This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.
Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
If you’re in fintech, then you’re most likely a numbers person. You like to see the metrics, the data, and the quantitative side of things. So we’ve assembled the data surrounding this year’s FinovateFall event to offer a numerical picture of what you can expect at the show, which is taking place September 11 through 13 in New York City. Tickets are still available at a discounted rate.
14th
This year marks the 14th FinovateFall we’ve held in New York City. Time flies when you’re having fun!
15
We’ll offer 15 networking sessions across the three-day event to ensure you have time to mingle and make meaningful connections.
59
Finovate is known for live demos. This year, we’ll feature 59 (and counting) companies demo their technology live on stage.
We’re hosting 177 speakers on stage. Those 177 fintech experts will discuss a wide range of fintech topics in demos, keynote presentations, panels, and more.
Brazil-based Dock selected Feedzai to provide fraud prevention tools for its customers.
Dock will primarily leverage Feedzai’s RiskOps Platform, and will also use the company’s AML and behavioral biometrics tools.
Dock counts 70 million active accounts and powers over seven billion transactions each year.
Brazil-based payments technology player Dockannounced this week it has selected risk management tool provider Feedzai to provide new fraud prevention tools for Dock customers.
Founded in 2014, Dock offers card issuing and core banking services to help organizations bring new card digital payments and banking services to their existing operations. The company’s microservices architecture can be tailored to suit a multitude of rules, and can operate in any country, currency and banking system. The company counts 70 million active accounts and powers over seven billion transactions each year.
By partnering with Feedzai, Dock is giving its clients access to Feedzai’s RiskOps Platform, a tool that helps uncover criminal activity by standardizing processes. Feedzai launched RiskOps in 2021 to tackle fraud, money laundering, compliance, and enhance risk policies. The platform’s Financial Intelligence Network (FIN) database contains over one trillion data points, sessions, and profiles of good and bad actors. Dock also plans to integrate Feedzai’s behavioral biometrics module as well as money laundering prevention tools to offer customers a view of risks in real-time.
“We are providing our customers with another cloud-first technology solution that delivers a personalized approach to cyber threat detection and assessment, based on machine learning models and supported by Dock’s expertise,” said Dock Risk Director Armando Junior. “This partnership is aligned with our Latin American expansion strategy. The new feature makes it possible for us to understand even better the needs of our customers throughout the region.”
Feedzai was founded in 2011. The company offers tools ranging from KYC, AML, watchlist screening, transaction fraud monitoring, and more to help companies fight fraud in more than 190 countries. In 2021, Feedzai was valued at more than one billion dollars after receiving a $200 million funding round that boosted its total funding to $277 million. There is no word on an updated valuation.
Cybersecurity company VU and digital payments solutions innovator NovoPayment announced a strategic partnership today.
The alliance will make VU’s fraud protection technology available to users of NovoPayment’s banking-as-a-service platform.
Headquartered in Miami, Florida, NovoPayment was co-founded by CEO Anabel Pérez in 2007.
Cybersecurity firm VU will join the 60-partner application network of digital payments solutions company NovoPayment. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, NovoPayment offers a banking-as-a-service platform that leverages its network of open APIs, partnerships, and third-party integration to help its customers scale and adapt.
“Collaborating with NovoPayment allows us to expand our vision and address new challenges in the field of cybersecurity in the financial sector,” VU founder and CEO Sebastián Stranieri said. “Together we are committed to generating a positive impact by creating digital solutions to improve the quality of life for citizens and organizations.”
NovoPayment offers services within three principal categories: digital banking, payment infrastructure, and card solutions. The company helps its clients enhance their existing systems to generate new deposits, transaction streams, and customer experiences. In addition to its Miami HQ, NovoPayment maintains offices in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador, enabling the company to serve a range of customers across the Americas. The company’s clients include financial institutions and acquirers, as well as neobanks and fintechs.
“This alliance will enable us to enhance our payment solutions, providing users with an even safer and more reliable experience,” NovoPayment CEO and co-founder Anabel Pérez said. “We are excited to work with VU, a leader in cybersecurity, to ensure the peace of mind of our clients in the digital world.”
NovoPayment’s partnership with VU comes a little over a month after the company unveiled enhancements to its Orchestra technology. Orchestra is an advanced, cloud-based middleware orchestration layer of its BaaS platform. The technology helps financial institutions modernize their infrastructure and now features enhancements that add capabilities and new API-based use cases. Perez called Orchestra “a streamlined, convenient way to unify user experiences and fast-track innovation while ensuring compliance.”
