Uncategorized Archives - Page 9 of 19

Multifactor Authentication Specialist Toopher Acquired by Salesforce

By David Penn Posted on April 2, 2015
Categories: Toopher, Uncategorized

(Left to right): Toopher co-founders CTO Evan Grim and CEO Josh Alexander demonstrated their multifactor authentication technology at FinovateFall 2014.

When word hit the Finovate office that Austin, Texas-based, multifactor authentication specialist Toopher had agreed to be acquired by Salesforce, we all had the same question in mind:

Will Salesforce get the drone too?

What’s certain is that the purchase of Toopher will give the cloud-computing innovator a powerful solution to offer customers looking for multifactor authentication.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Including $200k in debt financing raised in March, Toopher’s total is $3 million.

According to the Austin Business Journal, Toopher’s seven workers will remain in Austin as employees of Salesforce. The Journal also notes that conversations between Toopher and Salesforce began a year ago, with “acquisition discussions” starting in 2015. The company has discontinued selling its own products as it makes the transition (although Toopher’s”pre-acquisition” developer portal remains open).

Writing at the Toopher blog, CEO Josh Alexander explains the move in his typically colorful fashion:

We here at Toopher have a standard question we ask new Toopherarians: ‘If you could have a superpower, what would you choose?’ Even with the normal, attractive archetypes, the most common response from a Toopherarian is to be able to provide even greater levels of security without affecting the user experience.

And with the Salesforce acquisition, Toopher now considers itself appropriately “superpowered.”

Toopher was founded in September 2011 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The company demoed its technology at both FinovateFall 2014 and FinovateFall 2013.

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Finovate Debuts: Asseco SEE Brings Real-time Big Data Processing to Multichannel Banking

By David Penn Posted on April 2, 2015
Categories: Asseco, Uncategorized

In some parts of the world, telecommunications companies have aggressively worked to disrupt financial services. This is very much the case in Central and Southern Europe where companies like Telenor Banka and Asseco SEE have teamed up to address relatively low adoption rates of online and mobile banking, despite the region’s high levels of connectivity.

Along with Telenor Banka, Asseco SEE made its Finovate debut in February 2015 (read Our Finovate Debut post on Telenor Banka here), unveiling their Automated Online Handset loan offer and technology solutions that made it possible. Asseco SEE is the largest provider of proprietary software solutions in the SEE (South Eastern European) region and offers end-to-end solutions that include core banking, multichannel (including ATM), and a fully native mobile app.

Asseco SEE facts:

Founded in 2007
Headquartered in Warsaw, Poland
Asseco SEE has more than 1,400 employees
Piotr Jelenski is President of the Management Board

The story

Asseco’s business lines include production of software solutions for banking, telecommunications and government, complete payment solutions (ATM and PoS implementation and services), as well as system integration.

Asseco SEE’s partnership with Telenor Banka provides a complete end-to-end solution for banking, and also a mature and flexible system that helps identify the right offers at the right time.

In addition, Asseco SEE provides a fully automated process to support the development of new products.

(Left to right): Asseco Group President of the Management Board, Piotr Jelenski, and Telenor banka Chairman of the Executive Committee, Martin Navratil

The solution, in large part, was Asseco’s ASEBA Multichannel Hub. The hub includes services for a variety of channels (web, mobile, ATM, branch, call center, etc.), as well as fundamental business operations that can be integrated with external legacy back-end systems. Thanks to this ability of integrating with external systems, Telenor Bank achieves the kind of “synergy” between telecom and the bank that makes the latter’s service unique: a customized loan offer created from data derived from two different companies.

The future

Asseco SEE is confident that the SEE region will experience the digital transformation of banks that is taking place elsewhere in Europe and around the world. Moreover, the company is confident that it will play a major role in making this happen, saying it has the experience, know-how, and full potential to help banks and other FIs make the transition.

The ASEBA Multichannel Hub is an example of this know-how. By creating an integrated e-banking solution, Asseco SEE has made it possible for banking services to be distributed over alternative channels, e.g., mobile. This provides new opportunities for financial institutions to better engage current customers and attract new ones with more personalized services.

Read our Finovate Debut feature of Asseco SEE’s FinovateEurope 2015 partner, Telenor Banka.

See the live demonstration with Asseco SEE and Telenor Banka from FinovateEurope 2015.

