Finovate Alumni News — July 8, 2013

• TSYS announces multi-year agreement to bring debit card services to KBC Bank in Ireland.

• Inman News’s Real Estate Connect column includes Realty Mogul in its list of companies likely to benefit from passage of the JOBS Act.

• Swipely’s Amanda MacArthur talks strategies for serving millennials.

• Bank Innovation’s Hornblass takes a close look at Intuit’s decision to sell its IFS unit to Thoma Bravo.

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.

Second Quarter 2013 Funding for Finovate Alumni — More than $200 Million Raised

For the second quarter of 2013, fifteen Finovate alumni raised more than $200 million. The quarterly total exceeded both that of the previous quarter as well as the same quarter last year.*

• Q2 2013: 15 companies raised more than $200 million
• Q1 2013: 15 companies raised more than $155 million — blog post
• Q2 2012: 14 companies raised more than $120 million — blog post

Here’s the Q2 summary for 2013:

April — $32 million raised by two companies

• Credit Karma: $30 million — blog post
• Zooz: $2 million — blog post

May — $91.5 million raised by seven companies

• Cardlytics: $40 million — blog post
• Dwolla: $16.5 million — blog post
• OnDeck: $17 million — blog post
• OpenCoin: undisclosed — blog post
• SumUp: undisclosed — blog post
• Swipely: $12 million — blog post
• TransferWise: $6 million — blog post

June — $81.7 million raised by six companies

• Affinity Solutions: $21 million — blog post
• Kony Solutions: $18.3 million — blog post
• peerTransfer: $6.4 million — blog post
• Personal Capital: $25 million — blog post
• Receivables Exchange: $10 million — blog post
• SeedInvest: $1 million — blog post

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*While the funding over last year has increased, so has the number of Finovate alums. We’re tracking more than 100 additional companies this year compared to last year.

Note: Funding that companies received before they demonstrated at Finovate was not counted. Questions? Comments? Email us at julie@finovate.com or david@finovate.com.

Finovate Alumni News– May 22, 2013

• Bangor Daily News blogger interviews CashStar CEO Steven Boal.

• Service2Media announces implementation of mobile app development platform.

• Locaid CEO Rip Gerber wins CTIA “Ingenious Innovator” award for product and service innovation.

• Temenos unveils DataSource, their new enterprise data management system.

• Take a peek at the new look of Comarch Smart Finance.

• Swipely earns $12 million in Series B funding.

• Big banks boost Capital Access Network’s lending capacity by more than 50%.

• SimpleTuition announces $4 million Series D round.

• Wipit powered wallet now available to Boost Mobile customers.

• Pandai brings on John Porter as Chairman.

• PandoDaily reports: Google closes Checkout, pushing thousands of merchants into Braintree’s arms.

• Cardlytics pulls in $40 million.

• Arxan’s mobile app integrity protection platform now supports the Tizen OS, protecting Tizen apps from cyber threats.

• eToro reaches 50 million trades landmark.

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.

Swipely Earns $12 Million in Series B Funding

Shasta Ventures led the financing round. Joining them were current investors First Round Capital, Greylock Partners, and Index Ventures.

Swipely plans to use the $12 million in new capital to help finance growth nationwide, as well as building the network of merchants who use their payment marketing technology. This latest round of funding brings the company’s total to more than $20 million.

Some additional metrics:

• Manages more than $700 million in annual sales.
• Maintains service to merchants in 130 cities and towns in the U.S.
• Provides consumer behavior analytics on more than 2 million customers

Swipely targets merchants with more than $30,000 in monthly credit card sales.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Swipely launched its Payment Marketing solution in 2012. The company earned a spot on Forbes’ list of “America’s Most Promising Companies” and was named one of the “Best Places to Work in Rhode Island” by Providence Business News.

Swipely was among the companies to debut its technology at FinovateSpring 2012. See its demo here.

Swipely Adds Two Features: Campaign Insights and Reputation Management

Customer loyalty management platform, Swipely announced today that it is adding two new features in May, merchants in more than 100 cities nationwide will be able to access these features for free:

1) Campaign Insights
This will help companies measure the impact that online and offline marketing campaigns have on sales. This includes:

• Event-based campaigns
• Twitter and Facebook marketing (see 1 below)
• Customer reviews from Yelp and Google (see 2 below)

Campaign Insights conducts follow-up monitoring after the marketing campaigns conclude, in order to determine how many customers return over time (see 3 below).

