Finovate

Announcing the First FinovateAsia Ever this November in Singapore

2012-05-31T02:00:04Z

We are very excited to formally announce that the inaugural FinovateAsia conference will take place in Singapore this November 6th.

As a leading global financial center, the largest port in the world, and a growing hub for entrepreneurs, Singapore is the ideal place for Finovate's first Asian conference.

The conference will showcase the best new fintech ideas from across Asia via our signature demo-only format to an audience of senior financial executives, influential press, leading entrepreneurs and deep-pocketed investors.

If you'd like to apply to demo your company's latest fintech innovation at the event, please email us at demo@finovate.com for more details.

If you'd like to guarantee your seat to this event, tickets are now available at the low pre-sale price of S$595 on the FinovateAsia website.

I'll be in Singapore next week (June 5-8) to meet with potential partners, sponsors and presenters. If you're interested in meeting up to hear more about FinovateAsia, please drop me a note directly at eric@netbanker.com.

Thanks and we hope to see you in Singapore in November!

FinovateAsia 2012 is sponsored by: The Bancorp Inc. & Citi Ventures

FinovateAsia 2012 is partners with: BankInnovation, BankerStuff, Celent, Finance on Windows & PYMNTS.com

doxo Adds Mobile Bill Pay, Launches Android App

2012-05-30T20:51:05Z

Online filing cabinet, doxo, recently announced its biggest development since it presented at FinovateSpring 2011. The Seattle-based startup is rolling out a new mobile bill payment solution, along with a new app for Android users.

The new solution, doxoPAY, allows Android and Apple users to receive and pay their bills from select providers on one platform with a single username and password. The largest providers include:

AT&T
Puget Sound Energy
Sound Community Bank
Sprint

Users can pay any of doxo's providers by simply viewing their bill and selecting Pay.

To learn more about doxo, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

Finovate Alumni News-- May 30, 2012

2012-05-30T16:28:28Z

Tradeshift to Offer Taulia's Dynamic Discounting.

Startup Beat interviews CoverHound CEO, Basil Enan.

Acculynk and National Payments Corporation of India Announce Internet PIN Debit Partnership.

miiCard Launches Twitter Trust Campaign By Verifying Real Identities.

PaySimple Named Red Herring Americas Top 100 Winner.

Financial Post discusses Kashoo's mobile distribution strategy.

High Beam Research reports on DoughMain's financial education pointers.

TechCrunch reports BOKU Scales Up, Will Power Carrier Billing For In-App Payments In The T-Mobile Mall.

CU Times reports MoneyDesktop Adds 17 Credit Unions as PFM Users.

Check Point Introduces New Security Acceleration Module with Advanced SecurityCore Technology for High Performance in Low Latency Environments.

CNN Money Launches New Investing Home Page with StockTwits Trending Tickers.

Advocate's Studio recommends Enloop for when you need a fast business plan.

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.

Tradeshift to Offer Taulia's Dynamic Discounting

2012-05-29T22:35:58Z

Last week, online invoicing company Tradeshift, and dynamic discounting platform, Taulia, announced a partnership aimed to ease the invoicing process for both buyers and sellers.

The partnership will enable businesses of all sizes to manage e-invoicing and Dynamic Discounting through a single platform.

Taulia CEO, Bertram Meyer, states:

"This alliance with Tradeshift is exciting, as it brings their excellent supplier facing solutions, as well as our best-in-class dynamic discounting right into SAP, and allows a richer, real, right-now solution for SAP users while extending savings and benefits to Tradeshift's customer network."

To learn more about Tradeshift and Taulia, watch Tradeshift's FinovateEurope 2012 demo and Taulia's FinovateSpring 2012 demo (coming soon).

SecureKey Brings in $30 Million

2012-05-29T21:57:00Z

Late last week, Toronto-based SecureKey announced that it raised $30 million in growth capital. Intel Capital, an investment arm of Intel Corp., lead the round. SecureKey has been working with Intel Corp to deploy its solutions in Intel Identity Protection Technology for Ultrabook devices.

Other investors include:

Visa Inc.
MasterCard
Discover Financial Services
Rogers Venture Partners LLC, an early-stage funding source backed by Rogers Communications Inc.
TELUS Corporation

The security technology company states that it plans to use the new round to fund the commercial rollout of its innovative online and mobile authentication solutions.

