Intuit’s $7 Billion Bid for Credit Karma; FinovateEurope Salutes its Best of Show

Intuit’s $7 Billion Bid for Credit Karma; FinovateEurope Salutes its Best of Show
Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom from Pexels

How’s $7 billion for good karma? One of Finovate’s earliest alums Credit Karma is reportedly the target of what would be Intuit’s biggest acquisition to date. According to The Wall Street Journal, the cash and stock deal could be announced as early as Monday.

Credit Karma will continue to function as an independent company with founder and CEO Kenneth Lin at the helm. The acquisition gives Intuit, maker of online tax filing service TurboTax, another contact point with the online personal finance world. Credit Karma provides its members with access to their credit scores and borrowing histories, helps them monitor their accounts for security breaches and, perhaps most relevantly, has offered a free online tax preparation service since 2017.

If the deal holds up, Intuit will be paying a significant premium for Credit Karma. The personal financial wellness company was last valued at $4 billion, based on a 2018 private market transaction.


With another Finovate conference in the books, our Finovate Best of Show ranks has a new set of members. Congratulations to Dorsum, Glia, Horizn, iProov, Sonect, and W.UP for taking home top honors earlier this month at FinovateEurope!

The victory may have been especially sweet for Sonect, whose Best of Show award-winning demo was also the company’s Finovate debut. The Switzerland-based start-up offers what it calls “the world’s first social cash network” that enables consumers to access cash without having to visit a bank branch or ATM. Sonect offers merchants the ability to grow their business via increased traffic and gives financial institutions a way to extend their ATM networks without the cost of additional hardware.

The Best of Show win was also a first for Horizn. The company, which made its Finovate debut three years ago at FinovateEurope, offers a platform that helps employees and customers maximize the opportunities of digitized financial services. Horizn uses simulator microlearning, as well as gamification and advanced analytics, to promote digital adoption across channels.

And last but not least, a special tip of the hat to Dorsum, Glia, iProov, and W.UP, all of whom won Best of Show honors at FinovateEurope for a second year in a row.


Here’s a round up of recent news from our Finovate alumni.

  • Larky enters reseller agreement with Access Softek.
  • Bison Bank in Lisbon, Portugal selects PSD2-ready software from ndigit.
  • Techround interviews Tradeshift co-founder Mikkel Hippe Brun.
  • Bremer Bank leverages Backbase’s digital-first banking platform to fuel digital transformation.
  • Paysend’s multi-currency global account launches in Europe.
  • Kinetica launches Kinetica Cloud.
  • Futurex taps ISARA to bring quantum-safe cryptography and crypto-agility into its Key Management Enterprise Server (KMES) Series 3.
  • With new FCA license, Meniga seeks to expand product offering.
  • StrategyCorps and Digital Onboarding partner to help banks grow checking account relationships.
  • Baker Hill renews partnership with Washington Trust Bank to streamline loan origination and portfolio risk management.
  • Aire launches Credit Insight Suite to improve access to credit.
  • Coinbase becomes Visa principal to offer more feature for Coinbase Card customers.
  • InComm partners with Eezi to launch Poundland’s gift card program.
  • Enveil secures $10 million in Series A funding for secure data collaboration.
  • Trulioo adds image capture SDK to Trulioo GlobalGateway.
  • Amaiz taps ValidSoft for voice authentication.
  • OurCrowd expands focus on growing early stage tech companies.

Finovate Alum Features and Profiles

eToro’s Evolution – Social trading and investment platform eToro has never been one to stand still for very long. The company’s development cycle is fast enough to make even the most sprightly fintech jealous.

Lending Club Snaps Up Radius Bank for $185 Million – When Lending Club was founded in 2007, the startup aimed to serve as a place to help borrowers avoid dealing with banks. In a somewhat ironic move today, that same startup is becoming a bank itself.

Breach Clarity’s New Offering Provides Consumers Personalized Protection – Fraud detection and prevention company Breach Clarity announced this week it has developed a new platform to help financial service providers offer personalized protection for their customers.

New SumUp Card Empowers SMEs as Business Payment Makers and Takers – The company that has helped bring fintech innovation to e-commerce with its mobile point-of-sale (mPOS), card reading solutions now offers merchants a card of their own.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Namaste Credit Becomes Challenger Bank.
  • Chatbots.Studio Partners with Yozobi. Check them out at FinovateFall later this month!
  • Credit Sesame Raises $43 Million in Advance of IPO.

