such as foreign exchange have been ripe for disruption for decades, and it’s great to see TransferWise bring transparency to the market.”
According to reporting in TechCrunch, TransferWise plans to put the capital to use adding talent and intensifying marketing efforts. Said TransferWise CEO Taavet Hinrikus, “We’re going to use this money to lead the charge against hidden bank fees and expose the problem to a wider audience.”
The company has backed up this talk with a tough (Hinrikus calls it “cheeky”) ad campaign that directly takes on the idea of bad bank behavior when it comes to hidden charges and fees. The ad has been somewhat controversial in the U.K., to say the very least.
TransferWise was recently in the news announcing that it had surpassed £1 billion in cumulative total volume of cash transferred across the border since May 2013. The company provides P2P money transfer services in more than 175 countries. TransferWise’s reliance on P2P technology is one of the company’s biggest edges on its competition, helping lower costs and provide money transfers to consumers that are less expensive than similar services offered by banks.
Founded in March 2010, TransferWise was most recently on the Finovate stage as part of our conference in London in 2013. See a demo of the company’s technology at work here.

Alumni News– June 10, 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.jpgFinovate Alums LendingRobot and Wallaby Among 2014 Innotribe New York Winners.
  • TransferWise Announces $25 Million Investment; Support from Sir Richard Branson.
  • Top Image Systems and Cintas Document Management form technology partnership to provide advanced BPO solutions.
  • PayPal President David Marcus leaves for Facebook job.
  • Arxan Technologies will now be sold by IBM as part of its portfolio of security products.
  • Insuritas signs Florida-based Tyndall FCU ($1.1 billion in assets) to provide insurance options to its almost 100,000 members.
  • P2Binvestor reaches $2 million in deals over the past 2 months after providing funding to Colorado-based beverage company.
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– June 2, 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.jpgTop Image Systems partners with K2 to blend capture and mobile imaging technology with BPM.
  • On Deck reports $3.4 billion, $22K job impact on economy courtesy of its small business lending platform.
  • Eurasian Bank to deploy mobile banking technology developed by Monitise Create.
  • MasterCard launches MasterPass in Singapore.
  • Forbes features Xero, looks at why it will keep growing.
  • Finextra considers how The FCA plans to foster UK fintech innovation companies like Monitise, TransferWise, and Nutmeg
  • Apple opens TouchID to third parties,
    shows TouchID login example using Mint app in iOS 8 demo.

  • Dashlane reaches two million users milestone.

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.

TransferWise Hits £1 Billion Mark for P2P Cross Border Money Transfers

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In the eleven months since May 2013, TransferWise has seen its cumulative total volume of cash transferred cross-border climb from just over £100 million to £1 billion.

Based in London, TransferWise provides peer-to-peer money transfer services in more than 175 different currencies. The platform works by connecting people looking to transfer money from Country A to Country B, with people looking to make the exact opposite transfer.

TransferWise has raised more than $7 million since its founding in 2010. The lion’s share of the capital has come from a Series A round almost a year ago led by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.
Said TransferWise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus of the newly-reached milestone: “it shows how much people need modern financial services – something where it is modern, fast and cheap.”
Speaking of modern, fast and cheap, TransferWise is also announcing the launch of its Android app. Said Hinrikus, “there is much more that money on mobile should mean to people and ways they can be in control.”
The latest news from TransferWise shows how the currency transfer business has heated up. Companies like CurrencyFair and Azimo, both Finovate alums also, have announced reaching significant milestones or raising significant VC capital in recent weeks, as well. And now, even more attention is being paid to companies like these as potential partnership with Facebook, should the social networking innovator act on rumors that it is getting into the money transfer game.
TransferWise demoed its technology as part of the FinovateEurope show in 2013. See the company in action here.