How they describe themselves: Micronotes is an interactive direct marketing company that is seizing the opportunity to connect marketing dollars directly to consumers through the online banking channel while radically improving the productivity of and returns on marketing campaigns.  Each year, brands spend billions of dollars to reach consumers yet the average return on a marketing campaign yields well below 1%.  Using the Micronotes KulaMula FinApp, marketing campaigns have yielded returns as high as 20%.  Powered by Yodlee, KulaMula enables consumer brands, including host financial institutions, to target online banking customers who get paid cash for taking 20-second interviews with the brands they choose resulting in highly customized offers.  Founded out of a research project at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Micronotes’ KulaMula enables financial institutions to surprise and delight their customers with a continuous stream of cash and great deals that are highly customized to their interests while also improving cross-sell productivity and generating income through a revenue share.

What they think makes them better: KulaMula is a powerful opt-in savings tool, powered by Yodlee, for online banking customers. Unlike other rewards and online advertising programs, KulaMula enables online banking customers to get paid for interviewing with the brands that they choose – and access individually customized deals in a zero spam environment. No other interactive marketing tool achieves this level of personal interaction to drive loyalty, deal relevance, savings and trust.  Financial institutions can achieve a level of intimacy and deal customization in cross-selling unavailable with current direct marketing techniques while earning a share of system revenues.

Contacts:

Bus. Dev. & Sales: Christian Klacko, [email protected], 617-401-2174
Press: Kathleen Keating, [email protected], 617-460-2702

How they describe themselves: Mortgagebot LLC (www.Mortgagebot.com) is the industry-leading, Inc. 5000 company that provides the unique, award-winning PowerSite family of integrated point-of-sale (IPOS) solutions to banks and credit unions nationwide. PowerSite technology enables lenders to quickly take complete mortgage applications through every business channel: Web site, branch, call center, or loan officer. Mortgagebot blends deep mortgage experience with innovative “cloud-computing” technology to create scalable, affordable Web sites for nearly 1,000 banks and credit unions. Lenders large and small are adopting PowerSite as a “must-have” solution because it helps them deliver a superior borrower experience, increase loan volume, reduce costs, and compete more effectively.

What they think makes them better: Modern smartphones are powerful. But until now, consumers who use a mobile device for mortgage shopping have struggled with hard-to-read, hard-to-navigate, miniaturized versions of desktop-optimized mortgage Websites. Everything changed on August 13, 2010, when Mortgagebot armed all of its nearly 1,000 bank and credit-union clients with easy-to-use, mobile-optimized mortgage Web sites for consumers. Now 6,200 PowerSite Mobile Websites are providing a superior shopping experience for today’s rapidly growing population of mobile mortgage shoppers by delivering the personalized, accurate, real-time mortgage-rate-and-fee quotes consumers need on their mobile devices: No apps to buy or install; and no desktop-optimized sites to battle with.

Contacts:

Bus. Dev. & Press: Dan Welbaum, CMO, [email protected], 262-292-2707
Sales: Matt Cotter, CSO, [email protected], 262-292-2730

How they describe themselves:

Paper must be stopped.

Customers will not stand for it. Staff members hate it. It blinds you. It’s expensive. It causes delays and mistakes. It’s bad for the planet. You end up shredding it anyway.

oFlows solves the paper problem with our fully paperless originations platform for all of your products and all of your channels – online, phone and in-person.

oFlows – Paper stops here.

What they think makes them better: oFlows is a single-system solution for all products and all channels. oFlows is truly paperless for the entire process – including supporting documentation needed to complete each file.  “oFlows Connect”, our proprietary collaborative interaction technology, takes the customer experience to a whole new level.

oFlows delivers a better customer experience, higher throughput rates, lowered costs, better management tools and bulletproof compliance.

Contacts:

Sales: Jeff Kukesh, Business Development, [email protected], 415-894-9550
Press: Scott Pitts, CEO, [email protected], 415-480-4515

How they describe themselves: Optirate is an equivalent of Amazon for retail banking.

Optirate enables consumers to find and open high-yielding CD accounts in real-time with rates that are 3x – 7x of what is available from mega-banks. Consumers are able to monitor and re-invest through Optirate with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Our Banking Partners include Community Banks and Credit Unions who seek to build an affluent customer base through mutually-rewarding relationship banking. Our Banking Partners gain the ability to market their superior products nationwide, regionally or locally thereby competing more effectively with mega-banks and internet-only banks in the $3 trillion retail CD market space.

What they think makes them better: There is no other organization that provides the same functionality, same service to the consumer or to the small Financial Institution as Optirate.