Around the web

  • Salt Edge marks 400+ integrations with open banking APIs.
  • Payfone teams up with Digital Matrix Systems to help companies fight fraud.
  • Fenergo appoints Louise O’Connell to the newly created role of Chief Customer Officer.
  • StrategyCorps brings on former Geezeo executive, Bryan Clagett.

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

On Finovate.com

  • Fidor Solutions Brings on former ABN Amro Exec as CIO.
  • European Alums Shine in FinTechCity’s FinTech50 2017 Roster.
  • Klarna Receives Investment from Brightfolk
  • Newchip Helps New Investors Own a Piece of the Startup Economy.

Around the web

  • PSCU partners with Ethoca to improve CNP fraud loss recoveries for CUs.
  • Zopa opens development centre in Barcelona, Spain ahead of bank launch.
  • HedgeCoVest launches DEPLOY to handle day-to-day operations of separately managed accounts
  • StrategyCorps BaZing rewards-based mobile app has deployed nearly 400k geofences in conjunction with local deals
  • Western Union reveals pilot Coinbase integration.
  • DefenseStorm experiences 100% customer renewal rate for second consecutive year.
  • Moven fintech partnership wins CANSTAR Award for innovation excellence.

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.

BizEquity, Malauzai Take Top Honors at Bank Director’s FinXTech Awards

BizEquity, Malauzai Take Top Honors at Bank Director’s FinXTech Awards

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In fintech, to innovate is human. But to implement is divine.

That’s the takeaway from the FinXTech Awards, which recognized five fintech innovators not just for the technology they’ve created, but for the partnerships with banks to put their technology in the hands of customers.

Two of the five award winners at this year’s event are Finovate alums. BizEquity earned recognition for its work with Metro Bank, and Malauzai Software won its award through its work with Somerset Trust Company.

BizEquity“Part of our mission from the start has been to collaborate with financial services partners to strengthen their offering and facilitate their expansion,” BizEquity CEO Michael Carter said. “Increasingly we are seeing partnerships between banks and fintech companies as both realize the mutual benefit of such collaborations, we are excited to be at the forefront of this development.”

Malauzai logoMalauzai CPO Robb Gaynor similarly praised the benefits of bank/fintech partnerships: “We’re proud to work with innovative partners such as Somerset Trust, as these collaborative efforts between banks and fintech companies deliver numerous benefits to the overall industry.”

Additionally, three Finovate alums earned recognition as finalists.

  • Ignite Sales with Central Bancompany
  • StrategyCorps with First Financial Bank
  • Zopa with Metro Bank (U.K.)

The FinXTech Awards are sponsored by Bank Director, an information resource for directors and officers at FIs. The Awards were part of Bank Director’s annual FinTech Day held at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square on March 1.

Biz Equity demoed its BizEquity One U.K. solution at FinovateEurope 2015. Malauzai’s most recent Finovate appearance was at FinovateSpring 2015 where the company presented its Virtual Banking Experience technology.

Alumni News– July 8, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgTop Image Systems signs agreement to acquire cloud-based banking solutions provider, EGistics.
  • Prestadero raises more than $670K in series B funding round.
  • ACI Worldwide to bring electronic billpay to Southern Auto Finance Company (SAFCo).
  • P2Binvestor crowdlends $2 million line of credit to fellow Finovate alum.
  • Mike Branton of StrategyCorps discusses the “three big threes of checking” in CB Insight.
  • Lending Club facilitates $1 billion of loans in Q2 2014, which brings it to a total of $5 billion since its inception.
  • ReadyForZero announces two new resource centers: Get Out of Debt and Auto Loan Resources.
  • First American Credit Union hires Insuritas to launch insurance agency to build non-cyclical fee income.
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.

StrategyCorps’ BaZing Helps Bring Profitability to Checking Products

StrategyCorps’ BaZing Helps Bring Profitability to Checking Products
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This post is part of our live coverage of FinovateSpring 2014.

