Category Archives: Firethorn

Finovate Alumni News– June 14, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAlbany Times Union reports CSI’s globalVCard leads execs out of ID theft and into mobile payments.
  • $3.7 bil Patelco CU commits to ThreatMetrix’s malware defense software.
  • Backbase powering online banking platform for Absa Group, a subsidiary of Barclays.
  • American Banker reports Firethorn Mobile to power Burger King’s mobile app.
  • GlobalCollect offers BOKU as Mobile Payment Checkout to its Merchant Network.
  • Financial Services and Big-Data Executive Mary Anne Keegan joins BillGuard as CMO.
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 — Weeks of October 11 and 18th, 2010

Third-party Blippy application released. The new application, Blipped, was released by Mindsmack. http://bit.ly/finovate10121

BrightScope launches BrightScope Beacon. Beacon will provide detailed analysis of the Defined Contribution marketplace. http://j.mp/finovate10155
Dynamics Inc. releases “dynamic” cards to prevent credit card skimming and card number theft. http://bit.ly/finovate10213  Also, the company is featured in a flattering page-one business story in Friday’s New York Timeshttp://nyti.ms/finovate10266
Firethorn joins up with Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union to offer mobile banking. PSECU’s 370,000 members will now have mobile banking service with Firethorn’s mobile application. http://j.mp/finovate10153
Geezeo partners with Ping Identity for secure sign-on. Geezeo users will now have access to secure access via single sign-on. http://j.mp/finovate10154
KaChing gets $100 million under assets and changes name to Wealthfront. Read more at TechCrunch about the company’s change in identity. http://tcrn.ch/finovate10211
Kapitall’s iPad app makes the top 10 in the iTunes “free finance” category. http://j.mp/finovate10111
Bloomberg.com reviews Kapitall. Bloomberg says Kapitall is “opening the financial services business to a broader range of investors.” http://j.mp/finovate10157
mFoundry offers innovative mobile banking “adoption guarantee” to new customers. http://bit.ly/finovate10221
Mint.com launches social media contest. The “Drop Your Debt” challenge offers cash prizes for dropping debt.  http://bit.ly/finovate10224
Mint.com unveils new tools including home-value estimates from Zillow and a life-insurance calculator. http://bit.ly/finovate10225
Outright.com now supports Harvest integration for time tracking. Billable hours, payroll and more can be tracked with the Harvest application which now integrates seamlessly with Outright. http://bit.ly/finovate10123
Prosper.com adds one- and five-year terms to its peer-to-peer loan offerings. http://bit.ly/finovate10212
Another innovative social media contest from SmartyPig. SmartyPig’s $20,000 gift card giveaway begins Mon., Oct. 25. http://bit.ly/finovate10222
Orange County Credit Union adopts Tyfone Mobile Payments. Orange County Credit Union, founded in 1938, has 79,000 members and $950 million in assets. http://bit.ly/finovate10122
ZashPay and PopMoney profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle as powerful alternatives to PayPal. See the pros and cons of a number of different mobile money-transfer services. http://j.mp/finovate10151

Alumni News — Week of August 9, 2010

Here are our news updates for the week of August 9, 2010. To get our updates real-time, follow us here
Bling Nation partners with two more banks. Bling Nation is now providing its mobile payments solution to 15 banks. http://bit.ly/finovate8121
Intuit buys personal finance company Cha-Ching. Users of its Mac app are being migrated to Mint.com and Quicken.  http://tcrn.ch/finovate8101
Firethorn shows it’s “SWAGG.” The technology will allow users to use, exchange and purchase gift cards with their mobile phones. http://bit.ly/finovate8103    
CP Federal Credit Union selects “BOB” from Jwaalahttp://bit.ly/finovate8113
On Deck Capital offers new (free) small business tools. Now On Deck Capital has launched free online credit-evaluation tools for small businesses. http://bit.ly/finovate891 
SafetyPay is entering the U.S. market. The retail pilot program will help to monetize and secure online payments. See their demo at FinovateSpring 2010 http://bit.ly/finovate8111
SmartyPig lets you share progress towards your goal. Twitter and Facebook integration allow users to share their progress towards goals. http://bit.ly/finovate894
Sybase 365 upgrades m-banking platform. Version 3.0 was released August 9. http://bit.ly/finovate8102
The Receivables Exchange announces 300% YTD growth. The company allows firms of all sizes to sell receivables to improve cash flow. http://bit.ly/finovate8112
TransFS raises $510,000 for credit card processing comparison site. The TechCrunch story indicates that TransFS hopes to replicate for business what BillShrink has done for consumers. http://tcrn.ch/finovate893  

Alumni News – Week of March 1

Here are the news headlines we posted recently on our Finovate Twitter feed (follow it here).

Acculynk Provides Debit Payment System for Ritz Interactive — Acculynk will provide its PaySecure debit payment service to Ritz Interactive. The service, which allows consumers to make PIN-based debit transactions online, is being deployed on 16 Ritz e-commerce sites. http://bit.ly/aE5DlD

FIRST ROI Joins BancVue — FIRST ROI, which develops interactive products for financial institutions, is joining its parent company BancVue and changing its name to BancVue Interactive. http://bit.ly/auuovg

NFCNews Covers Bling Nation’s Mobile Payments Pilot ProgramBling Nation is testing its mobile payments program in Colorado. According to the NFCNews report, about 500 customers of The State Bank of La Junta use Bling Tags – tiny chips attached to their cell phones – in order to make debit purchases at more than 50 participating businesses in the Colorado town. Bling Nation authenticates the transactions over cell phone networks. About half the bank’s customers have signed up for the service. http://bit.ly/bqHhMa