There are many competitors in the banking market, but none are able to deliver an unbiased comparison, the depth and quality of product selection, the streamlined account opening and management functionality that is available from Optirate.

Optirate is truly the first service that enables consumers to search and open highest rate CDs from safe and sound FDIC insured Banks and the first to offer Community Banks an opportunity to compete on an even footing with the mega banks.

Contacts:

Press: Serge Milman, CEO, [email protected], 415-260-3403

How they describe themselves: Busy business owners run their business on Outright.com.   20 million self employed professionals know in an instant how much money they’re raking in — or if it’s time to cinch their belts.  They can forget all the recordkeeping; Outright.com records and organizes income and expenses automatically and gets their taxes under control.

Outright.com is for people who don’t want to track expenses (or miss deductions), deal with bookkeeping, or think about what to send the IRS; but DO want to be instantly organized and ready for tax time, have an up-to-the-minute snapshot of how business is going, and use a simple and free accounting solution.

What they think makes them better: Created especially for self-employed people, Outright.com is a wish come true.  It’s free, saving money for cash starved business owners, and simple; accounting for finances on their terms.  Outright.com is the only application that helps business owners deal with who owes them money, see where their money is going, and know their bottom line, all the time.

Contacts:

Bus. Dev.: Ryan Thompson, VP Business Development, [email protected]
Sales & Press: Paul O’Brien, VP Marketing, [email protected]

How they describe themselves: Pageonce creates personal finance services that help consumers unlock the power of total financial control and protection using their smartphones or the Web.  More than three million people count on Pageonce for monitoring, tracking and alerts of their financial accounts, bills management and more.  Pageonce has received top ratings from the New York Times, Fox News, CNN, USA Today, PC Magazine, PC World, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Cnet and others.  Launched in January 2008, Pageonce has quickly grown to track nearly $300 billion in transactions.  Pageonce investors include Pitango Venture Capital and Hillsven LLC.

What they think makes them better:  The traditional budgeting approach to personal finance can be cumbersome and overwhelming for most people who depend on their paychecks to cover monthly expenses and are concerned about managing cash flow and spending.  Pageonce instantly gives you a real-time tally of spending and savings and syncs all your bills to your calendar so you always have a clear picture of your financial health.  No personal finance service would be complete without an adequate means to protect your money from fees related to banking, credit limits, penalties, and unauthorized or suspicious activities.  Here, Pageonce is unsurpassed. Each year Pageonce protects its members from $148 million in overdraft fees, penalties and low balance charges. Pageonce lets you take charge of your finances using the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile or the Web.  Get on track towards a better financial future, anytime, anywhere and instantly with Pageonce.

Contacts:

Sales & Bus. Dev.: Brad Simmons, Director of Business Development and Sales, [email protected]
Strategic Partnerships: Steve Schultz, COO, [email protected]
Press: Angela Nibbs (maven pr), [email protected]

How they describe themselves: PayNearMe is an innovative payment system that offers the unbanked, underbanked and people who do not have a credit or debit card or who prefer to pay with cash the ability to safely and easily conduct remote transactions such as online shopping, money transfer, loan repayment, ticket purchases and more.

What they think makes them better:  Since over one quarter of American households do not have a credit or debit card, PayNearMe can significantly increase our partners’ businesses. How? PayNearMe combines a retail load network with an innovative application development platform, the combination of which offers cash-oriented consumers a faster, more convenient, and often far less expensive way to pay for remote transactions than existing cash payment mechanisms.  It also allows merchants (payees) to build new applications that would not be possible with existing payment systems.

Contacts:

Bus. Dev.: Mike Kaplan, [email protected], 908-902-0497
Sales: Dave Litwak, [email protected], 817-421-9990
Press: Stephanie Gnibus, GMK Comm., [email protected], 408-776-9727

How they describe themselves: Plantly provides a new level of online investment advice to everyday Americans. Plantly’s Risk-Aware interface helps investors intuitively learn about their true risk-tolerance, as they discover their best-fit portfolio. The chosen portfolio can be optimized for better performance based on the fee structure of any broker. This provides investors with unprecedented access to a top-performing portfolio, the freedom to invest it with whomever they want, and the objectivity needed to reduce fees and diversify smartly.

What they think makes them better: Plantly’s financial engine is designed from the ground up to provide investors with an unprecedented quality of portfolios as well as never-before seen information about how each plan may perform in the future. In the last 4 years, Plantly’s investment plans outperformed 99% of the balanced mutual funds traded in the US market. Plantly’s unique interface and investment methodology makes this powerful engine accessible to all levels of investors. Yet most important, Plantly’s founders Amit and Shahar Pitaru are dedicated to make all of the above affordable to everyday Americans with as little as $5,000.

