SavvyMoney (Formerly DebtGoal) Launches New Site, Adds Jean Chatzky to Team

Yesterday, debt assistant SavvyMoney.com (formerly DebtGoal.com) announced the launch of its rennovated website:

“The new site has been launched to assist those dealing with this financial burden and the mounting stresses associated with debt. SavvyMoney.com offers unique, “do-it-yourself” products and services that help consumers organize their debt and set realistic pay-off goals, as well as providing advice on which accounts to pay off first to make the greatest impact.”

It also announced that Jean Chatzky has joined the SavvyMoney team to serve as its Director of Education.

To learn more about SavvyMoney.com, watch its FinovateSpring 2010 demo.

Finovate Alumni News– December 6, 2011

• P2P Lending News reports Prosper & Lending Club issued $37.4 mil in loans in November.

• Trade Streaming interviews Rob Foregger, co-founder of Personal Capital, on the future of online investing.

• mFoundry receives $18 mil in growth capital from MasterCard, Intel, FIS, and Motorola Mobility.

• Bank Systems & Technology looks at how USAA uses Yodlee to aggregate accounts and power its PFM.

• SavvyMoney (Formerly DebtGoal) launches new site, adds Jean Chatzky to team.

• Steve Shivers, doxo CEO, speaks up about the potential cuts to the US Postal Service.

• Credit Unions see positive results from Mortgagebot PowerSite technology.

• Q2ebanking ranks on The Austin American-Statesman’s List of Top Workplaces.

• Zecco unveils its new Trading Center.

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 Website Traffic in September

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete. 

Out of 268 alumni, 80 had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in September 2011 and are included in the tables below. Of those, 33 (41%) had more visitors in September than August. Year-over-year, 42 (52%) had traffic increases.

Private Companies

• Seeking Alpha and Cortera had the highest traffic in September with 2.1 and 2.0 million unique visitors, respectively. Cortera also had the highest increase in number of unique year-over-year visits with over 1.5 more visits in 2011 than in 2010.
• Kabbage had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, up 280x.
• Weemba saw the highest monthly growth percentage with more than 7.5 times the number of unique visitors in September compared to August.
• SmartCredit.com had the highest increase in number of unique year-over-year visitors, growing by 126,000.

Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 26, 2011

1) The previous month recorded was August 2011

2) Sears Credit Score is powered by CreditKarma.com

3) Truaxis was formerly BillShrink

4) Kasasa is powered by BancVue

Public companies

• CheckFree had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, with over 7 times the number of visitors this year than last year.
• Intuit had a notable increase in number of unique, year-over-year visitors, increasing by 300,000 visits.
• Check Point had the highest month-over-month percent growth, with 41% more visitors in September than in August.

Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 26, 2011

1) The previous month recorded was July 2011.

_______________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 268 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed. 

3. NM = not measurable

4. t= tie

5. Compete estimates online visitors based on the activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic and may undercount at-work usage.

Finovate Alumni Website Traffic in August

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete. 

Out of 268 alumni, 75 had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in August 2011 and are included in the tables below. Of those, 41 (55%) had more visitors in August than July. Year-over-year, 45 (60%) had traffic increases.

Private Companies

• Seeking Alpha — the most-trafficked in August with 2.5 million unique visitors — also had the highest increase in number of unique month-over-month visits with 300,000 more visits in August than in July.
• Budgettracker.com saw the highest monthly growth percentage with more than 6.5 times the number of unique visitors in August compared to July.
• Betterment had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, up 88x.
• Cortera had the highest number of unique year-over-year visitors, growing by 1.5 million. 

Source: Compete.com retrieved week of October 3, 2011

1) The previous month recorded was July 2011

2) Truaxis was formerly BillShrink

3) Sears Credit Score is powered by CreditKarma.com

4) Kasasa is powered by BancVue

5) Checkingfinder.com is powered by BancVue

Public Companies

• Fiserv had the highest month-over-month percent growth, with 50% more visitors.
• CheckFree had the highest percentage growth year-over-year, with over 5 times the number of visitors.
• S1 also had a high percentage growth year-over-year, doubling its visitors.

Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of October 3, 2011

1) The previous month recorded was July 2011.

_______________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 268 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed. 

3. NM = Not measurable

4. t= Tie

5. Compete estimates online visitors based on the activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic and may undercount at-work usage.

Finovate Alumni Website Traffic in July

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of Finovate alums using data from Web-analytics company Compete. 

Out of 255 alumni, 59 (23%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in July 2011 (see tables below). Of those, 19 (32%) had more visitors than in the previous month and 25 (42%) were flat. Year-over-year, 26 (44%) had an increase, 10 (17%) were flat, and 23 (39%) were down. 

Private Companies

Notable successes:

• Seeking Alpha had the most traffic in July with more than 2 million unique visitors.
• eToro saw the highest monthly growth percentage with 3 times the number of unique visitors in July compared to June.
• Bundle had the highest increase in number of unique month-over-month visits, with 450,000 more visitors in July than in June.
• eRollover had the highest percent year-over-year traffic increase, with 260,000 more visitors from last July. 

Source: Compete.com retrieved week of August 15, 2011

1. The previous month recorded was May 2011

2. Sears Credit Score is powered by CreditKarma.com

3. Kasasa is powered by BancVue

Public Companies

Notable successes:

• PayPal had the highest number of U.S. visitors in July, with more than 30 million visitors.
• Jack Henry & Associates saw the highest monthly growth with twice as many visitors in July than June.
• Wipro Technologies had the highest year-over-year growth, with 3 times as many visitors this year compared to last year.
• FIS Global and Online Resources also doubled their traffic compared to last year. 

Source: Compete.com retrieved the week of August 15, 2011

1. The previous month recorded was May 2011.

_______________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 255 Finovate alumni. Only those with at least 10,000 unique visitors in July are listed. 

3. NM = Not measurable

4. Compete estimates online visitors based on the activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic and may undercount at-work usage.

PayPal and Cortera Take Charge in May’s Web Traffic

Each month we survey the Web-traffic performance of our alums, using data from Web-analytics company Compete to review the sites they operate. 

Out of 255 alumni, 62 (24%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in May 2011 (see tables below). Of the 62 reviewed, 25 (40%) had fewer visitors than in the previous month and 28 (45%) saw a decline year-over-year.

Private Companies
The 44 private companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

• Cortera saw the highest number of unique U.S. visitors in May, with almost 2 million hits.
• HelloWallet experienced the greatest month-over-month growth, with more than four times as many visitors.
• Betterment saw its traffic increase an impressive 38 times from May of last year.

Private Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011

Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

Public Companies
The 18 public companies are as follows:

Notable successes:

• PayPal experienced the highest number of U.S. visitors in May, with over 32 million visitors.
• TransUnion Interactive saw the highest month-over-month growth with more than two times the number of visitors in May than in April.
• Sybase 365 experienced the highest year-over-year growth, with its traffic up almost 80% from last year.

Public Finovate Alumni With More Than 10,000 Unique Visitors in May 2011 

Source: Compete.com retrieved June 29, 2011

_____________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

1. We reviewed 255 unique sites. Data was unavailable or irrelevant for 201 sites because: 

• They had been acquired.
• They were no longer available online.
• They were not covered by Compete for various reasons (including some that were not U.S. domestic companies).
• The number of unique visits was too small to be considered accurate.
• They were subdomains of larger websites.

2. Numbers have been rounded to three significant digits.

3. The charts include companies that did not have measurable traffic in May 2011, indicated by “N/A.”

4. Compete draws its information from the online activity of a panel of more than 2 million U.S. Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic, and may undercount at-work usage.