Financial Institutions Adopting POPMoney — CashEdge announced that more than 100 financial institutions will add its POPMoney person-to-person payment service to their customer options by the end of the second quarter of 2010. POPMoney allows payment transactions over e-mail and mobile services. http://bit.ly/aNNazq

Fiserv Introduces Boardroom Series — Fiserv announced a new information service for its clients. Called the Fiserv Boardroom Series, the service provides clients with research data and business advice from a series of subject matter experts. The Series will include videos, webinars, and white papers. http://bit.ly/9hEA8J

Fiserv Study on Gen Y Banking Habits — Research conducted by Fiserv shows that members of Generation Y are frequent users of online and mobile financial services. Gen Y also favors debit cards over credit cards and is more comfortable with Internet-based services than previous generations. http://bit.ly/cLbHBu

Firethorn Expands its Mobile Offering to More Banks — Firethorn has updated its mobile banking app to allow consumers to access their accounts at more than 3,700 US financial institutions. Previously, Firethorn’s mobile banking solution only worked with institutions that were integrated Firethorn providers. http://bit.ly/apbePC (Finovate blog entry here.)

Geezeo to Provide PFM & Social Tools to Vantage Credit Union — Vantage Credit Union selected Geezeo to provide additional online tools to its Internet banking services. Vantage members now have access to Geezeo’s customizable online personal finance management and social networking platform. http://bit.ly/9tHqWH

iPay Technologies Announces Invoicing System — iPay Technologies announced Billpayperless, a new electronic invoicing and receivables management product for small businesses. The system allows small business owners to receive electronic payments through credit cards or PayPal accounts. http://bit.ly/9C9hUb

iThryv Rebrands to Alkami Technology — iThryv announced on March 2 that it has completed the transition to its new corporate identity, Alkami Technology. Under the new name, the company will focus on providing online banking solutions for the financial services industry. http://bit.ly/domtAa

Mint Giving Away Apple iPad — Mint.com is encouraging people to follow the company on Facebook by giving away a free Apple iPad. The winner will be selected on March 17. http://bit.ly/cvRsPi

Prosper Launches Talk Taboo Website — On March 3, Prosper launched its new Talk Taboo website. The site allows users to share personal finance stories. The site offers a debt consolidation guide and is running an introductory sweepstakes to encourage users. http://bit.ly/9SuG02

TradeKing Launches Mobile Trading Site — Online broker TradeKing announced a new mobile trading site. After activating the mobile features, clients can access TradeKing from any mobile at http://m.tradeking.com to get stock quotes, check account balances, and place trades. http://bit.ly/b4GRrP

Tyfone Announces MicroSD Secure Digital Memory Cards — Tyfone announced the completion of its SideTap micro secure digital (MicroSD) memory cards, which will become available to consumers in the second half of 2010. The memory cards, which carry financial information, can be used in mobile phones and accessed at contactless payment terminals, creating an electronic wallet. http://bit.ly/9wi5aR

WorkLight to Host Widget Webinar — On March 16, 2010, WorkLight will host a webinar entitled, “5 Questions You Should Answer Before Launching Widget Banking.” The webinar will cover widget technology and its impact on the banking world, as well as providing discussion on implementation. http://bit.ly/d7LhDz

Zecco Updates Website with New Tools — Online broker Zecco has rebuilt its website to offer new data tools for investors. New additions to the site include real-time quotes, charting tools, and real-time portfolio monitoring. http://bit.ly/aYghMi

Firethorn’s Mobile App Now Provides Customer Access to 3,700 Financial Institutions


Firethorn_logo.gifFirethorn
has updated its mobile banking app to allow consumers to access accounts at more than 3,700 US financial institutions. Previously, Firethorn’s mobile banking solution only worked with institutions that were integrated Firethorn providers. Firethorn’s provides apps for iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Java devices.

By creating a mobile interface for existing online banking platforms, Firethorn provides
 
consumers with mobile services even if their bank doesn’t support them. Firethorn’s app also
 allows users to access account information from multiple institutions through a single mobile interface. (Finovate2009 video here).

Thumbnail image for Firethorn_CellPicture.jpgFirethorn isn’t the only company with this type of mobile offering; Pageonce, Mint and Wesabe all provide similar functionality.

How it Works

1. Users can download the free app using their mobile device or from online at their platform’s app store. Firethorn also provides instructions for downloading at mobilebanking.com. (See screenshot #1, below.)

2. After downloading, users launch the app and search for financial institutions. The app provides information on enrolling for mobile service with the various institutions covered. For example, searching for Bank of America leads to an “enroll now” button, along with the information that mobile enrollment is not valid for California, Washington, and Idaho. Choosing USAA requires you to contact the bank to enroll and provides a web address and phone number (screenshot #2).

3. Once enrolled, consumers can log in to check their financial account balances, see their latest transactions, and track if payments have cleared. Financial institutions providing integrated Firethorn services may offer additional services, such as paying bills and transferring funds. Firethorn partners can also offer person-to-person payments from within the mobile banking app, powered by CashEdge’s POPMoney technology.

Firethorn is owned by wireless technology company Qualcomm. Firethorn makes its money by providing its partners with a secure mobile banking system. Expanding its network beyond its current list of integrated partners brings the company’s app to a wider range of consumers.

#1. Downloading Instructions are Provided for the App


Firethorn_Instructions.png 

#2. Search in the App for the Bank, and Follow the Enrollment Instructions

FirethornPhoneShots.png