Earlier this year, NovoPayment and Forrester Research published research on digitization trends at smaller banks and credit unions. In the report, the authors highlighted the compatibility with existing infrastructure as a major hurdle for digitization. Another challenge was the lack of staff to support customer-service based digital strategies. The report concluded that strategic partnerships can help smaller FIs bridge the gap between themselves and their larger competitors.
Micronotes announced a $2 million extension to its $5.5 million Series C funding round.
Today’s funds come from BankTech Ventures.
The extension brings Micronotes’ total funding to $23.3 million.
In an industry focused on the customer, engagement solutions providers are poised for growth. Perhaps that’s why digital engagement solutions provider Micronotes received a $2 million extension to its Series C round today.
Today’s funds come from BankTech Ventures and add to Micronotes’ $5.5 million investment led by Experian Ventures with participation from existing investors. Closing the Series C round brings The Massachusetts-based company’s total funding to $23.3 million.
“We’re thrilled to partner with BankTech Ventures,” said Micronotes Founder and CEO Devon Kinkead. “This strategic investment will help us accelerate our growth in the community banking sector and help more communities get a lot more out of their banking relationships.”
Micronotes was founded in 2008 and is privately held. The company leverages AI, big data, and machine learning technologies to help financial institutions use their data to better engage their customers, foster involvement, and ultimately build new revenue.
FinovateFall 2023 takes place in New York over September 11 through 13 with the demos on the first two days. Register today and save your spot.
In less than a month, you’ll see it all at FinovateFall. Technology launches, startup debuts, fresh perspectives, and industry leaders from over 60 demoing companies. Here’s a look at the latest lineup:
With so many diverse organizations taking the stage over the first two days, you may want to narrow in on the technology that best fits your needs. Check out the sneak peeks for a quick look into each demo company, its innovation and features, and what makes it great.
Stayed tuned for new demo additions leading up to the event, and don’t miss your chance to register!
In the dynamic realm of financial advisory, the voice of experience is vital in understanding the present landscape. We recently spoke with intelliflo Vice President of Customer Management Lisa Jacobs on the challenges, opportunities, and trends in the advisory space.
Jacobs brings her 15+ years of experience to our conversation that sheds light on how firms can overcome labor shortages, resource constraints, constantly changing technology, and volatile regulations in the financial advice space. She also addresses how advisors can balance and manage the ongoing high-tech vs. high-touch approach.
What are some of the top challenges and opportunities currently facing the financial advisory space?
Lisa Jacobs: We recently surveyed over 400 financial advisors and found that 80% of them believe more people are seeking advice and can’t find or access that help. This is both an enormous challenge and opportunity. Even though more people are seeking professional guidance, advisors across the board are stretched thin, making it nearly impossible to take on new clients without additional support. This prohibits advisors from growing their revenue and supporting more people, leaving many without the help they need. intelliflo was formed to bridge the advice gap; we’re committed to providing the tools and solutions to help advisors widen access to financial advice.
How can technology be leveraged to overcome these challenges and support financial advisors?
Jacobs: Modern technology has the power to help advisors address these resource restraints. In just about every industry, technology yields efficiencies, but the best tech also increases your customer’s satisfaction, too. In our industry, this is becoming known as a hybrid advice strategy – a flexible model in which clients in earlier stages of the financial advice journey are primarily served via digital channels and tools, and technology adds more to the customer experience for top clients with better outcomes.
To effectively embrace more digital tools, advisors are increasingly moving away from stand-along software tools that can’t integrate with other parts of their tech stack to avoid having to learn and log on to multiple systems. Many are seeking an all-in-one advisor experience to increase efficiencies and, in turn, provide a more unified client experience. If approached the right way, technology has the power to enable advisors to accomplish more with existing resources while simultaneously strengthening client relationships.
What advice do you have for financial advisors that are evaluating the many different technology providers out there?
Jacobs: Technology can only be effective if it is easy to use and manage. Otherwise, it might act as more of a hindrance than a benefit. That same survey of advisors underpinned this idea, revealing that the top three biggest barriers to adopting new technology for advisors are integration challenges (57%), time to install (41%), and employee time and resources to manage the technology (38%).
