Alumni News– August 25, 2014

• San Antonio Federal Credit Union to integrate Geezeo PFM technology.

• On Deck partners with Worldpay to provide access to financing for small and medium-sized merchants.

• PaymentsSource features Dynamics ePlate among its list of “7 unusual emerging payments technologies.”

• Drippler.com reviews BillGuard.

• Top Image Systems announces patent for full page mobile image processing.

• The New York Times profiles Financial Guard, Motif, Betterment, FutureAdvisor, Jemstep, SigFig and Wealthfront .

• InStream Solutions launches comparison tool.

• Moven expands internationally, signs deal with New Zealand-based Westpac.

• HuffPo profiles Prosper, Lending Club, and Kabbage in column on the rise of online lending.

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– August 15, 2014

• Check out our latest CEO Interview: Paul Doyle of VerifyValid.

• Credit.com releases new version of its iPhone mobile app.

• Pymnts: EBay in talks to accept Bitcoin through its Braintree unit.

• Pymnts compares DoubleBeam to the Merchant Customer Exchange.

• GoBank now holds mobile check deposits for less than 10 days.

• Forbes features multiple Finovate financial management and wealth planning alums: LearnVest, Personal Capital, FutureAdvisor, SigFig, Wealthfront, Betterment, Motif, and Kapitall.

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– August 6, 2014

• Yahoo! Germany looks at financial innovation in Kreditech.

• Prosper earns a spot on the 2014 AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies roster.

• Feedzai launches anti-fraud, transaction scoring apps for Shopify and Big Commerce.

• Forbes.com features Betterment, FutureAdvisor, Kapitall, LearnVest, Motif Investing, Personal Capital, SigFig, and Wealthfront in a discussion on Millennial generation investment habits.

• Radius unveils its new website.

• Richard Hagen, CEO of TradeKing Advisors, named to WealthManagement.com’s “Ten to Watch in 2015”.

• Insuritas announces partnership with Financial Partners CU to open and manage its turnkey insurance solution.

• Bank Innovation highlights alums SigFig and Ripple in a discussion on “8 under the radar fintech startups you should know.”

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– July 29, 2014

• Concur partners with Uber to allow Concur users to link their accounts and automatically send Uber receipts to their expense reports.

• The Financial Brand looks at opportunity for banks and credit unions in the Loop Visa partnership. 

• Open Bank Project making its API available during hackathon in September.

• TechCrunch explores Pellucid Analytics’ take on PowerPoint pitch books.

• Seed Me! Thinknum raises $1 million in seed funding round.

• Feature on robo-advisors highlights seven alums: Betterment, Financial Guard, FutureAdvisor, Jemstep, Personal Capital, SigFig, and Wealthfront.

• Macwelt reviews banking app Numbrs.

• Bank Systems & Technology points to Moven as a nontraditional financial service provider “gunning” for banks.

• Xero partners with MarketInvoice to bring faster funding to UK businesses.

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– June 9, 2014

• Five Weeks to SixThirty: Accelerator Program Sets July 11th Deadline.

• VerifyValid announced partnership with Lake Michigan Credit Union.

• ACI Worldwide’s Point to Point Encryption solution adopted by Ecentric Payment Systems in South Africa.

• Chicago Tribune’s Blue Sky Innovation column takes a look at fraud detection innovator, Rippleshot.

• NYmag features fintech from FinovateSpring 2014.

• E27 looks at PlayMoolah’s Indiegogo campaign.

• Cortera to bring its business credit risk management to Equipment Street’s marketplace.

• Weight Watchers selects Kony to power mobile point of sale capabilities.

• CoinDesk interviews Fidor Bank COO Michael Maier on the Munich-based bank’s decision to use Ripple Labs to move money.

• Financial Guard, FutureAdvisor, Betterment, Jemstep, SigFig, and Wealthfront make Kiplinger’s Best Online Advisory list.

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 News– March 12, 2014

• Fiserv digital banking solutions to be deployed at Finger Lakes Federal Credit Union.

• ACI Worldwide launches latest version of UP BASE24-eps to enable “any-to-any” real-time payments.

• Market Platform Dynamics CEO Karen Webster interviews Aron Schwarzkopf, CEO of Leaf.

• The Guardian ranks Toshl among its top ten free apps for students.

• Fiserv and MasterCard reach agreement to support adoption of debit EMV technology.

• PromotedApp features VerifyValid’s multi-purpose, electronic checkbook.

• TechCrunch: SigFig hires Financial Engines exec Steve Lifgren to build out its operations team.

• The Start reports: Revenue loans like the ones from Lighter Capital are new way for tech firms to raise cash.

• Actiance launches Socialite Feature Control, a new licensing option, in response to SEC ruling.

