Finovate Global: Showcasing International Alums at FinovateFall

Finovate Global: Showcasing International Alums at FinovateFall

FinovateFall is right around the corner (September 11 through September 13). If you still haven’t registered for our annual autumn fintech conference in New York this month, there’s no better time than the present. Visit our FinovateFall 2023 hub today and save your spot.

This week’s edition of Finovate Global highlights companies headquartered outside of the U.S. that will be demoing their latest innovations on the Finovate stage in just a few days. Get to know them here, then join them in New York live and in person for FinovateFall!


Connect Earth

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in the United Kingdom, Connect Earth enables financial institutions to offer their retail and SME customers insights into the environmental impact of their spending. LinkedIn.


Engage People

Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Engage People is a loyalty network that enables program members to pay with points directly at checkout. The company was founded in 2015. LinkedIn. X (Twitter).


eSelf

eSelf is building the next generation of client-financial institution interaction, enabling human-like conversations and efficient personalization. Founded in 2022, eSelf is headquartered in Israel.


FinTech Insights

Fintech Insights offers a comprehensive digital banking research platform. The company’s technology helps FIs build strategies and launch new features faster. Headquartered in London, the company was founded in 2010. LinkedIn. X (Twitter).


Flybits

Founded in 2013, Flybits enables FIs to deliver personalized digital banking experiences across mobile, web, and the Metaverse. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. LinkedIn. X (Twitter).


Fundica

Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Fundica is a government funding platform used by some of the largest FIs in North America to acquire and retain clients at scale. Fundica was founded in 2017. LinkedIn. X (Twitter).


Jaid

Jaid is an AI-powered platform build to enable the intelligent automation of business communications. Founded in 2018, Jaid is based in London, U.K. LinkedIn. X (Twitter).


LemonadeLXP

Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, LemonadeLXP is a digital growth platform that helps FIs and fintechs create effective training and support tools to maximize their investment in their technology. The company was founded in 2019. LinkedIn. X (Twitter).


MacroMicro

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, MacroMicro empowers over three million investors worldwide to make personalized investment decisions through dynamic and insightful charts. X (Twitter).


NayaOne

NayaOne gives banks a single point of access to hundreds of fintechs, digital sandboxes, fintech-as-a-service offerings, and datasets. Headquartered in London, U.K., NayaOne was founded in 2019. LinkedIn.


SESAMm

Headquartered in Metz, France, and founded in 2014, SESAMm is an AI insight and ESG risk detection specialist serving the financial services industry. LinkedIn. X (Twitter).


Zero Bank Design Factory

Zero Bank Design Factory is developing and operating a banking system for Japan’s first digital bank, Minna Bank. Founded in 2019, the company is headquartered in Fukuoka, Japan. X (Twitter).


Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

FinovateFall 2023 Sneak Peek: Flybits

FinovateFall 2023 Sneak Peek: Flybits

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 11 and 12. Register today and save your spot.

Flybits is an award-winning personalization platform, enabling financial institutions to deliver best-in-class personalized digital banking experiences across mobile, web, and the metaverse.

Features

  • Deliver hyper-personalized experiences
  • Bring the person back into personalization by contextualizing digital touchpoints and interactions
  • Become a leader by creating interactive VR experiences

Why it’s great

The Flybits Cardholder Lifecycle Management Solution is an always-on solution that elevates cardholder experiences at every lifecycle stage, personalized for every moment while driving business results.

Presenters

Hossein Rahnama, CEO & Founder
Rahnama is a visiting MIT professor, co-founded the DMZ, and has 40+ publications/patents.
LinkedIn

Chris Pinkerton, CGO
Pinkerton has over 15 years of experience working with companies like Google, 3M, and Microsoft to apply insight to their acquisition and monetization models.
LinkedIn

Best of Show: The Finovate Podcast’s Greg Palmer Chats with the Faves of FinovateSpring

Best of Show: The Finovate Podcast’s Greg Palmer Chats with the Faves of FinovateSpring

Check out Finovate VP and host of the Finovate Podcast Greg Palmer (@GregPalmer47) as he interviews the innovators that won Best of Show awards at FinovateSpring in May.

From digital transformation and payments to customer experience and the future of finance, the Finovate Podcast is a great way to hear from some of the most innovative talents in fintech.


Finovate VP Greg Palmer talks with Nate Gibbons of QuickFi on reimagining business financing and successfully managing rapid growth. Demo video.


