Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Finovate Alums Earn Spots in European Fintech 100.

Around the web

  • MapD to speed research with GPIs as part of collaboration with Harvard University’s Center for Geographic Analysis.
  • OnDeck celebrates 10 years  of  alternative lending
  • Challenger bank Fidor reaches 200,000 customers
  • Open Banking selects Ping Identity to provide the identity and access management to underpin the UK’s open banking framework
  • Banco Interamericano de Finanzas leverages Infocorp’s marketing orchestrator tool, Prisma Campaigns

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.

Fiserv to Acquire Monitise for $89 Million

Fiserv to Acquire Monitise for $89 Million

Financial services company Fiserv has agreed to acquire U.K.-based Monitise for 2.9 pence per share, which equates to $89 million.

The acquisition comes after a storied history for Monitise, which was valued at $2.6 billion at its peak in 2014 and had formed successful partnerships with IBM, Santander, Telefonica, Virgin Money, and others. In 2015, however, the company changed its business model because of increased competition from tech giants such as Alphabet and Apple who offered mobile payment services for free. After the pivot, Monitise wasn’t able to recover and ended up putting itself up for sale in 2015.

Founded in 2003, Monitise demoed its mobile banking platform on a Nokia flip phone at FinovateFall 2007, the same year it went public on the London stock exchange. In 2009, Monitise’s mobile payments partner, Metavante, was acquired by Fiserv rival FIS. Most recently, Monitise launched FINkit, a cloud-based platform, in 2016 to foster collaboration between banks and fintechs. BehavioSec, Currencycloud, and Envestnet | Yodlee were among the founding FINkit members.

Fiserv anticipates the acquisition, which is subject to shareholder approval, to “accelerate the Fiserv digital strategy and the development of a next-generation digital banking platform for leading financial institutions worldwide.” The Wisconsin-based company will foster Monitise’s FINkit program to help its bank clients accelerate adoption of fintech services.

Jeffery Yabuki, Fiserv President and CEO said, “Monitise has been a global pioneer and innovator in digital banking for more than a decade.” He added, “Combining its talented associates and advanced technologies with leading digital solutions from Fiserv will expand our clients’ ability to provide differentiated experiences to their customers.”

Founded in 1984, Fiserv most recently presented at FinDEVr New York 2017, where the company’s Sr. Product Manager, Jon Zimmermann, and VP of Electronic Payments, Paul Diegelman, addressed the audience in a presentation titled Payments Processing: Bank-Grade Standards, Now Available to Anyone. Yesterday, the company announced that it will help banks and credit unions join the Zelle P2P payment network via its Turnkey Service for Zelle.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Kony Appoints Former Hewlett Packard and NCR Exec as Chief Revenue Officer.
  • Fiserv to Acquire Monitise for $89 Million.
  • CrowdFlower Raises $20 Million to Bloom AI Adoption

Around the web

  • Computerworld Recognizes Jack Henry as one of the 2017 Best Places to Work in IT.
  • Icon Solutions expands into the Hungarian market via partnership with T-Systems Hungary.
  • DefenseStorm hires Steve Soukup as Chief Revenue Officer.

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

  • Ripple Releases XRP Metrics in New Report.
  • SocietyOne Appoints Former Westpac Exec as Chief Investment Officer.
  • Check out this week’s FinDEVr APIntelligence

Around the web

  • Fenergo announces new rules-based solution to better enable FIs to meet margin requirement obligations.
  • NCR unveils redesigned tablet point-of-sale app.
  • New development and support center for Monitise supported by $664,000 in business financing from Welsh government.
  • Let’s Talk Payments interviews Marcin Truszel, Founder & CEO of Kontomatik.
  • Overbond Ltd is launching a service that will allow companies to issue bonds digitally.
  • Kony powers KMC Connect Lite mobile app for KMC Controls.
  • Irish Tech News interviews BancVue’s John Waupsh on his book, Bankruption.

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/FinDEVr Alums Featured Among Monitise FINkit Platform Partners

Finovate/FinDEVr Alums Featured Among Monitise FINkit Platform Partners

monitise_homepage_november2016

Monitise is launching its FINkit partner program with a roomful of fintech heavyweights. FINkit is a cloud-based platform and toolkit that enables banks to collaborate with fintech firms and gain access to technologies and services such as tokenization, geolocation, biometric security, and digital wallets.

