Alumni News – Week of April 19

Here are the news headlines we posted this week on Twitter (follow it here).

Bling Nation provides mobile payments to Community State Bank - Community State Bank in Lamar, CO, is offering the Bling Nation mobile payments service. The bank's program includes more than 40 merchants accepting Bling Tag payments. http://bit.ly/bzAIDn

Dow Jones and IAC shut down FiLife - Dow Jones and IAC closed their financial information site FiLife.com. The site allowed visitors to discuss financial issues and concerns. The FiLife iPhone app is no longer available in the iTunes app store. http://bit.ly/cSjsPk

Geezeo partners with Unitus Community Credit Union - Geezeo has entered a partnership with Unitus Community Credit Union. Geezeo will provide financial tools to the credit union's members, including its PFM, community, and integrated marketing platforms. http://bit.ly/9FeyaJ

Mint switches to Intuit for data aggregation - Mint is now using aggregation software from its parent company Intuit. The PFM can now pull data from 16,000 financial institutions. Previously, Mint partnered with Yodlee for back-end account aggregation. http://bit.ly/9BTJwV

Mortgagebot reports increase in loan applications - Mortgagebot's online mortgage shopping service, Mortgage Marvel, reported an increase of consumer visits of 140% from 2008 to 2009, resulting in a 66% increase in overall loan applications taken by participating lenders. http://bit.ly/b4DP7S

Online Resources names interim CEO - Online Resources has named John Dorman as interim chief executive officer, replacing former interim CEO Raymond T. Crosier who resigned from the company. Dorman will also continue to serve as co-chairman of the company's board. Online Resources continues to search for a permanent CEO. http://bit.ly/cpiLJZ

Prosper Raises $14.7 Million - Prosper has raised $14.7 million in a Series D round. The funding came from Prosper's previous investors as well as two new ones, TomorrowVentures and CompuCredit Holdings. Prosper has raised a total of $57.7 million to date. TomorrowVentures is the investment vehicle for Google CEO Eric Schmidt. http://tcrn.ch/bXjOGp

SmartyPig raises its interest rates -SmartyPig announced plans to raise the interest on certain accounts. Beginning May 19, APY will be increased to 2.15% for accounts with balances of less $50,000. http://bit.ly/dpCq5g

ThreatMetrix provides fraud detection to BigCrumbs.com - ThreatMetrix is providing fraud-detection services to BigCrumbs.com, a company that provides consumers loyalty rewards for shopping online. ThreatMetrix will help identify purchases made with stolen or suspect credit cards. http://bit.ly/aaZZBn

Vidoop's assets used to launch Confident Technologies - Security software company Vidoop, whose assets were acquired in January, is being relaunched as Confident Technologies. The company uses image-recognition technology to allow graphics to be used for password authentication. http://bit.ly/9xWOz3

WorkLight's new development platform - Worklight launched the Worklight Solution for E-Commerce, a development system for cross-platform applications. The solution allows companies to design applications for mobile devices, desktops, social networks and personalized homepages as part of a single development project. http://bit.ly/9Qesn3

Fiserv, Jack Henry, FIS and ClairMail Provide 86% of Mobile Banking to Community Banks - Banc Investment Group conducted a survey of 687 community bankers. Of the institutions already offering mobile services, 36% use a technology platform from Fiserv, 24% from Jack Henry, 16% from FIS/Metavante and 10% from Clairmail. http://bit.ly/aZTAut

And news from our newest soon-to-be alumni presenting at FinovateSpring 2010:

Continuity Control launches ComplianceTax.com - Continuity Control launched ComplianceTax.com, a website that helps educate banks and credit unions about the expenses involved in complying with government regulation. http://bit.ly/9CNOFk

TSYS processes payment cards for Japanese bank - TSYS was selected by SBI Sumishin Net Bank to process its payment card portfolio. TSYS will handle the issuance of retail membership cards, private-label credit cards, and association-branded cards. SBU Sumishin is a Japanese Internet-based bank with more than 750,000 accounts. http://bit.ly/8YrjcT

Visa to acquire CyberSource - Visa has agreed to acquire CyberSource for $26 per share, or about $2 billion. CyberSource provides electronic payment and security services. The deal is expected to close in Visa's fourth fiscal quarter. http://bit.ly/ams1Y9