To learn more about SecureKey, watch its FinovateEurope 2011 demo.

Finovate Alumni News-- May 29, 2012

2012-05-29T18:49:36Z

Lovemoney.com releases new iPhone app.

GeekWire examines Bobber Interactive's move to hire a behavioral economist.

Des Monies Register reports Entrepreneur magazine includes Dwolla in '100 Brilliant Companies' list.

TechCrunch reports PayPal rolls out to 15 more national retailers, announces deals with 6 top POS software and terminal makers.

Payments Journal reports Acculynk to Pilot P2P Product.

Kabbage named Red Herring Americas Top 100 Winner.

CHOICE Savings Division of IDEON Financial Solutions releases new self-service multi channel solution.

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 Report Published: Best New Products at FinovateSpring 2012

2012-05-25T17:34:20Z

Since we started the Finovate conference series we've spent considerable time before each show selecting the companies, walking through demos, and blogging/tweeting about each one. But we've never done a full wrap-up and analysis afterwards.

Until now. Introducing our latest report:

The Best New Products at
FinovateSpring 2012

This post-show wrap-up is designed to help those that weren't there get a better understanding of the major themes. And for those that were in attendance, it's a box score to compare with your own notes and impressions.

In the report, we looked at the three big trends that emerged at FinovateSpring:

Mobile 2.0: The feature set expands
Ad-supported banking gets real
Alt-banking: The rise of the "near bank" catering to the underserved

And we profiled each of the seven companies voted Best of Show by the attendees at the event (note 1):

__________________________________________________________________

About the report
__________________________________________________________________

The Best New Products at FinovateSpring (link)
Includes a look at all seven Best of Show winners

Author: Jim Bruene, Editor & Founder

Published: 22 May 2012

Length: 48 pages, 12,000 words

Cost: No extra charge to OBR subscribers, US$195 for others here

The printed version will be mailed to subscribers next week

_________________________________________________________________

Notes:
1. See Best of Show methodology here.

2. Online Banking Report focuses on the future of financial and banking technology. The Report has been published monthly since 1995 and is read by financial services executives in more than 50 countries. In addition, we organize the groundbreaking Finovate conference series which showcases the most innovative new ideas and technologies in finance and banking. Learn more here.

Mitek Hits $10 Billion in Mobile Deposits

2012-05-24T22:25:28Z

Mitek announced last week that $10 billion in total deposits have been made with its mobile remote deposit capture technology.

Additional metrics released by the company:

Transaction volume increased 140% from July to December of 2011
Has signed agreements with 333 financial institutions
The largest 8 U.S. banks (by assets) use its mobile services

To learn more about Mitek, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

Finovate Alumni News-- May 24, 2012

2012-05-24T20:16:08Z

Bank Technology News reports WattzOn Helps Banks Help Customers Save on Energy Bills.

Fast Company reports Personal Capital's beautiful app convinces the wealthy to trust their money to strangers.

TechCrunch reports that Mint.com updated its app to allow users to split transactions.

Crain'sNewYorkBusiness.com describes how BillGuard fits into the Big Data scene.

How DCisions, Personal Capital, SigFig, FutureAdvisor, and Jemstep Are Shaking Up Wealth Management.

Klarna adds Nigel Morris, co-founder of Capital One, and Anton Levy, MD of General Atlantic, to its board of directors.

Westmoreland Community FCU chooses Geezeo for PFM.

StockTwits debuts new social signals features.

Kony Solutions announces $15 million series C financing.

Mitek enables $10 billion worth of mobile deposits.

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.

Kony Solutions Announces $15 Million Series C Financing

2012-05-24T17:55:46Z

As we mentioned back on May 17, Kony Solutions, a mobile application development program, recently raised $15 million in Series C funding.

The round was lead by Insight Venture Partners, a firm in New York that contributed $19.1 million to Kony's Series A round back in January of 2011.

Kony plans to use the money to:

Deploy new sales and marketing programs
Expand regionally
Hire more employees

This new round will bring Kony's total funding to almost $39 million.

To learn more about Kony, watch its FinovateFall 2010 demo.