In addition to founding partner and fellow Finovate alum MasterCard (F14, FD14), Monitise has signed up another 12 founding FINkit members including another six Finovate/FinDEVr alums:

  • BehavioSec (F15, FD15)
  • Currencycloud (F16, FD15)
  • Envestnet | Yodlee (F16, FD16)
  • Experian (F16)
  • Fastacash (F14)
  • FICO (FD16)
  • HID Global
  • iGeolise
  • LivePerson
  • MYPINPAD
  • Syniverse
  • WorldFirst

Mark Barnett, president of MasterCard U.K. and Ireland, says FINkit is “a fantastic platform for banks and partners to come together in a live production environment to deliver innovative services—securely, reliably, and quickly.” Nick Cheetham, Monitise-FINkit managing director, says the kind of collaboration enabled by FINkit is “vital” and warned against allowing new technologies to “stagnate in banks’ ‘innovation theaters.'” Cheetham pledged that his founding group of partners “will enable significant progress to be made in digital service delivery.”

monitise_finkit_diagram

The news from Monitise adds to an increasingly positive year for the company. A new COO and business structure announced in May have been credited for lowering costs and turning a profit by fall. The company said that the launch of FINkit, which was developed using IBM’s Bluemix platform, also helped generate initial revenues.

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in London, Monitise went public in 2007. One of Finovate’s earliest alums, demoing in 2007, the company raised more than $309 million in post-IPO equity from investors including Banco Santander, First Eastern Investment Group, MasterCard, Telefonica, and Visa International Service Association. Former Deputy CEO and COO Lee Cameron was promoted to CEO in September 2015. The following month, Monitise announced a new cloud platform agreement “to explore potential projects” with telecom giant, Telefonica Digital.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “P2P Lender Zopa to Launch Challenger Bank”
  • “Finovate/FinDEVr Alums Featured Among Monitise FINkit Platform Partners”
  • “Veridium Brings Hand Recognition Authentication to Mobile-Only Dutch bank, bunq”

Around the web

  • Co-founder of Markit, Rony Grushka, joins Algomi’s board of directors.
  • FinDEVr alum Quovo launches its account-authentication API.
  • Juvo teams up with Cable & Wireless to provide mobile credit services in the Caribbean.
  • Mastercard partners with Ratnakar Bank to launch Masterpass QR in India.
  • Thomson Reuters unveils its Thomson Reuters Pricing Service Evaluation Score (TRPS) to support pricing transparency.
  • LendingTree acquires credit card comparison and education provider, CompareCards.
  • Pirean wins security innovation of the year at the U.K.’s 2016 IT Industry Awards.
  • SafetyPay to power payment solutions for Payzoff.
  • NatWest deploys BioCatch behavioral biometrics technology.
  • Boku provides direct carrier billing in Japan for Spotify.

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

  • “Big Blue Backs Mobile Banking in Rural China”
  • “BRIDGEi2i Closes Series A Funding Round”
  • “NICE Funding! CallVU Raises $3 Million”
  • “Ping Identity Acquired by Vista Equity Partners”

Around the web

  • “Check Point Named Leader for Vision and Execution in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Firewalls”
  • Boku brings mobile carrier billing to U.K. sports and entertainment venues.
  • Thomson Reuters launches FX benchmark service.
  • Monitise no longer plans to sell its marketing content business Markco Media.
  • “Jack Henry & Associates and Inlet Partner to Bring Enhanced eBill Functionality to 4,000 Financial Institutions”
  • Wealthfront introduces its 529 College Savings Plan.
  • Intelligent Environments teams up with Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT).
  • Wall Street Journal features Tuition.io in a look at how employers are providing low-cost loans to employees.
  • Ally Financial announces completion of TradeKing acquisition.

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

  • “SumUp Brings its mPOS Technology to America”

Around the web

  • iSignthis and TikForce enter agreement for identity services.
  • Banks and merchants connected through Alpha Payments Cloud’s AlphaHub now have access to the iSignthis suite of services.
  • Functional Geekery interviews Plaid engineer David Chambers.
  • Power supplier ENEL to deploy TIS’s automated accounts payable and accounts receivables processing-solution across Russia.
  • TechCrunch Cribs features Credit Karma’s office.
  • Telefonica to work with Monitise in its transition to a cloud-based business.
  • Nigel Morris of QED Investors to join Zopa board of directors.
  • Fiserv launches wealth-management partnership with InvestEdge.
  • Trulioo, was named Top Innovator at the Integrate 2015 conference.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

Around the web

  • Fiserv completes successful pilot of CardFree Cash with Vystar Credit Union. Join Fiserv at FinovateFall 2015 in New York City this week.
  • Let’s Talk Payments features 41 APIs that are “making waves” in fintech.
  • DriveWealth names Jacques Perold as executive adviser.

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.