Greg Palmer sits down with Tom Baran of 9Spokes on open banking and personalization in the SMB space. Demo video.


Greg Palmer interviews Jens Hinrichson and Robert MacDonald of 1Kosmos on the future of password-optional authentication. Demo video.


Greg Palmer talks with Deepak Jain of Wink on the future of biometric payments. Demo video.


Greg Palmer chats with Maya Mikhailov of SAVVI AI on on no-code AI solutions you can implement right now. Demo video.


Greg Palmer catches up with Hossein Rahnama of Flybits. Demo video.


Photo by CoWomen

FinovateSpring 2023 Best of Show Winners Announced!

FinovateSpring 2023 Best of Show Winners Announced!

There’s still one more day to enjoy FinovateSpring. But as far as the live demo portion of our program is concerned, the Best of Show celebrations have begun. With that in mind, please join us in congratulating the winners of Best of Show at FinovateSpring 2023.


1Kosmos for its technology that automates user onboarding for workers and customers, protecting against stolen and synthetic identities while eliminating ATO and fraud. Video.

9Spokes for its technology that unlocks the potential of open data, giving financial institutions a powerful set of tools to engage business customers. Video.

Flybits for its personalization platform that enables financial institutions to deliver best-in-class personalized digital banking experiences. Video.

QuickFi for its 100% digital, self-service equipment financing platform that enables business equipment financing in minutes. Video.

SAVVI AI for its technology that helps any FinCo team build and deploy AI apps in minutes. No data scientists, pre-existing data, or custom infrastructure required. Video.

Wink for its biometric payments and identity platform that enables users to say goodbye to passwords and fraud – and say hello to secure and simple authentication. Video.

On behalf of the entire Finovate team, we want to thank all of our demoing companies, our partners, and our sponsors. We also want to express our gratitude toward our attendees in the fintech and financial services industry who bring so much positive energy to our events. We look forward to seeing you again next year right here in San Francisco for FinovateSpring 2024!


Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their six favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The six companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2023 conferences are below:
FinovateEurope 2015
FinovateSpring 2015
FinovateFall 2015
FinovateEurope 2016
FinovateSpring 2016
FinovateFall 2016
FinovateAsia 2016
FinovateEurope 2017
FinovateSpring 2017
FinovateFall 2017
FinovateAsia 2017
FinovateMiddleEast 2018
FinovateEurope 2018
FinovateSpring 2018
FinovateFall 2018
FinovateAsia 2018
FinovateAfrica 2018
FinovateEurope 2019
FinovateSpring 2019
FinovateFall 2019
FinovateAsia 2019
FinovateMiddleEast 2019
FinovateEurope 2020
FinovateFall 2020
FinovateWest 2020
FinovateEurope 2021
FinovateSpring 2021
FinovateFall 2021
FinovateEurope 2022
FinovateSpring 2022
FinovateFall 2022
FinovateEurope 2023

Finovate Global: Showcasing International Alums at FinovateSpring

Finovate Global: Showcasing International Alums at FinovateSpring

With FinovateSpring only days away (May 23 through May 25), this week’s edition of Finovate Global will showcase those innovators demoing at the event that are headquartered outside the United States.

There’s still time to register and join us in San Francisco, California for our annual Spring fintech conference. Visit our FinovateSpring 2023 hub today and get your ticket today!


9Spokes

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New Zealand, 9Spokes unlocks open banking and data, giving financial institutions a powerful set of tools to engage SMB customers. LinkedIn.


FinTech Insights by Scientia

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in London, U.K., FinTech Insights by Scientia offers a competitive analysis tool for banks and fintechs to help them create compelling digital banking experiences. LinkedIn.


FINTEQ

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Poland, FINTEQ removes credit risk from the supply chain, giving suppliers a healthy and sustainable trade finance alternative. LinkedIn.


Flybits

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Flybits offers a personalization platform that enables financial institutions to deliver best-in-class personalized digital banking experiences. LinkedIn.


Fundica

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Fundica is a government funding platform used by some of the largest financial institutions in North America to acquire clients at scale. LinkedIn.


Horizn

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Horizn helps financial institutions maximize the impact of digital and accelerate returns on digital investments with customers and employees. LinkedIn.


HyperSwitch

Founded in 2022 and headquartered in India, HyperSwitch is an open source payments switch designed to make payments fast, reliable, and affordable. LinkedIn.


Kani

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Newcastle, U.K., Kani offers end-to-end reconciliation and reporting, automating the back office for payments companies and fintechs, and ensuring accuracy and compliance. LinkedIn.