Next, StrategyCorps showed how its BaZing product brings non-banking benefits to consumers using checking products:
“BaZing delivers non-banking benefits like 300,000+ local and national merchant discounts, cell phone insurance, and roadside assistance via customizable and easy-to-integrate mobile and online platforms. In today’s consumer marketplace, there are millions already paying for these money-saving and personal protection-oriented benefits, proving these benefits are worth paying for. 
BaZing uses this fee worthiness to provide a customer acceptable fee-based mobile and online banking solution. BaZing’s innovation and financial productivity enhances commoditized mobile and online banking, undifferentiated consumer checking products.”
Presenting: Mike Branton (Managing Partner) and Dave DeFazio (Partner)
Product Launch: April 2012
Metrics: 46 employees, 1.5M users, over 200 financial institution clients
Product distribution strategy: Through financial institutions, through other fintech companies and platforms
HQ: Brentwood, TN
Founded: November 2001
Twitter: @StrategyCorps

FinovateSpring 2014 Sneak Peek: Part 4

FinovateSpring 2014 Sneak Peek: Part 4

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What’s the only thing better than getting to know 18 of the companies that will demoing at FinovateSpring 2014 less than a month from now?

Meeting six more.

Here’s the fourth installment of our FinovateSpring 2014 Sneak Peek series. In today’s edition, we’ll introduce you to a sextet of innovators in fields ranging from loan origination and in-store offers to mobile data capture, mobile banking, and mobile security.

If you missed any of our previous editions, the links below are a great way to get caught up. 
In the meanwhile, get ready to meet defi Solutions,Digital Retail Apps, Kofax, StrategyCorps, Rippleshot, and Vorstack. And to save your spot at FinovateSpring, April 29-30 in San Jose, California, click here to buy your ticket today.


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defi Solutions takes auto lending to the next level with its SaaS Loan Origination System that can be configured and launched within days not months.

Features:
  • Affordable, enterprise system completely configurable for auto lenders of all sizes
  • Accesible from mobile devices
  • Browser-based solution allowing lenders to focus on lending v.s. technology
Why it’s great: 
defy Solutions SaaS Loan Origination System allows auto lenders to configure the system to meet market demands without costly development time.
Presenters:
Stephanie Alsbrooks, Founder
Founded defi Solutions with the mission to overcome the auto lender challenge of choosing between dated, inefficient, out-of-the-box systems and costly, long-to-implement custom solutions.
Chris Holt, Senior Engineer, Automation

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Digital Retail AppsSelfPay is a platform to engage in-store shoppers. Shoppers scan items, view product details, and pay for their purchases on their own mobile devices.

Features:
  • Locates and welcomes the shopper using Beacon technology
  • Integrates with POS and merchant account
  • Offers lineup-free payments via shopper’s own device
Why it’s great:
We give in-store shoppers a natural shop + pay flow and merchants a way to engage in-moment while collecting deep insights into shopper in-store activity.
Presenter:
Wendy MacKinnon-Keith, CEO/Founder
Innovating by pushing payments into the background. Speaker at events such as SXSW and CNP; consulted to IBM, Nokia, Safeway, and others.

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Kofax’s Mobile Capture Platform is helping consumers better connect with retailers by automating the process of checking balances on their gift cards through the use of their smart phone or tablet.
Features:
  • Use mobile devices to automatically detect retail gift cards
  • Eliminate the process of manually entering accounts numbers
  • Give customers immediate access to account balances and other information
Why it’s great: 
The solution makes gaining access to gift card information more convenient for gift card issuers. It gives vendors a cost effective tool that helps them deliver better service and faster transactions.
Presenter:
Drew Hyatt, Senior Vice President of Mobile Applications
His team is responsible for driving the company’s mobile capture business on a worldwide basis.

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StrategyCorps’ BaZing expands basic mobile and online banking, connecting them closer to the way consumers use mobile and online financial services in their everyday lives.

Features:
  • Hundreds of thousands of local merchant discounts at your fingertips
  • Location-aware coupons and targeted notifications
  • A mobile financial services customer experience beyond basic mobile banking
Why it’s great:
BaZing boldly goes beyond basic mobile banking, delivering in-demand services that connect better with consumers and how they use their mobile phones every day.
Presenter:
Mike Branton, Managing Partner

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RippleShot detects credit card data breaches. Our cloud-based solution helps merchants and banks proactively stop fraud before it occurs.

Features:
  • Next Gen fraud prevention – stopping fraud before it occurs
  • 24/7 monitoring – detecting breaches faster
  • Early warning alerts – proactively protects merchants, consumers and credit card issuers
Why it’s great:
It’s not if you are going to be breached, it’s when. Rippleshot’s 24/7 monitoring proactively detects, mitigates and stops fraud before it occurs.
Presenters:
Canh Tran, Co-Founder and CEO
Has over 25 years of experience focused on big data and predictive analytics to solve sales, marketing, fraud and credit problems.
Lucas Ward, Co-Founder and COO
Is a proven technology leader. At Fundspire, Lucas created an innovative product to change the way hedge funds viewed and analyzed their data.