2) Reputation Management
Swipely provides one platform from which small businesses can manage their reputation, including the capability to:

• Monitor and manage their online reputation on Google, Yelp and OpenTable (see 1 below)
• Engage with specific customers and address their online reviews directly from Swipely
• Compare reputation with other businesses (see 2 below)

Swipely is currently managing more than $500 million in annual sales and provides merchants with insight into the behavior of nearly 1.5 million customers. This represents 100% growth in just the last quarter.

To learn more about Swipely, watch its FinovateSpring 2012 demo.

Finovate Alums Make America’s Most Promising Companies List

According to Forbes, four of the 100 most promising companies in the United States right now aren’t just fintech companies. They are Finovate alumni, as well.

Of the four, Lending Club is the highest rated, earning the number 12 spot in Forbes‘s “America’s Most Promising Companies” roster. Also making the top 50 was Boku, with alumni On Deck Capital and Swipely helping round out the list.

Interestingly, Swipely CEO Angus Davis recently made a “most promising” list of his own.  Davis was featured along with more than 20 of his peers in a profile of “America’s Most Promising CEOs Under 35” also compiled by Forbes.

Here’s a closer look at the alumni featured.

Lending Club

• Rank: 12
• Revenue: $16 million
• Employees: 125
• Demo video

Boku

• Rank: 38
• Revenue: $195 million
• Employees: 115
• Demo video

On Deck Capital

• Rank: 94
• Revenue: $37 million
• Employees: 152
• Demo video

Swipely

• Rank: 95
• Revenue: $1 million
• Employees: 36
• Demo video

Swipely Expands Payment Acceptance Platform for Local Merchants

Payment acceptance and rewards platform, Swipely, announced its Winter 2013 release this week.

The release brings three main upgrades:

1) Swipely’s CRM tool automatically updates a customer’s information each time they pay using a credit card. The tool creates a profile for credit-paying customers that details total money spent, number of transactions, average spend, and the customer’s lifetime value.

2) Tablet-optimized merchant dashboard that now includes:

• Simpler to use platform
• Analytics on a store-by-store basis or in aggregate for retailers with multiple locations
• Heat Map that indicates sales performance by hour
• Daily Journal that shows merchants how weather, Facebook posts, and other factors impact buying patterns

3) Expanded support of POS middleware solutions, including:

• Breadcrumb
• Comcash
• Dinerware
• First Data
• Focus
• Isis POS
• PC Charge 
• Authorize.net
• Many others

The Rhode Island-based company has already upgraded existing merchants to the new release, and interested merchants will be upgraded with no extra cost.

In addition, Swipely informed me that it recently crossed the threshold of a quarter billion dollars in processing.

To learn more about Swipely, watch its FinovateSpring 2012 demo.

Swipely Launches Payment Marketing Platform

Afterwards, Swipely debuted its payment marketing platform:

Swipely’s payment marketing platform will combine payment processing with loyalty, offers, and analytics. This enables businesses to leverage expenses they already incurred through payment processing.

Product Launched: FinovateSpring 2012

HQ Location: Providence, RI

Company Founded: August 2009

Metrics: 35 employees, $8.5 million raised

Website: swipely.com

Introducing Angus Davis (Founder & CEO)

Swipely Launches Main Street Marketing Manager

Small business loyalty rewards platform,Swipely, released a tool called Main Street Marketing Manager today.

The tool uses customer spending data to design direct email marketing campaigns that aim to bring repeat customers and win back lost customers.

Because merchants are not required to use additional hardware or software and consumers can pay as they normally would, its easy for small businesses to implement. Swipely is available in Boston, New York, Providence, and San Francisco.

To learn more about Swipely, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo and come to FinovateSpring in San Francisco May 8-9 to see its latest innovation.

Finovate Alumni News– March 27, 2012

• SimpleTuition’s PayBackSmarter.com now used by over 40 colleges & universities.

• Meniga’s PFM goes live within Skandibanken’s online bank in Norway.

• Mobile Enterprise Strategies interviews Kony’s VP of Mobile Strategies, Sam Lakkundi.

• Super Sprowtz to implement Virtual Piggy’s child-safe e-commerce tool.

• Swipely launches Main Street Marketing Manager.

• Seeking Alpha passes 1 million members, doubles its size in less than 2 years.

• ThreatMetrix lands $18 million in Series D funding.

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.