Lucinity

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland, Lucinity combats financial crime with innovative GenAI technology for smarter and faster FinCrime compliance. LinkedIn.


PayTic

Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Charlottetown, Canada, PayTic is a SaaS platform that automates and manages all key aspects of program management: network fees, reconciliation, reporting, and fraud. LinkedIn.


SESAMm

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Metz, France, SESAMm specializes in big data and artificial intelligence, providing analytics from more than 20 billion articles and messages using NLP. LinkedIn.


Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe

Middle East and Northern Africa

Central and Southern Asia

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asia-Pacific

Sub-Saharan Africa

FinovateSpring 2023 Sneak Peek: Flybits

FinovateSpring 2023 Sneak Peek: Flybits

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring in San Francisco on May 23 and 24. Register today and save your spot.

Flybits is an award-winning personalization platform, enabling financial institutions to deliver best-in-class personalized digital banking experiences across mobile, web, and the metaverse.

Features

  • Deliver hyper-personalized experiences
  • Bring the person back into personalization by contextualizing digital touchpoints and interactions
  • Create interactive VR experiences in a secure environment

Why it’s great

Flybits’ Open Dome enables users to deepen their relationship with their customers by interacting with them in a secure VR environment using advanced capabilities.

Presenters

Hossein Rahnama, CEO & Founder
Rahnama is the Founder of Flybits, a data intelligence company with over $60M in funding and global offices. He’s a visiting MIT professor, co-founded the DMZ, and has 40+ publications/patents.
LinkedIn

Chris Pinkerton, CGO
Pinkerton has over 15 years of experience working with companies like Google and Microsoft to apply insight to their acquisition and monetization models.
LinkedIn

True North: A Celebration of Canadian Fintech

True North: A Celebration of Canadian Fintech

Canada Day is this week, July 1st. The holiday – colloquially considered by some to be Canada’s “birthday” – celebrates the decision of three provinces in 1867 – modern-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec – to unify and form the country we now know and love as Canada.

Last year, we launched our inaugural recognition of fintech companies – Finovate alums all – who were founded in or operate out of Canada. From Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal to Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver, Canadian fintechs have gained a reputation for cutting-edge innovation in everything from helping small businesses secure critical financing during the COVID pandemic to advancing new use cases for the latest cryptocraze: non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Today, we honor Canada Day with a salute to those Canadian fintechs that have joined the Finovate family since our last reporting from the Great White North.

Boss Insights (Toronto, Ontario) – demo – Business-data-as-a-service innovator bridging the data gap between banks and their business customers.

Coconut Software (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) – demo – Customer engagement platform for financial institutions to enhance the digital and physical engagement of both staff and customers.

Dbilia (Vancouver, British Colombia) – demo – A digital memorabilia marketplace that leverages Blockchain technology and NFTs to empower creatives and enable fans to purchase their work. Best of Show winner.

FormHero (Toronto, Ontario) – demo – A low-code SaaS platform that helps enterprises build intuitive, digital front-end experiences to help them manage and orchestrate complex data collection.

JUDI.ai (Vancouver, British Colombia) – demo – An AI-driven analytics platform to enhance small business lenders’ loan origination processes with instant cash flow analysis, automated underwriting, as well as continuous monthly monitoring and real-time reporting.

We also saw the return of Flybits this spring. The Toronto-based company demonstrated its MyCard solution that consolidates all of a bank’s products and services on the bank’s existing mobile app and provides dynamic recommendations tailored to the customer’s needs.

Looking to FinovateFall in September, what can we expect from fintech’s Canadian contingent? This week we introduced the first wave of demoing companies for our annual fall fintech event and were happy to see that Finovate veteran Cinchy, from Toronto, Ontario, will be back. With FinovateFall marking the return of live demos after more than a year in a digital-only format, we can’t wait to see what other innovative Canadian fintechs will join in the fun.


Photo by Andre Furtado from Pexels

Helping Secure Digital Identities; Managing Financial Crime Risk

Helping Secure Digital Identities; Managing Financial Crime Risk

Two of the biggest themes in fintech – digital identity and the rise of fintech in Central and Eastern Europe – meet in the latest announcement from biometric authentication specialist and Finovate Best of Show winner iProov. The company’s facial recognition technology now makes it easier for users of SK ID Solutions’ Smart-ID Service in countries like Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to renew their accounts without having to visit a physical bank branch.