How DCisions, Personal Capital, SigFig, FutureAdvisor, and Jemstep Are Shaking Up Wealth Management

2012-05-23T22:58:39Z

The wealth management industry has seen increased press coverage lately. Take, for example, The Economist's recent piece discussing how increased competition from startups has tempted clients into moving assets to lower-cost alternatives.

The article mentions DCisions, a startup tackling the big data around client portfolios. It also highlights Personal Capital, which launched at FinovateFall. The Economist states that the startup's online platform:

"... tries to straddle the world between cheap online wealth management and the old world of private banking"

Aside from the cost, one of the largest benefits of moving your

millions into a startup like Personal Capital is that the investment advice is unbiased. This is a topic that Business Insider covered last week, voicing concerns that clients' brokers are "royally screwing them over."

The article states:

"With no other fees to compare your own to, you could wind up paying for far more than you should - especially if your broker's working on commission."

To ease this concern, the article recommends using
DIY tools such as SigFig, FutureAdvisor, or Jemstep. These tools help you see how your funds are performing and how much you're paying in fees.

To learn more about these companies, watch DCisions' FinovateEurope 2012 demo, Personal Capital's FinovateFall 2011 demo, SigFig's FinovateFall 2011 demo, FutureAdvisor's FinovateSpring 2012 demo (coming soon), or Jemstep's FinovateSpring 2010 demo.

Finovate Alumni News-- May 23, 2012

2012-05-23T14:34:27Z

Arroweye Solutions announces 1Q of 2012 was its largest with 9 new clients & sales of over 2 million cards.

Check out this month's CEO interview with Lending Club's Renaud Laplanche.

ValidSoft partners with Adeptra to power a detection & prevention application that helps mitigate SIM card fraud.

eToro announces launch of mobile Trade Alerts app that creates actionable trade notifications.

Fast Company considers how Tradeshift could disrupt the banking industry.

TechCrunch reports: Wall Street Survivor Gamifies Financial Education With Help From Bunchball.

AdvisorOne reports BrightScope to propose universal performance standard for financial advisors.

Internet Evolution reports: Dwolla Could Speed Online Payments, If Banks Go Along.

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.

CEO Interview: Renaud Laplanche of Lending Club

2012-05-22T22:28:39Z

This month, we interviewed the CEO of Lending Club, Renaud Laplanche, to get a deeper understanding of the peer-to-peer lending platform and the leadership behind it.

Lending Club is a three-time demoing company at Finovate, taking the stage at the first Finovate in 2007, Finovate 2008, and FinovateStartup 2009.

Finovate: What's the biggest hurdle you've overcome at Lending Club?

Laplanche: Lending Club has achieved enormous success--we are now the dominant market leader with 75% market share, issuing over $40 million in loans each month--but the road to success has not been without challenges. One of the biggest hurdles was simply convincing people that lending money to strangers over the Internet could be a safe and profitable way to invest. The challenge was compounded in October 2008 when the near-unprecedented credit crisis hit the country in full force: Would borrowers suffering from job losses and shrinking home values be able to repay the loans? Would investors experiencing staggering stock market declines be willing to invest in an unproven asset? We tightened our credit policy to focus on borrowers with good to excellent credit, and to generate momentum, I invested a significant amount of my own money to fund the first loans on the platform. These steps worked, and -- as we continued to deliver steady returns to investors -- Lending Club began attracting capital in record numbers.

Finovate: How have you dealt with Lending Club's growth?

Laplanche: We've had to move quickly to keep up with the pace, while balancing the borrowing and investing sides of the business. One of the ways we've managed growth is by making sure we have the best people in place to drive the company's continued evolution. For us, that has included recruiting a top-notch executive team with backgrounds in some of the world's finest financial institutions, as well as creating new roles for valued employees that enable them to thrive, grow and continue contributing to the company's success. We more than doubled year-over-year revenue for calendar year 2011, and added over 25 employees in 2011 bringing the company total to 78.

Finovate: How would you compare and contrast Lending Club to Prosper?