Santander UK Launches Cash Kitty PFM App Developed with Kalixa, Monitise

Santander UK Launches Cash Kitty PFM App Developed with Kalixa, Monitise

Kalixa_logo

Move over millennials: Santander UK has unveiled a new money management app called KiTTi, designed to bring twenty-somethings into the world of social savings.

monitise-logoDesigned in partnership with Finovate alums, Kalixa Payments (FinovateEurope 2013) and Monitise (FinovateFall 2007), KiTTi lets up to 100 friends create collective “pots of money.” The “Cash Kitty” can be funded via a KiTTi prepaid contactless MasterCard up to £4,000, and the account can be monitored with a downloadable app available on both iOS and Android.

See Santander UK’s video introduction to Kitti below.

The service is available to any U.K. bank customer over the age of 18. Friends can be invited to join from within the app or by text message. More than one KiTTi account can be managed by a single KiTTi card, and KiTTi can be used for payments in both the UK and overseas. A fee of 35p is applied to each KiTTi transaction.

Sam Nixon, head of KiTTi at Santander, called the app unique to the United Kingdom and “perfect for the WhatsApp generation.”

KiTTi was designed by Monitise Create, the company’s “design and innovation” studio. Alistair Crane, chief sales officer at Monitise, called it a “major step forward in social banking and payments.” Crane says the relationship between Monitise and Santander will offer still more: “We are progressing a number of home-screen, ‘human-first’ innovations which will ultimately transform the way consumers interact with their money,” he said.

Payment functionality for KiTTi comes courtesy of Kalixa, which includes both the mobile wallet and the prepaid contactless card, as well as handling customer services, KYC, and AML systems. Jonathan Bennett, chief commercial officer for Kalixa, put KiTTi “at the crest of the wave” that is replacing cash with “simple, inclusive, sustainable services made possible by mobile.”

Kalixa was founded in 2007 and has offices in the United Kingdom and Austria. Edward Chandler is CEO. London-based Monitise was founded in 2003. Alastair Lukies is founder and CEO.

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • “Santander UK Launches Cash Kitty PFM App Developed with Kalixa, Monitise”

Around the web

  • Lend Academy podcast features Kathryn Petralia, Kabbage co-founder. Come see Kabbage at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco.
  • GMC Software releases GMC Inspire R10 customer communications management software.
  • DevNetwork profiles WePay at the API World 2015 conference.
  • DriveWealth joins with World Merit to promote the first Financial Literacy Challenge.
  • Sonavation unveils technology that puts fingerprint sensors under Gorilla Glass.
  • Top Image Systems inks deal with Bahrainian Xerox distributor, Business International all.
  • Dallas Business Journal interviews Chris Camillo, TickerTags founder.
  • Prosper begins debt-sale recovery strategy; charged-off loans will be packaged together for a debt sale.
  • AlwaysOn selects Taulia as an AlwaysOn Global 250 winner.
  • Beehive Startups takes a peek at MX’s culture. Check out MX’s presentation for developers at FinDEVr 2015 in San Francisco.
  • GROWMARK selects Avalara AvaTax Excise & Returns Excise Enterprise. Avalara will present at FinDEVr 2015, 6/7 October.
  • Forbes column on top fintech trends highlights MaxMyInterest, Prosper, Lending Club, Betterment, Vanguard, CUneXus, Patch of Land, and DarcMatter.

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.

Monitise to Emphasize API, On-site Solutions in Strategy Shift

Monitise to Emphasize API, On-site Solutions in Strategy Shift

Monitise_homepage_July2015

Amid the revenue and profitability metrics in the recent trading update from U.K. mobile-banking innovator Monitise was news that the company would shift strategy from “purpose-built” platforms to standardized, cloud-based APIs in a bid to cut costs.

“We have been delighted with the API’s technical capability and the reception received from clients, which gives us donfidence for the future,” said Monitise CEO Elizabether Buse. Monitise launched its new API this spring.

The company’s trading update revealed that Monitise expects 2015 revenues to be between £88-90 million (below the £90-100 estimated back in the spring); reiterated its fiscal 2016 profitability targets with regards to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization); and noted that a “material reduction … in cash outflows” from the second half to the first half of the fiscal year suggests that the company will have the necessary “balance sheet strength” to bring Monitise to “break-even and beyond.”

Monitise has had a busy first half of 2015. The company announced partnerships with MoneyPass in January; with Turk Economy Bankasi (TEB) in April; and with IBM and Société Générale in May. This month, Monitise and Banco Santander announced their plan to launch a “fintech venture builder” program in the second half of 2015. Both companies have pledged up to 10 million pounds of capital to the project over the next two years.

A long-time Finovate alum, Monitise demoed its technology at the inaugural Finovate in 2007. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in London, U.K., Monitise trades on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “MONI” and has a market capitalization of more than £200 million.