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Vorstack combats cyber threats with automated and collaborative threat intelligence. Brand-conscious organizations will lower risk, save money and protect intellectual property.

Features:
  • Automated analysis and correlation of disparate cyber threat information
  • Coordinated threat intelligence with industry and peers
  • Fine-tuned configurable control over shared threat info
Why it’s great:
Vorstach lowers the probability and cost of a cyber attack through automation and coordination. You’ll save time and money, and protect your brand.
Presenters:
Joe Eandi, JD, CEO and Co-Founder
Has served on executive management teams and boards, and was an attorney with Wilson Sonsini.
Mark Manning, VP Technical Services
Has founded and advised numerous startups, and held management roles at Trust Digital, ORBID, Phoenix Technologies, and British Telecom.

Be sure to join us next week for another installment of our FinovateSpring 2014 Sneak Peek series.

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Finovate Alumni News– January 17, 2013

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgAcculynk announces patent for PIN based, online authentication.
  • St. Louis Business Journal takes a look at miiCard’s chances at winning the FStech Award for “most disruptive financial services technology.”
  • Kapitall launches bonus program; $200 and 2,000 koins for new accounts.
  • The Financial Brand features Strategy CorpsBaZing.
  • Management Today interviews with Christian Laang, Tradeshift CEO.
  • CNBC highlights FutureAdvisor and how it can help you save on fees.
  • Kofax today announces availability of the Kofax Mobile Capture Platform.
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.

StrategyCorps’ BaZing Helps Financial Institutions Bring in Fee Income from Checking Accounts

This post is part of our live coverage of FinovateFall 2013.

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Next, StrategyCorps demonstrated its BaZing solution:
“Every financial institution needs more fee income. The challenge is how to get more without ticking off customers. Thoughtlessly slapping a new fee on an existing traditional service isn’t the answer (remember the $5 debit card fee debacle). BaZing, through its mobile and online delivery platforms, smartly provides consumer-demanded benefits so relevant and appealing, customers gladly pay for it. 
How much? On average, about one-third of your consumer checking relationships will pay nearly $75 per year. BaZing brings customer-friendly, non-overdraft related fee income like no other retail banking service. BaZing is the new cha-ching!”

Product Launch: April 2012
Metrics: 43 FTE employees, 1M full fee paying users, 350,000 partial fee paying users, & 200 financial institution clients
Product distribution strategy: Through financial institutions & through other fintech companies and platforms
HQ: Brentwood, TN
Founded: November 2001
Twitter: @StrategyCorps
Presenting Mike Branton (Managing Partner) and Dave DeFazio (Partner)
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The full demo video will be available at finovate.com in mid-September.

Meet the Innovators of FinovateFall 2013

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FinovateFall 2013 is right around the corner. That means it’s time to start getting to know the entrepreneurs and innovators that will be presenting their technologies on stage in New York City in September.

Remember, the early bird deadline is this Friday, August 2nd. So to reserve your spot and register now.