Alumni News: Week of May 2 and May 9

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Backbase

Backbase will provide TCS Bank in Russia with a website integration solution through Bank 2.0 Portal. Link

Bill.com

Bill.com rolled out Sage Peachtree Sync, software for controlling bill payment and management. Link

BrightScope

BrightScope released its second annual list of the Atlanta-based companies with the best 401k plans. Link

CashEdge

CashEdge expanded Popmoney service by adding Popmoney for Prepaid. It also announced a partnership with TxVia. Link 

Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point was listed on Acadian Asset Management’s Top 15 Buys list.  Link

Cortera

Cortera announced a new version of its PULSE app, a customer monitoring service. The new version will add Growth Clues alert.  Link

DebtGoal

DebtGoal hired Igor Vaks, former Experian CIO, as new COO. Link

eToro

eToro emerged as the preferred platform for building forex wealth through web trading.  Link

Expensify

Expensify advertised on giant billboard in the Bay Area. Link

Fiserv

Fiserv announced improvements to its Relationship Rewards. Link

ID Analytics

CoreLogic partnered with ID Analytics to integrate ID Network with LoanSafe Fraud Manager. Link

ID Analytics will host Advance 2011, its 9th Consumer Risk Management Conference, this September.  Link

IP Commerce

IP Commerce recently raised another round of funding. Link

Lending Club

Lending Club issued a record high of $17.5M loans in April. It is the 4th record month in the past 5. Link

Lending Club won Webby Award for the Banking/ Bill Paying category. Link

Mint 

Mint won Webby Awards for the Financial Services category. Link

MoneyAisle

Mone
yAisle launched live auctions for unsecured personal loans to help consumers across a wide range of credit scores. Link

PayNearMe

PayNearMe raised $16M in funding from new and current investors. Link

Plastyc

Plastyc won a patent for improved online payment methods. Link

Prosper

Prosper increased loan volume by more than 50% compared to 3 months ago, issuing over $5M in new loans in April. Link

Yodlee

Yodlee is looking into developing mobile apps with new “FinApp Store” strategy. Link

Alumni News — Weeks of January 24, 31, and February 7, 2011

To see Finovate alumni company news in real-time, follow our feed on Twitter here.

Betterment and Mint.com partner for “set it and forget it” investment accounts. The accounts have no minimum balance. http://bit.ly/finovate210111

Bling Nation rolls out the “fan connect” platform in Chicago. The Chicago rollout is part of a broader national rollout to come. http://bit.ly/finovate210112

Cardlytics and NetSpend partner to bring reward offers to the underbanked. The partnership will create opportunities for targeted offers to reach users of prepaid debit cards. http://bit.ly/finovate28112

Cardlytics wins Red Herring Global 100 winner. — Cardlytics is a pioneer in in-statement merchant-funded rewards. http://bit.ly/finovate27114

CashEdge and NYCE join forces to provide person to person payment technology. Popmoney will now be available to 3,000 NYCE financial institution clients. http://bit.ly/finovate211112

ClairMail announced that revenue tripled in 2010. The company attributes the growth to the launch of their mobile connectivity architecture in early 2010. http://mwne.ws/finovate28115

DebtGoal launches OWEing.com. The new site acts as the flagship domain and provides a tools and content supporting debt reduction. http://bit.ly/finovate131112

eRollover launches Advisor Center. Ask retirement questions online in the new Advisor Center. http://bit.ly/finovate124112

Fiserv and WorkLight partner to make mobile application deployment and development faster. http://bit.ly/finovate125111

Frost and Sullivan names mFoundry “Entrepreneurial Company of the Year” in the mobile banking category. http://bit.ly/finovate121114

Guardian Analytics announces 150%  growth. The company attributes the rapid growth to the success of its FraudMap technology. http://bit.ly/finovate210113

Jack Henry’s ProfitStars.com launches new services to help small businesses accept online payments. http://bit.ly/finovate211111

Lending Club increased the maximum loan amount from $25,000 to $35,000. http://bit.ly/finovate27113

mFoundry launches standalone mobile deposit solution that can be implemented at a financial institution within 30 days. http://bit.ly/finovate28114

Intuit’s Mint and TurboTax team up to make taxes easier. http://bit.ly/finovate121111

Mozo launches Money Q & A portal where users can ask questions or answer questions posed by others. http://bit.ly/finovate211113