• Credit Sesame launches premium services to better protect people’s credit and identity.

• Cachet Financial Solutions acquires prepaid mobile platform business unit from DeviceFidelity.

• Top Image Systems launches MobiREMIT, mobile remittance processing to streamline and accelerate payment processing.

• Guide Financial to provide software for the more than 300 advisory firms in the Garrett Planning Network.

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 News– December 19, 2013

• The Chicago Tribune lists Planwise, SigFig, Jemstep and FindaBetterBank as tools to fix your finances.

• peerTransfer announces record setting 2013, bringing total customer base to 400 institutions.

• MyBankTracker reviews Finovera.

• Tradeshift brings in $15 million of a $57 million equity round.

• Trustev brings in $500k from Notion Capital, Adding to the $3 Million it Garnered in October.

• Business2Community features PaySimple.

• Allied Payment Network teaming up with ACI Worldwide to provide same day bill pay via PicturePay.

• Klarna acquires Sofort to become 10% of Europe’s $100 billion e-commerce market.

• Les Muma, former Fiserv CEO, to join board of directors of FIS.

• UAE’s Bank of Sharjah to offer CR2’s BankWorld-powered mobile banking app.

• ayondo announces new features including open positions in profile view.

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 News– December 10, 2013

• Capital Access Network changes its name to CAN Capital.

• Compass Plus survey reflects declining support for NFC amid growing popularity of mobile channel.

• CFA Institute’s Inside Investing takes a look at Motif Investing and “the secret revolution in finance.”

• Gartner places NICE in leaders quadrant of the 2013 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Workforce Optimization.

• Wealthfront announces new ability to harvest losses on stocks that comprise an index.

• Fast Company features EyeVerify.

• Flint Mobile raises $2 million from Verizon Investments.

• Mint, Manilla, SigFig, Jemstep and Planwise featured in Kiplinger’s list of smart online tools to manage finances.

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 Driving Growth in Online Investment Advisory Industry

If an investment portfolio gets optimized through an online investment advisor, do brick and mortar brokers make a sound?

As noted in today’s Wall Street Journal, many of the kinds of services that once were accessible only by high net worth investors patronizing financial advisors and planners in person are now available to the rest of us. This includes everything from using computer algorithms to make investment decisions to automatic portfolio rebalancing and asset allocation.

And of the seven companies highlighted in the column for helping make this possible, every single one is a Finovate alum.

• Wealthfront (FinovateStartup 2009)
• Personal Capital (FinovateFall 2012)
• Jemstep (FinovateSpring 2013)
• FutureAdvisor (FinovateSpring 2012)
• Betterment (FinovateFall 2011)
• SigFig (FinovateFall  2011)
• LearnVest (FinovateFall 2012)

In fact, two of the seven – FutureAdvisor and LearnVest – will be demoing their latest technology on the Finovate stage in New York next week for FinovateFall 2013.

The reasons for the growth in online investment advisory are as varied as the companies themselves. Some cite a new generation of investors far more comfortable with both handling their own finances and trusting the Internet to help. Others suggest that with Wall Street falling into disfavor in the wake of the financial crisis, more investors are willing to seek out non-traditional – and less expensive – sources of information and advice.

Bill Doyle, an analyst for Forrester Research who has studied the industry for more than a decade and is quoted in the column, puts it this way: “I’m paying a lot more attention this time around because the software required to transform this industry finally works.”

Whatever the reason, there’s no doubt that venture capitalists believe this time is different. Consider the funding success of the above seven companies in the past two years ago:

• Wealthfront – Raised $20M in March 2013 
• Personal Capital – Raised $25M in June 2013 
• Jemstep – Raised $6M in February 2012
• FutureAdvisor – Raised $5M in August 2012
• Betterment – Raised $10M in October 2012
• SigFig – Raised $15M in July 2013
• LearnVest – Raised $16.5 in July 2013

Note also that Wealthfront, which helps get investors into low-cost diversified portfolios, has assets under management (AUM) of $300 million. Betterment has a similar model and has AUM of $250 million.

Finovate Alumni News– August 8, 2013

• Kofax announces completion of Kapow Technologies acquisition.

• ACI Worldwide cites role of their Universal Payments Platform in net new bookings growth for 2013 in this week’s Q2 report.

• SigFig launches iPad app.

• The New York Times looks at Lending Club, Prosper, Zopa, On Deck, SocietyOne, and Kabbage as significant lending platforms.

• Finextra reports: PayPal trials new geolocation payment service in London.

• Leadfusion launches new RESPONSE interface for Premium Financial Tools.

• Finect Founder Jennifer Openshaw moderates Best Practices in Compliant Social Media webinar. See Finect demo at FinovateFall 2013 in New York.

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.