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YapStone Closes $60 Million Debt Financing Deal

By David Penn Posted on April 1, 2015
Categories: Uncategorized

Just a few weeks shy of its Finovate debut, YapStone has secured $60 million in debt funding courtesy of Comerica Bank and Bregal Sagemount. The online- and mobile-payment technology specialist plans to use the capital to support growth in existing markets, as well as to support initiatives in new markets and new verticals.

“Our mission since we founded the company has been to change how the world pays in huge vertical markets,” said YapStone CEO and Chairman Tom Villante. “I strongly believe we’re just scratching the surface.”

Previous to this most recent round, YapStone had raised just over $50 million in equity capital via a venture round in 2009, and another in 2011.

Comerica Bank has had a long relationship with YapStone, more than a decade according to Alan Jepsen, Comerica SVP and managing director for technology and life sciences. Bregal Sagemount, by contrast, is a newer partner. Speaking of his company’s new relationship with YapStone, Clayton Main, head of credit at Bregal Sagemount, says that YapStone has “established itself as the go-to provider for payments in several massive vertical markets and online marketplaces.”

YapStone was founded in 1999, and is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. The company’s platform drives electronic payments for marketplaces such as HomeAway and VRBO, and is used in a variety of verticals ranging from apartment and vacation rentals to nonprofit organizations. The company processes more than $14 billion in payment volume each year, and has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the Fastest Growing Private Companies for each of the last seven years.

Come see and meet YapStone at FinovateSpring 2015 in San Jose. The conference is held 12/13 May 2015. Early bird savings are in effect through Friday, so visit our registration page and save your spot today.

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ReadyForZero Acquired by Avant in Cash and Stock Deal

By David Penn Posted on March 31, 2015
Categories: ReadyForZero, Uncategorized

San Francisco-based debt-management platform ReadyForZero has been acquired by newly rebranded Avant, a direct personal lender out of Chicago. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A FinovateFall 2011 alum, ReadyForZero specializes in helping people pay down personal debt, and includes debt from credit cards, student loans, and mortgages. The company’s platform aggregates the user’s debts, and then recommends a repayment plan. Alerts help debtors stay on track with payment due-date reminders, spend-or-save comparisons, and other notifications. And with regular reporting of on-time payments, the technology helps users bolster their credit scores.

Above: ReadyForZero CEO Rod Ebrahimi presented at FinovateFall 2011 in New York.

ReadyForZero says it has helped users pay down more than $240 million in debt since inception. The service is free, although there are paid premium options that provide features such as credit monitoring and automation. The company partners with Yodlee, Experian and others for data, and has lending partnerships with both Lending Club and Prosper. ReadyForZero was founded in 2010 by Rod Ebrahimi, CEO, and Ignacio Thayer, CTO, and is headquartered in San Francisco. The company has raised a total of $4.8 million in capital as of its latest completed round in 2011.

The acquisition will enable Avant to add ReadyForZero’s debt-management technology to its own big data credit-scoring platform, and move beyond lending toward a more complete consumer finance company. Founded in 2012 as AvantCredit, Avant has funded more than 175,000 personal loans worth more than $400 million, and earned a #6 ranking in Forbes’ America’s Most Promising Company’s list in January. The company has been a magnet for investor capital, raising $225 million from Tiger Global Management and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel last December, giving Avant more than $330 million in equity financing, plus more than $700 million in debt financing.

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Yodlee Launches Business Cash Flow with Forecasting FinApp

By David Penn Posted on March 31, 2015
Categories: Uncategorized, Yodlee

Cloud-based app-innovation platform Yodlee unveiled its Business Cash Flow with Forecasting FinApp today. The technology gives businesses the ability to see and analyze current cash flow, as well as read a forecast of cash flow for the coming three months.

The final app includes three main features:

Cash Flow Chart and Table: Provides graphic and numerical current and forecast cash flow data
Cash Flow Processing Wizard: Enables review of year-over-year data by income and expense, as well as editing of forecasts
Cash Flow Report: Shows actual versus forecast data by category

“Having a strong pulse on cash flow is incredibly critical to the success of business owners,” said Nitin Gupta, Yodlee VP for business banking and global strategic initiatives. “Yodlee’s Cash Flow with Forecasting gives business owners immediate insights into their financial health, allowing them to make more informed spending, investing, and borrowing decisions.”