When vetting the many providers and solutions available in the market, advisors should consider these common areas of friction, prioritizing technology that is open and easily integrated, is flexible (which often means cloud-based), and has proven, responsive service and support teams.
Changing regulation seems to be a pressing topic this year for the fintech industry at large. What is the best way for wealth management companies to stay ahead?
A strong way to stay on top of changing regulations and compliance mandates is to collaborate with resources such as peer groups, associations, and technology partners to discuss these issues and what needs to be altered in response. We also increasingly see firms rely on partnership models with third party vendors, looking to outsource key functions and support such as compliance. However, advisors must be sure their partners are thoroughly vetted and monitored on an ongoing basis; not all partners are created equal.
What are the top trends in the advisory space to watch for the second half of the year?
Jacobs: In addition to the continued rise of the hybrid advice model, the evolving role of the advisor is an important trend to watch. A wider skill set is increasingly expected from advisors, including the ability to provide comprehensive guidance around critical life events and situations that fall outside of the traditional financial advisory relationship. For instance, clients are more frequently asking which insurance plans and options are best for their unique scenarios. And as their parents age, Millennials are seeking guidance from advisors on long-term care and arrangement options. These conversations can be emotionally charged, and empathy will become a key trait for the modern advisor. This is another reason why advisors must determine how to strategically leverage technology to make time for higher-value conversations and plans.
Mahalo Banking and Larky have announced an expanded partnership to enhance account holder engagement for Mahalo clients.
The partnership will integrate Larky’s nudge platform into Mahalo’s online banking platform.
Larky made its Finovate debut in 2014. Mahalo Banking will make its Finovate debut next month at FinovateFall.
An expanded partnership between a pair of Finovate alums is designed to help boost account holder engagement. Mahalo Banking, a banking solution provider for credit unions, and account holder engagement technology company Larky announced this week that they are building on their relationship by integrating Larky’s nudge technology into Mahalo’s online banking platform.
“Our partnership with Larky enables us to offer our credit union clients an invaluable tool for member engagement at a time when the market needs new approaches to nurture and grow depositor relationships,” Mahalo Banking co-founder and COO Denny Howell said.
The integration with Larky’s nudge platform will give account holders notifications about the different product and service offerings from their financial institution. Notifications also alert account holders to contextually relevant information about their branch. Financial institutions benefit from access to analytics and A/B testing to learn how their customer and member engagement programs are working. Mahalo customers will also be able to access Larky’s nudgeScore. This solution leverages AI to predict the performance of new push notifications.
“We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with Mahalo, opening doors for their clients to harness the power of our nudge platform’s tailored and proactive engagement capabilities,” Larky VP of Growth Scott Brown said. “This reinforced partnership interweaves the unique assets of both organizations, bolstering the digital banking landscape for consumers and fostering expansion for community based financial institutions.”
August has been a busy month for the Ann Arbor, Michigan based company. Larky just reported that Innovations FCU has gone live with its customer engagement platform. And a few days ago, Larky announced a collaboration with credit union technology partner Trellance and Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU). The goal of the partnership is to build a unique, data-centric solution that leverages enhanced, AI-driven segmentation and targeting for MSUFCU. This will enable MSUFCU to create and execute more engaging campaigns to boost tap rates and increase engagement.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Larky made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2014.
Mahalo Banking will be making its first Finovate appearance next month at FinovateFall. The company is a Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO) that serves as a banking partner for credit unions. The company’s platform features deep integrations into credit union cores to provide robust features sets across all delivery platforms in order to deliver a true omni-channel experience. Mahalo is also unique insofar as its platform features functionality to support customers with cognitive distinctions such as dyslexia, autism, epilepsy, visual impairments, and more.
Like Larky, Mahalo also has been on a furious partnership-making pace this year. Last month, Mahalo announced a partnership with Gerber Federal Credit Union, a Michigan-based financial institution with $225 million in assets. In June, Mahalo teamed up with RiverLand FCU, an FI based in New Orleans with more than $300 million in assets. Also, in May, Mahalo announced new partnerships with two credit unions: ParkView FCU and Rock Valley Credit Union. ParkView FCU is based in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and has $350 million in assets. Rock Valley Credit Union is headquartered in Loves, Park, Illinois, and has assets of $150 million.
Mahalo Banking is based in Troy, Michigan. Jim Stickley is CEO.
Agora Data has landed $160 million in privately placed term financing.
The investment marks Agora Data’s fourth privately placed term financing round.