Contacts:

Bus. Dev. & Sales: Shahar Pitaru, Co-Founder & CEO, [email protected], 917-267-7650
Press: Amit Pitaru, Co-Founder, [email protected], 917-306-9580

How they describe themselves: Plastyc provides the most affordable, easy-to-use and financially responsible banking services in the US.

iBankUP is our main prepaid money management portal.

Everybody can sign up online in minutes and start receiving funds from jobs, parents, and friends. No hidden fees, no risks of overdraft, no impact on credit scores.

The service is articulated around the UPside Visa prepaid card, but goes well beyond the card, by allowing people to write paper checks and to allocate funds directly to their prepaid cell phone.

What they think makes them better:
Lowest cost to manage money for every day needs: no activation / opening fee, no minimal balance, free direct deposits, free paper check every month, free direct loads of funds to prepaid phones, free account to account transfers, and cash back rewards.

Most comprehensive mobile access in the industry: check balance, latest transactions, check loyalty rewards balance, see statements between any dates, activate or suspend a card, write a paper check, load cash in a new card, request a cash load from a remote parent/friend, locate a cash load location, send money to a friend, and contact customer service.

All from any web-capable phone. No application needed, no smart phone required.

Contacts:

Bus. Dev.: Patrice Peyret, [email protected], 646-485-5267
Press: Lynda Radosevich, [email protected], 917-922-7020

How they describe themselves: Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses; financial institutions, including banks and credit unions; consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks®, Quicken® and TurboTax®, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. ProSeries® and Lacerte® are Intuit’s leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants. The company’s financial institutions division, anchored by Digital Insight, provides on-demand banking services to help banks and credit unions serve businesses and consumers with innovative solutions. More information can be found at www.intuit.com

What they think makes them better: Mint.com is a leading online personal finance service from Intuit Inc., providing over 2 million users a fresh, easy and intelligent way to manage their money. And it’s free. Launched in September 2007, Mint.com has quickly grown to track nearly $200 billion in transactions and $50 billion in assets and has identified more than $300 million in potential savings for its users.

Contacts:

Bus. Dev.: Carrie Cronkey, Director, Business Development and Strategy, [email protected]
Sales: [email protected], 888-344-4674, Option 6
Press: Martha Shaughnessy, VP, Atomic PR, 415-593-1400 x235, [email protected]

How they describe themselves: MoneyAisle provides consumers with great rates on auto refinancing, new and used auto loans, CDs, and high-yield savings accounts while simultaneously helping banks and credit unions attract new customers. MoneyAisle’s methodology is simple: have participating financial institutions compete with each other in live auctions for each individual consumer request on demand, 24/7. MoneyAisle’s patent-pending technology creates a safe, transparent platform for consumers to get great rates on deposits, auto loans, and additional soon-to-be-released lending products.

What they think makes them better: MoneyAisle differs from other online auction sites,
which are seller-centric, by providing buyer-centric auctions to consumers: sellers bid for the buyer’s business. MoneyAisle eliminates the buyer’s burden of time-consuming comparison-shopping by providing free, live, on-demand auctions, 24/7.

Contacts:

Bus. Dev.: Gretchen Saegh, Sr. Mkt. Dev. Mgr., 781-272-1774×257, [email protected]
Press: Kevin Cafferty, 781-272-1774×248, [email protected],
Sales: Bob Watterson, VP, Institutional Partnerships, 781-272-1774×223, [email protected]

How they describe themselves: MPOWER Mobile is an international mobile payments company dedicated to empowering consumers worldwide. By harnessing the mobile phone’s ubiquity and universal functionality like SMS, MPOWER Mobile delivers financial services through the mobile handset – including the ability to send money, accept payments and make purchases. Based in Austin, Texas, MPOWER Mobile is backed by MPOWER Ventures.

What they think makes them better: The new YAP Gift MasterCard from MPOWER Mobile is the world’s first universal mobile gift card. With YAP Gift, consumers can send gifts anywhere in the world, instantly from the handset, and recipients can use the gift card to buy virtually anything they want online, by phone or by mail, any place they choose that accepts MasterCard debit cards and U.S. dollars. Funding, sending or spending a YAP Gift requires no bank account, account setup or currency conversion fees, and recipients can enjoy YAP Gift from any mobile handset or email account. The only gift card designed for the mobile handset, YAP Gift opens up a world of new giving possibilities for today’s mobile lifestyles. YAP Gift MasterCard for iPhone will soon be available for download from the iTunes app store.

Contacts:

Bus. Dev.: Neeraj Bansal, 512-485-2560, [email protected]
Press: Meredith DeSpain Kelsey, 512-531-1191, [email protected]