Above (left to right): Avi Lele, CEO of Stockpile; Jon Petz, product evangelist, Yodlee; and John Bird, product marketing, Yodlee, presented Yodlee’s APInnovation at FinovateFall 2014.

The launch comes on the heels of word that Yodlee will be recognized at the Monarch Innovation Awards for its ability to help “Internet innovators and financial institutions provide state-of-the-art tools to their business customers,” said Irene Waldman, general manager of business services at Yodlee. The Monarch Innovation Awards are sponsored by Barlow Research, and will be presented on April 10th.

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, Yodlee is multiple-winner at Finovate’s Best of Show. The company was most recently on our stage last fall as part of the FinovateFall 2014 conference in New York and, as Yodlee Interactive, presented at FinDEVr San Francisco 2014 last October. Anil Arora is president and CEO.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on March 30, 2015
Categories: Advanced Merchant Payments, Arxan Technologies, Azimo, Bionym, EyeVerify, Holvi, IntelliResponse, Jack Henry, Kashoo, Klarna, Quantopian, SAGE SA, Silanis Technology, Sonavation, Taulia, TIO Networks, TransferWise, Uncategorized

On Finovate.com

“CardFlight Unveils EMV-Ready Chip Readers for SwipeSimple”

Around the web

Sonavation launches its IDKEY biometric security key that uses 3D Surface Scan Ultrasound technology.

CMSWire interviews Michael Laurie, co-founder and VO of product strategy at Silanis Technology.

iExpats takes a look at Azimo in a column on the costs of foreign currency transfers.

Holvi plans expansion to Germany and Austria.

Arxan Technologies Security Solutions architect Matt Clemens talks mobile app security on Federal News Radio.

PaymentsSource’s look at “strange mobile security methods” features EyeVerify and Bionym.

IntelliResponse wins bronze at 9th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.

Jack Henry & Associates to be honored at Cedar Falls Business & Industry Association event.

Now Digital Network reviews Kashoo in column on ways to streamline small business accounting.

Computing U.K. features TransferWise and its use of big data to drive its social media marketing.

Daily Fintech profiles Quantopian.

The CoinFront reports on Klarna’s “experiments” with bitcoin.

AMP Credit Technologies wins “Highly Commended Award for Best Initiative in Financial Inclusion” at the 6th Retail Banker International Asia Trailblazer Awards in Singapore.

TIO Networks now has 1+ million registered members in its direct-to-consumer user base.

Taulia names Cedric Bru as new CEO.

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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i-exceed’s Appzillion Brings Mobile App Dev Platform to Exim Bank

By David Penn Posted on March 27, 2015
Categories: i-exceed, Uncategorized

When we last heard from i-exceed (FinovateAsia 2013), the company had launched a new website to better promote its flagship app development platform, Appzillion.

In the time since, the company has not been idle. In January, i-exceed announced that Indonesian ICT solutions company Telkomsigma will use Appzilllion as its mobile app development platform. This month, i-exceed reported that its Appzillion solution has been used to implement a mobile banking app for Exim Bank, Comoros, Africa.

Managing Director at i-exceed, Joseph John said the new app, which was built and deployed in three months, will help Exim Bank grow faster, increase profitability, and improve customer engagement. The app’s features include fund transfer, balance inquiry, and the ability to request a checkbook. Exim Bank, Comoros is part of Exim Bank, the sixth largest bank in Tanzania with more than one trillion Tanzanian shillings in total assets (more than $700 million USD) as of June 2013.

Above (left to right): i-exceed Executive Director Kapil Gupta and Sudhir Babu, VP Technology, presenting at FinovateAsia 2013.

All this good work has not gone unrecognzed, i-exceed was picked to be one of 50 companies to participate in the InTech 50 2015. InTech 50 is an event that recognizes Indian startups that have shown technological innovation and achievement in the B2B space. Companies will make their five-minute pitches before a live audience, and winners in a variety of categories will be selected in an awards ceremony at the end of the second day.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Bangalore, India, i-exceed has offices in Singapore and the U.S. (New Jersey). See the company’s live demonstration of Appzillion from FinovateAsia 2013.