Laplanche: As the largest player in the space (75% share of the market), we have a wider breadth of products, and offer investors more liquidity and greater access to inventory. We also focus only on the top 10-20% of borrowers in terms of credit quality, which has allowed us to deliver predictability in the form of 19 consecutive quarters of positive returns. Our size has allowed us to develop products geared toward larger investors, including funds for accredited investors and separately managed accounts via LC Advisors, our wholly owned subsidiary. We have more of the tools, structures and controls that sophisticated investors expect.

Finovate: Can you share Lending Club's most recent user numbers?

Laplanche: We have have issued more than $600,000,000 in loans to over 50,000 borrowers. They choose Lending Club because we offer a convenient online process and our rates are 20-30% below traditional alternatives. The loans have been funded by nearly 80,000 registered investors, ranging from young individuals with a few thousand dollars, to high net worth individuals, family offices, hedge funds and insurance companies with several million dollars on the platform.

Finovate: What's the most surprising thing you've encountered since launching Lending Club?

Laplanche: That we have managed to successfully grow our platform during the worst recession since the great depression. At a time when banks stopped lending, mortgages were defaulting at record rates and investors were getting hammered by the market, we managed to continue to issue millions in loans and deliver great results to investors. We have come out of that period incredibly strong; with a stress tested credit model that is now attracting significant investor capital.

Finovate: How do you personally use Lending Club?

Laplanche: I've been an investor on the platform since Lending Club's inception, funding a significant number of the initial loans with my own money to help kick-start the business.

Finovate: How do you ease investor concerns of faulty borrowers?

Laplanche: The annualized default rate for our Prime Consumer Notes is around 3% -- comparable to most banks which make loans to highly credit worthy individuals. We keep our default rate to a minimum by issuing loans to the most credit worthy individuals - approving less than 10% of all applications -- and setting up automatic withdrawals from their bank accounts. When a payment issue occurs, our in-house team reaches out to work with consumers to get back on track. If our efforts fail we turn the loan over to a collections agency.

Finovate: Where do you see Lending Club evolving?

Laplanche: The market we address is truly staggering at a total $2.4 trillion in consumer credit... so there is no shortage of opportunities for new products and services which would benefit from our efficient model. Short term, we expect to pass $1 billion in loans originated this year, and will add employees to bring our total headcount more than 100.

Finovate: You've won the French sailing championship twice. Are you still able to make time for sailing?

Laplanche: The business keeps me busy, but we do host an annual Lending Club Regatta where we charter several sailboats and stage a race amongst employees. I am also a member of the St Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco and occasionally steal a day out on the bay with my family.

To learn more about Lending Club, watch its FinovateStartup 2009 demo. Stay tuned for another CEO interview next month.

Finovate Alumni News-- May 22, 2012

2012-05-22T17:11:06Z

Personal Capital updates privacy and security policy.

ReadyForZero announces its iPhone app.

Geezeo signs Westmoreland Community Federal Credit Union.

Bobber Interactive adds Scott Rigby, Ph.D, Founder of Immersyve Inc., to its executive team.

Mortgagebot launches consumer loan product to automate mortgage & consumer loan origination.

Pawtucket Credit Union selects Q2ebanking for ebanking services.

Virtual Piggy appoints best-selling author, Stedman Graham, to its board of advisors.

MyBankTracker comments on Money Desktop's integration of Deals into a PFM.

Mobile Payments Today looks at the CSI globalVCard.

Business2Community looks at Linkable Networks' technology.

Crain's Chicago Business covers Kabbage's Social Klimbing.

Acculynk announces a UX upgrade to their graphical PIN pad.

Luup powers National Bank of Abu Dhabi's real-time international account-to-account money transfer service via mobile.

Figlo wins Best Demo award.

SoMoLend wins Startup 2012 business pitch competition.

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-- May 21, 2012

2012-05-21T17:50:56Z

CU Times reports Ensenta & MShift partner in joint mobile banking & RDC deployment at 5 CUs.

Pacific Daily News recommends Mint.com Buxfer, or Budgetpulse for new grads to keep track of spending.

BankNXT looks at FinovateSpring Best of Show demos and Simple's new app.

Taulia & SAP partner for dynamic discounting services.

Seattle's KOMO News covers BillGuard.

Wall Street Journal suggests Mint, Credit Karma, HelloWallet & LearnVest as tools for financial novices.

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.