“This is a major development for all digital identity providers,” iProov CEO Andrew Bud said. “Estonia has proved, for the first time, that a remote, automated, biometric ID verification service can deliver the highest possible levels of security.”

Recognized as equal to a handwritten signature throughout Europe, Smart-IDs enable users to authenticate themselves and provide permissions online using a smartphone app. iProov’s facial recognition technology adds a three-second scan to compare the image of the user to the image on their presented ID document to help defend against fraud and identity theft.

Smart-ID also leverages NFC-based ReadID document verification technology from InnoValor.

Financial crime risk management innovator Featurespace will be helping Enfuce combat fraud and money laundering courtesy of a newly announced partnership. Enfuce, a financial services firm based in Finland, will use Featurespace’s ARIC Risk Hub to enhance its ability to protect its customers from fraud and financial crime.

“Our clients deserve industry-leading services that allow them to freely and fully concentrate on the success of their core business, without worrying about ever-evolving fraud,” Enfuce co-founder and chair Monika Liikamaa said.

ARIC Risk Hub offers real-time transaction monitoring for fraud and financial crime, enabling institutions to identify and act against anomalous and potentially dangerous behavior as it occurs. The technology also reduces the number of false positives by as much as 70%, keeping anti-fraud processes efficient. Featurespace introduced its fraud-fighting technology to Finovate audiences at FinovateEurope 2016.


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

  • Sezzle unveils new logo along with its first annual report.
  • Flybits expands its executive team in New York, Toronto, the U.K., and Dubai.
  • ID R&D updates voice biometric solution IDVoice.
  • M1 Finance surpasses $1 billion in assets on its platform.
  • Armor Bank selects Teslar Software’s automated workflow and portfolio management tools.
  • Mastercard partners with myPOS to boost adoption of card payment solutions among European SMEs.
  • Black Hills FCU selects nCino’s Bank Operating System.
  • Bazaarvoice launches partnership program with Yotpo as the piloting partner.
  • Keysafe inks partnership with Salt Edge to access tenants’ bank data without the need to acquire its own PSD2 license.
  • Lending Club appoints Annie Armstrong as Chief Risk Officer.
  • Assaray Trade and Investment Bank selects Temenos Infinity and Transact to power its digital transformation.
  • Long John Silver’s chooses Blackhawk Network for gift card program.
  • Trustly and Fly Norwegian team up to let travelers pay directly from their bank accounts.
  • Pindrop launches Deep Voice 3, the new version of its voice recognition technology.
  • Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga steps down, replaced by Chief Product Officer Michael Miebach.
  • Venmo to launch debit card for teens.
  • Almost 600 banks select Fiserv’s Turnkey Service for Zelle.
  • Finastra to offer ClickSWITCH’s account switching technolkogy to its clients.
  • Simmons Bank partners with Jack Henry to leverage its Banno platform to build a digital presence.
  • Currencycloud and Currensea team up.
  • Yseop and Automation Anywhere join forces to scale intelligent automation.
  • Lighter Capital appoints Kevin Fink at CTO and Patricia Elliott as CSO.
  • InComm launches Roblox gift cards in France and Germany.

Finovate Alum Features and Profiles

Revolut’s $500 Million Round Boosts Valuation to $5.5 Billion – Global financial platform Revolut has secured its place as the U.K.’s most valuable fintech.

Dealing with Deepfakes in Fintech – The fintech industry is ripe with security firms, such as iProov, that use AI to combat both video and audio deepfakes with anti-spoofing technologies.

Envestnet | Yodlee Acquires Indian Data Aggregator FinBit.io – Envestnet | Yodlee has acquired another asset in its strategy to further grow and develop its data aggregation and analytics business.

Meet Sonect: Cash Network Builder, Finovate Newcomer, Best of Show Winner – What’s better than having a large pizza with all your favorite toppings delivered to your front door? How about a side order of cash, saving you a trip to the ATM or bank branch?

Azimo Taps Ripple for Cross-Border Payments to the Philippines – Fueling these payment transfers is Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution that uses XRP to source liquidity and complete money transfers within three seconds.

Lendio Lands $55 Million to Match Small Businesses with Lenders – The investment more than doubles the company’s previous funding, bringing its total to $108.5 million.

SheerID Expands Identity Marketing Platform – The move enables brands to identify and acquire new customers across the globe.