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LearnVest Acquired by Northwestern Mutual for More than $250 Million

By David Penn Posted on March 27, 2015
Categories: LearnVest, Uncategorized

Three-time Finovate Best of Show-winner LearnVest has agreed to be acquired by insurance giant Northwestern Mutual. As reported in Fortune.com, the company was bought for more than $250 million in cash.

LearnVest CEO and founder Alexa von Tobel said that her company’s acquisition by Northwestern Mutual will only extend her mission to bring “affordable, accessible, and delightful … unbiased financial planning” to a broader range of American households. Von Tobel will remain Chief Executive of the company, which will serve as an independent subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual, maintaining its LearnVest brand.

Above (left to right): LearnVest CEO and founder Alexa von Tobel presenting at FinovateFall 2013 in New York.

LearnVest combines a free, online PFM platform with the opportunity to work with professional, human financial advisors for a one-time set-up fee of $299 and $19/month for ongoing support. Tim Schaefer, executive vice president of operations and technology at Northwestern Mutual said, “We see that from an innovation standpoint, there’s a real opportunity to bring together cutting-edge technology with that human touch.”

And with Learnvest the second big finech acquisition of the week (Kofax being the first), it is all the more interesting to consider the take from Inc.com’s Jeremy Quittner, who suggested that acquisition may sometimes be a preferable “exit strategy” than an IPO for startups. LearnVest had raised $70 million in funding from 15 investors, according to Crunchbase, and was valued at more than a “cool quarter-billion” last spring during its most recent funding round.

LearnVest won Best of Show honors at each of its three Finovate appearances (FinovateFall 2011, FinovateFall 2012, and FinovateFall 2013). The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in New York City.

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Ayasdi Raises $55 Million in Series C Funding

By David Penn Posted on March 26, 2015
Categories: Ayasdi, Uncategorized

Machine learning algorithm specialist Ayasdi has raised $55 million in a new investment that doubles the company’s total capital.

The Series C round was led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), and featured participation from existing investors Citi Ventures, FLOODGATE, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), and Khosla Ventures. New investors Centerview Capital Technology and Draper Nexus were also part of the investment, which takes Ayasdi’s total funding to more than $100 million.

Ted Schlein of KPCB praised Ayasdi’s ability to make complex data analysis easier for large institutions and organizations. He cited the technology’s combination of “machine learning algorithms with topological mathematics and artificial intelligence” as a “breakthrough innovation that will drive the next information and productivity wave in the coming decade.”

Health care systems have been among the most eager adopters of the Ayasdi’s technology. But the company is working with three of the five largest financial institutions in the world to help them make smarter lending decisions, improve risk and compliance modeling, protect against fraud, and better serve private banking clients. Deborah Hopkins, Chief Innovation Officer of Citi and CEO of Citi Ventures said the technology provided insights that “enable Citi to tailor services to specific client needs, operate more efficiently, and mitigate risk.”

Learn more about Ayasdi from our November feature. The company’s CEO Gurjeet Singh has been profiled frequently in major media from Forbes to TechCrunch, as Ayasdi has forged partnerships with companies like Teradata and Cloudera to make its technology even more valuable to enterprise-level clients. In February, the company was named one of the 10 most innovative companies in Big Data by Fast Company for a second year in a row.

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Ayasdi made its Finovate Debut in New York at FinovateFall 2014. See video of the company’s live demonstration of Ayasdi Finance.

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Kabbage Expands to Australia in New White-Label Collaboration with Kikka Capital

By David Penn Posted on March 26, 2015
Categories: Kabbage, Uncategorized

Above (left to right): Kabbage COO Kathryn Petralia and CEO Robert Frohwein presenting at FinovateFall 2014

Guess which small business lender will soon be launching in the Land Down Under?

Kabbage has announced plans to move into the Australian market with a white-label offering of its small business lending technology. The launch in Australia represents Kabbage’s first foray into the Asia-Pacific region, having already been in operation in both the U.K. and the U.S.

The service in Australia will be operated by Kikka Capital, which is licensing the platform and will manage marketing, funding, and loan servicing. Kabbage will handle underwriting and management of the loans.

Kikka Capital founder and managing director David Brennan said that the collaboration with Kabbage was a unique opportunity to bring “breakthrough lending technology” to Australia. “Launching on the Kabbage platform allows us to dramatically accelerate our entry into small business lending,” Brennan said.