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Akimbo Financial offers a social bank account alternative that makes sharing money easier than ever.
authenticIDs identity tools pictureID and catfishID, are the most accurate, time-saving solutions for the forms of ID we already carry.
Backbase‘s Launchpad, the Commercial Banking Edition, making CFO’s work easier.
BehavioSec uses behavioral analytics to transparently tackle web and mobile security.
BillFloat revolutionizes credit delivery to consumers and businesses.
Biometric Signature ID has a patented software-only biometric for secure ID online verification.
BizEquity is the first and leading cloud-based business valuation engine, an innovative solution to small business lead generation.
Capital Access Network is the largest and most experienced small business finance specialist.
Cardlytics uses consumer purchase data to drive a patented advertising platform. Ads are so relevant–they’re expected. 
CoverHound is a comparison insurance adviser, helping people discover, buy, and manage insurance online.
CR2 is the innovative provider of self-service banking solutions including ATM, Internet, and mobile banking.
DoubleBeam‘s SDK powers mPayments inside other mobile apps, helping signup customers quickly and save a ton on the cost of payments.
FinanceIt offers businesses the ability to provide consumer financing to their customers at the POS.
Financial Guard helps you protect your investments, providing online investment advice at the right price, finally.
Finect is the leading online network for the financial services industry.
Fiserv is a leading global technology provider serving the financial services industry, driving innovation in payments.
FlexScore “gamifies” financial planning, gives a “score” of your financial fitness, and provides education, advice, peer comparisons.
Float Money offers interest-free credit to members of its shopping club and financial health partners.
FutureAdvisor manages your investments for better returns, making quality financial advice available to everyone.
GMC Software Technology is a leading software developer of solutions that transform the customer experience.
Guide Financial is like a healthcheck for your finances – automatically scanning your accounts for ways you can earn or save more, and providing simple, easy fixes.
Ignite Sales is the leader in retail banking, customer acquisition, and retention technology.
Innovation Agency, where you can execute on your innovation mandate and unlock the wealth of ideas in your ecosystems.
Instabank – Beautiful money.
Interactions provides natural language Virtual Assistant application services for the automation customer care processes.
Jumio is a next generation credentials management company offering payments and ID scanning and validation products for mobile and web transactions.
Kofax is a leading provider of smart process applications that simplify the business critical First Mile of information-intensive customer interactions.
LearnVest empowers people everywhere to take control of their money and live their richest lives.
Level Money is a financial GPS, designed to replace budgeting.
Lighter Capital provides growth capital to technology companies in a highly-automated basis – Capital-as-a-Service.
Lumesis provides software for the fixed income municipal market. Compliance and credit-focused. 
Luminous is a boutique innovation company that has become synonymous with innovative banking around the world.
Manilla is the leading free and secure service to simplify and organize daily financial life.
MasterCard is a technology company in the global payments industry, operating the world’s fastest payments processing network.
mBank is the biggest, pure-play online bank and the third largest retail bank in Poland.
miiCard is the first digital identity verification service to prove ‘you are who you say you are’ entirely online.
Mitek is positioned as the leading innovator in mobile imaging software. 
MoneyDesktop empowers financial institutions to provide online/mobile banking experiences to promote personal financial intelligence.
Motif Investing is a thematic, customizable, low-cost and crowdsourceable ETF-like product that is disrupting investing economics.

Narrative Science
 
enables companies to uncover the insight hidden in their data and create new content at a scale and frequency never before possible.
Numbrs – One App – Every Bank.
P2P Cash is the mobile wallet with switch technology that allows us to aggregate all other mWallets and mobile financial services.
PayWith is powered by MasterCard. Funded by Merchants. Loved by Consumers.
PhonyInvoices provides invoice fraud detection and prevention. We check a company’s vendor lists and transactions for suspicious activity.
Place2Give provides valuable and trustworthy information to make the most impactful social capital investment decisions.
QuarterSpot lending platform delivers the lowest cost and most favorable term small business loans.
RevolutionCredit is a revolutionary solution that transforms the credit decisioning process for both creditors and consumers.
SaaS Markets is the enterprise app store company for financial organizations looking to leverage cloud-based applications for their employees or customers.
SavedPlus is an automatic savings program that helps customers save money with every purchase.
Simple Verity provides business credit reports on any SMB in America.
Socure offers a social identity verification solution to combat the growing risk of online identity fraud for financial institutions.
SpearFysh leverages mobile, speech analytics, big data, and SaaS technology to improve sales processes and drive growth.
Spreedly provides vault cards in the cloud and work with more than 50 payment gateways.
StockSmart apps and platform offer insight and information on the world’s best companies and people.
StrategyCorps delivers local/mobile/social consumer checking solutions so appealing and relevant, your customers will gladly pay for them.
Tinkoff Credit Systems is Russia’s leading provider of online financial services.
TipRanks is a cloud-based service that measures the performance of anyone giving investment advice.
Toopher eliminates online fraud using your phone’s location. Simple, secure, your phone stays in your pocket.
Unleash is the cloud CFO that helps small businesses make better decisions faster.
VerifyValid and Deluxe are giving checks their first major upgrade in more than 200 years.
Versafe protects all users from all malware, threat types. On all devices, all transparently. 
WordSentry software analyzes messages during composition, identifying non-compliant components, for correction before sending.
Yodlee is the platform for financial innovation, powering the world’s largest collection of transactional data.
Yseop creates a new age where financial services delivered to customers are driven by AI and human collaboration.
Zenmonics is a global technology services and mobile product provider to the financial services market.
Zighra empowers banks and financial institutions to leverage implicit mobile user authentication and accelerate payments.
Zooz provides complete payment essentials at your fingertips: a robust set of tools that will improve the payment process.
Plus more stealth companies to be announced in the weeks to come.
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To find out more about the upcoming FinovateFall 2013 event in New York, September 10 and 11, visit our FinovateFall information page here.