On Deck Capital secures $15 million Series-C funding. The funding round was led by SAP Ventures. http://bit.ly/finovate131111

Plastyc closes $2 million strategic investment from Core Innovation Capital. Core Innovation Capital is the investment partner for the Center for Financial Services Innovation. http://bit.ly/finovate28111http://www.silvertailsystems.com/

Silver Tail Systems announces the addition of a user-specific monitoring system. http://bit.ly/finovate124111

SmartyPig.com adds sixty new online retailer cash-back partners, and six more gift card partners. Expedia, Hotels.com, Cabela’s and Babies R Us are included in this latest offering. http://bit.ly/finovate131113

SmartyPig’s cash rewards card wins Paybefore award twice. http://bit.ly/finovate12112

The Receivables Exchange partners with Biz2Credit, an online loan-matching portal. http://bit.ly/finovate125113

DebtGoal Partners with Jean Chatzky, Launches NegotiateMyRate.com

DebtGoal first debuted at FinovateStartup 2009, (see video here). In the past year, the company has made several changes, most recently the partnership with Jean Chatzky and the launch of NegotiateMyRate.com both demonstrated at the FinovateSpring 2010 conference (video here). 

DebtGoal has partnered with Jean Chatzky, a nationally recognized personal finance expert to create the “Pay it Down!” application, part of Chatzky’s new personal finance program “The Debt Diet.” The application is based on the DebtGoal algorithm, already in use on its website.  

Additionally, DebtGoal launched NegotiateMyRate.com, a crowd-sourced tool that provides tips for getting a lower APR on credit card balances.

Tour through NegotiateMyRate.com

The cardholder reviews the list of cards available in the system (currently 11) and selects their card, if available, or “other cards.” The cardholder then enters their balance to see a prediction of how likely they are to get a reduction and the average savings from previous successful users (see image 1). 

The cardholder is presented with a sample script on how to negotiate a rate reduction.

After calling the company, the cardholder is encouraged to enter their results back into the system. 

According to DebtGoal CEO Scott Crawford, since launching in April 2010, more than 500 users have reported negotiation attempts with an overall 50% success rate. 

DebtGoal was founded in 2008 by GoalSpring, and has since raised $3.1 million. The company reports that the main site, debtgoal.com, gets 45,000 unique visitors per month. Compete data confirms that number for April and shows a doubling of traffic in May to more than 100,000 unique U.S. visitors. Traffic data is not yet available for NegotiateMyRate.com.

Alumni News — Week of June 1, 2010

Here are the news headlines we posted this week on Twitter (follow our feed here).

ThreatMetrix partners with Offerpal Media to stop fraud — The ThreatMetrix data will give Offerpal additional abilities to identify potentially fraudulent user transactions. http://bit.ly/cerWUY

Peter Pham to leave BillShrink — Schwark Satyavolu will re-assume the CEO Position. Pham will be leaving BillShrink to join Trinity Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE611

iBearSoft releases a video demo of the iBearMoney for iPad — Money for iPad is a top-selling app in the paid personal finance category in the American iTunes app store. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE613

Lending Club hits $10 mil in monthly originations for first time — Congratulations to Lending Club on their continued growth! http://bit.ly/Finovate621

mFoundry featured in NY Times — (6/1/10 p.B1) Article on card-based loyalty programs moving to mobile. http://nyti.ms/cardloyalty

Zecco’s CEO Michael Raneri has been named a winner of IDG’s 2010 InfoWorld CTO 25 Award — Zecco is an online brokerage which offers free stock trades and low-cost options trades. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE621

Alpha Clone investment account service has launched — A clone is a portfolio of stocks based on the stock idea of one or more fund managers. http://bit.ly/aQcBgu

Bling Nation, mobile payments provider, hires Shan Mehta to lead strategic alliances — Mehta will also be responsible for maintaining and expanding exiting relationships with service partners. http://bit.ly/Finovate631

MoneyStrands adds cash tracking to application — Cash tracking is now available for MoneyStrands via Web and mobile app. http://bit.ly/finovate641