For Peter Steger, head of business development for Kabbage, the collaboration is a reflection of the platform’s flexibility and an opportunity for Kabbage to access new markets. Kabbage was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The company has funded more than $550 million in loans to small businesses. Kabbage Loans range from $2,000 to $100,000, terms are six months, and small businesses only need a business checking account or PayPal account to apply. Approval only takes a few minutes once all data is provided and accounts verified.

Rather than charge interest, Kabbage assess a lending fee between 1%-13.5% of the amount borrowed for the first two months of the loan, then 1% each month for the balance of the six-month term. There are no early repayment penalties.

An eight-time Finovate alum, Kabbage was last on the Finovate stage in the fall of 2014 in New York. At the show, Kabbage launched Karrot.com, a full-automated consumer marketplace lending product. See the live demo.

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Finovate Alumni News

By David Penn Posted on March 26, 2015
Categories: Acculynk, Advanced Merchant Payments, Ayasdi, CardFlight, Google Cloud Platform, HelloWallet, Innosect, Innovation Agency, Kabbage, Malauzai Software, PayStand, Roostify, TSYS, Uncategorized, Yodlee

On Finovate.com:

Kabbage Expands to Australia in New, White-Label Collaboration with Kikka Capital.

Advanced Merchant Payments Pulls in Undisclosed Amount of Funding.

Ayasdi Raises $55 Million in Series C Funding.

Around the Web:

Yodlee joins FinTech Sandbox as data partner.

Acculynk unveils new mobile wallet authentication service for issuers and providers.

TSYS CIO Ken Tye announces retirement.

Innosect (formerly Innovation Café) acquires Clientific.

5+ Community FIs to launch Apple Watch offering powered by Malauzai. Come see its live demo at FinovateSpring in San Jose May 12-13.

CardFlight Announces Availability of EMV-Ready Chip Card Readers for SwipeSimple Mobile Point-of-Sale Solution.

Rajesh Bhat, Co-founder at Roostify, shares what he learned from Yodlee Interactive Incubator Boot Camp 1.

Google Cloud Platform introduces Google Cloud Launcher, where you can launch open source packages configured by Bitnami or Google Click to Deploy.

HelloWallet launches Emergency Savings Calculator.

Orchard Platform and Kabbage Announce Partnership to Provide Investors’ Access to Karrot Consumer Loans.

PayStand mobile iOS app now available to allow credit card, check and Bitcoin payments.

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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Lendio Raises $20 Million in New Funding to Help Finance Small Businesses

By David Penn Posted on March 24, 2015
Categories: Lendio, Uncategorized

Small business lender Lendio announced today that it has raised $20.5 million in new funding. The round was led by Napier Park’s Financial Partners Group, and included participation by:

Blumberg Capital
Highway 12 Ventures
North Hill Ventures
Pivot Investment Partners
Runa Capital
Tribeca Venture Partners

The new investment takes Lendio’s total funding to more than $30 million. As part of the agreement, Dan Kittredge from Napier Park and Chris Gottschalk of Blumberg Capital will join Lendio’s board of directors. Lendio plans to use the capital to expand its partnership program, help grow its team of loan advisors, and fuel continued innovation of the platform.

Kittredge praised Lendio’s recent growth and partnerships with companies like Staples in explaining his firm’s commitment to the company. “Lendio’s leadership team has proven its ability to drive innovation and deliver an incredible platform that helps both small business owners and small business lenders alike,” he said.

Lendio believes that a big reason why small businesses get turned down when applying for loans is a matter of proper matchmaking. Whether the small business is pursuing the wrong type of loan product, or has found the right loan but at the wrong bank or credit union, the result is the same. Lendio’s platform makes it easier for qualified borrowers to find the loan that best suits their needs from the financial institution best able (and willing) to service it. Businesses are able to make these loan inquiries without penalty to their credit rating due to Lendio’s “soft pull” of personal and business credit data.

“Our focus is to provide three essential benefits for the business owner – offer a wide variety of loan options, speed up the process, and reduce the time and effort it requires to get funded, and provide a white-glove, trusted experience, Lendio CEO Brock Blake said.

Above (Left to right): Trent Miskin (CTO) and Brock Blake (CEO) presenting at FinovateSpring 2011.

For banks and credit unions the reward is lower customer acquisition costs, more qualified leads, and a significantly larger potential market for new customers.

Lendio demoed its technology at FinovateSpring 2011. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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