The Winning Ten: Finovate Alums Earn Spots on the 2020 Fintech Power 50

The Winning Ten: Finovate Alums Earn Spots on the 2020 Fintech Power 50

The newly-released Fintech Power 50 for 2020 features ten Finovate alums. The roster is produced every December and bills itself as “meant to be controversial and provoke debate” while at the same time providing “inspiration to the rest of the industry.”

“Throughout its first year the Fintech Power 50 has seen consistent success for our members and we are very proud of the opportunities that being a member of the Power 50 has offered the companies involved,” Fintech Power 50 Managing Director and co-founder Jason Williams said. “We look forward to continuing the traction we have made this year with the 2020 cohort, with a more ambitious and exciting programme.”

The Finovate alums to make the cut are:

The Fintech Power 50 aims to help fintechs reach a broader audience around the world. Over the course of 2020, the program will offer media partnerships and networking, business development and branding support, and investment and talent acquisition. This year marks the third edition of the program; coincidentally, the 2019 Power 50 featured ten Finovate alums, as well.

“We’re incredibly excited at this announcement, which is clear recognition of Keepabl’s value to customers, and to trusted advisers alike, and our potential to keep disrupting compliance-as-a-service,” wrote Keepabl CEO Robert Baugh in an email.

CREALOGIX CEO David Joyce added that he was “looking forward to exchanging ideas with the renowned digital leaders in this unique group.” He praised the way the roster reflected “the breadth, diversity, and creativity of the global fintech scene.”

The Fintech Power 50 2020 also features ten fintech thought leaders whose names will be familiar to Finovate veterans. Nine of the ten – David Birch, Ghela Boskovich, Theo Lau, Brett King, Jim Marous, Devie Mohan, David Parker, and Ruth Wandhofer – have made major contributions to our Finovate conferences since we expanded our format in 2017. We’ll have to get Mr. Lawrence Wintermeyer, co-founder of Global Digital Finance and the tenth thought leader on this year’s Fintech Power 50, to a Finovate stage sooner than later!

See the full Fintech Power 50 2020 list.

FinovateMiddleEast Sneak Peek: Flybits

FinovateMiddleEast Sneak Peek: Flybits

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateMiddleEast on November 20 and 21, 2019 in Dubai. Register today and save your spot.

Flybits enables financial institutions to deliver hyper-personalized customer experiences, leveraging contextual intelligence and AI.

Features

  • Transform your mobile app into a sales channel
  • Assemble proprietary, public, and device data to deliver contextual experiences
  • Lower marketing costs and raise conversion rates

Why it’s great
Flybits powers mobile, in-app marketing and sales for banks.

Presenters

Amir Yazdanpanah, Managing Director (MENA Region)
Yazdanpanah is an entrepreneurial IT executive with extensive experience in software product development, product sales and marketing, business operations, and P/L management.
LinkedIn

Rebecca Engelberg, Market Intelligence Manager
Engelberg specializes in Market Intelligence, monitoring industry trends and translating them into actionable insights for sales, marketing and product strategy.
LinkedIn

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Revolut makes use of Open Banking with new Quickbooks integration.
  • Check out a sneak peek of Flybits‘ upcoming demo at FinovateMiddleEast.
  • SparkPost to Acquire eDataSource for Undisclosed Amount.

Around the web

  • Ondot Systems launches new Card App to deliver an “Apple Card-like experience” for end clients.
  • Temenos leverages Kony acquisition to launch Temenos Infinity for ominchannel digital banking.
  • Walmart expands relationship with Green Dot for seven more years. 
  • Experian launches a new Open Data solution: Experian Commercial Acumen.
  • Mambu’s composable banking solution to help new SME bank Recognise enhance the customer experience.

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.

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Flybits

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Flybits

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateFall on September 23 through 25, 2019 in New York City. Register today and save your spot.

Flybits enables financial institutions to deliver hyper-personalized customer experiences, leveraging contextual intelligence and AI.

Features

  • Target the consumer journey beyond traditional financial touchpoints
  • Leverage real time insights on consumer experiences
  • Trigger new use cases based on prior experience insights

Why it’s great
Flybits helps financial institutions become leaders in engaging consumers by providing a robust feedback loop to deploy, learn, and innovate on digital consumer journeys.

Presenters

Jason Davies, VP of Enterprise Innovation
Davies has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, digital payments, and fintech.
LinkedIn.

Katrina Shiu, Product Manager
Shiu is passionate about helping financial institutions build consumer experiences into their digital strategies in order to drive business results.
LinkedIn.