While there is no word on total funding, today’s financing adds to the $100 million revolving credit line Agora Data received from Credit Suisse in September 2022.
Agora Data, a company that helps buy here pay here (BHPH) car dealers offer in-house financing, secured $160 million in privately placed term financing this month. The round represents the fourth privately placed term financing the company has received since it was founded in 2017.
“Fueling Agora’s mission to enable any car dealer to be a finance company, this $160 million private term financing provides additional funding capacity and reiterates our commitment to our customers’ future growth,” said company CEO Steve Burke.
While there is no data on the amounts of the company’s previous three privately placed term financing rounds, Agora Data said that each of them performed better than projected. Today’s financing adds to the $100 million revolving credit facility the company received from Credit Suisse last September.
Founded in 2017, Agora Data’s Agora Capital helps car dealerships lend to non-prime customers. Lending to unattractive borrowers ultimately helps dealers sell more cars. To provide a competitive interest rate on these sub-prime loans, the company leverages AI to analyze over $350 billion in loan data. Agora Data also offers Agora Trade, a product that allows investors to buy a portfolio of seasoned auto loans at a lower rate of default.
Texas-based Agora Data targets the underbanked community and its strategy will likely fair well as the cost of living crisis, combined with a high interest rate environment, continues. Competitors in the auto financing space include CreditIQ, Creditas, Caribou (formerly known as MotoRefi), and others.
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 11 and 12. Register today and save your spot.
SESAMm is a fintech company specializing in big data and artificial intelligence. It provides analytics and investment signals from over 20 billion web data points using NLP.
Features
SESAMm is incorporating a version of Chat GPT into its solutions. Going forward, users will have the ability to interact with SESAMm to seamlessly monitor ESG controversies and produce ESG analysis.
Why it’s great
These new features, powered by generative AI, reinforce SESAMm’s commitment to developing solutions that enhance risk mitigation and streamline processes for financial firms.
Presenter
Sylvain Forté, CEO Forté’s passion for artificial intelligence and finance led him to create SESAMm in 2014. He holds a double degree in engineering from Germany and France. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 11 and 12. Register today and save your spot.
Fundica’s funding search engine serves as a business client acquisition and retention tool for FIs and other business-support organizations by enabling them to truly democratize access to funding.
Features
Effortlessly generate new business leads and retain clients
Gather business firmographics and funding needs
Organically promote diversity, equity, and inclusion
Why it’s great
Fundica’s funding search engine makes business-support organizations a more complete, one-stop funding destination for SMBs by effortlessly extending their service offering at scale.
Presenter
Mike Lee, CEO & Co-Founder Lee has held leadership roles in technology organizations, secured over $350M in government funding, and holds Engineering, MBA, and CFA designations. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 11 and 12. Register today and save your spot.
1Kosmos’BlockID provides workers and customers with convenient, passwordless, multi-factor authentication with the added security of identity verification to help prevent identity fraud and account takeover.
Features
Self-service, KYC-compliant identity proofing with tailorable onboarding journeys
Reusable, NIST certified IAL3/AA3 MFA for strong customer authentication
GDPR-compliant privacy-by-design with immutable audit trail
Why it’s great
1Kosmos’ software-as-a-service platform, certified to NIST, FIDO2 and iBeta PAD2 specifications, supports identity proofing and passwordless multi-factor authentication for workers and customers.
Presenters
Sheetal Elangovan, Product Manager Elangovan is the Product Manager of the admin experience on the BlockID platform and Product Design Lead for all products being built at 1Kosmos. LinkedIn
Jens Hinrichsen, SVP, North American Sales Hinrichsen is a career business growth leader, having held a variety of sales and marketing roles across the cybersecurity, fraud, and digital user experience spaces. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 11 and 12. Register today and save your spot.
LemonadeLXP is an award-winning digital growth platform for FIs and fintechs.
Features
A learning experience platform that turns staff into digital experts
A digital enablement platform (Digital Academy) that supports staff and customers in the flow of work
Why it’s great
LemonadeLXP is trusted by over 70 FIs and fintechs. Why? Lemonade LXP has increased digital fluency amongst frontline staff by more than 93%, and the company’s support tools are increasing digital banking confidence by more than 92%.
Presenter
John Findlay, CEO & Founder Findlay co-founded Launchfire in 1999, a game-based promotions company. In 2018, LemonadeLXP emerged to help FIs and fintechs grow their digital banking business. LinkedIn
