Finovate: July 2010 Archives

Alumni News -- Week of July 25, 2010

By Jessica Ward on July 30, 2010 8:56 PM

Here are our news updates for the week of July 25, 2010. To get our updates real-time, follow us here.

Bills.com acquires Home-Account.com, see our post here.

CashEdge's AllData Aggregation, and Lodo's OurCashFlow powers new capabilities for Jack Henry & Associates. The arrangement will power online financial management (OFM) tools. http://bit.ly/finovate7301

Fiserv has announced that 150 credit unions now use their Mobile Money product. Mobile Money allows financial institutions' customers to check balances, pay bills, and make transfers from their mobile devices. http://bit.ly/finovate7256

Dominion Credit Union selects Geezeo as PFM platform Dominion CU serves over 21,000 members. Geezeo is providing personal financial management technology to credit union members. http://bit.ly/finovate72801

Picatinny Credit Union selects Geezeo as PFM Platform. Picatinny is the eighth largest credit union in New Jersey, serving 16,000 members. http://bit.ly/finovate7282

Kapitall gains $5 Million in angel funding. Investors include board members. Kapitall expects to close a $5 Million series-A round within six months. http://bit.ly/finovate7271

New from Kapitall: track and trade with TD AMERITRADE. Now within the Kapitall platform, users can track, trade and buy/sell stocks, mutual funds and ETFs. http://bit.ly/finovate7276

Kasasa now available through 50 financial institutions in the USA. Kasasa helps banking customers to get more out of their banks. http://bit.ly/finovate7261

With Kasasa, Ocean Pacific Credit Union offers banking incentives via iTunes credit. Opening an account credits your iTunes account with $19.95, and additional $4.95 each month thereafter. (Better than a toaster!) http://bit.ly/finovate7275

Lending Club turns 3! Happy birthday to our friends at Lending Club. Check out the stats in their birthday post, lots of exciting growth here! http://bit.ly/finovate7291

Lending Club named a top 250 "Always On" Company. Winners will all be announced at the Summit at Stanford in Palo Alto, California, from July 27-29. The conference represents companies recognized by Always On as private companies with the highest growth potential. http://bit.ly/finovate272

Been using Quicken Online or Wesabe PFMs? Here's a solution. MoneyStrands allows for import of historical data. http://bit.ly/finovate72653

SecondMarket announced as the overall winner of the Always On Technology competition. Winners will all be announced at the Summit at Stanford in Palo Alto, California, from July 27-29. The conference represents companies recognized by Always On as private companies with the highest growth potential. http://bit.ly/finovate7252

SecondMarket featured in WIRED magazine "Let the Little Guys in Pre-IPO" says WIRED. http://bit.ly/finovate7298

SmartyPig enhances privacy measures. The online savings account platform now allows users to select detailed or general message settings and preferences. http://bit.ly/finovate7283 or see our post at Netbanker.

Bills.com Acquires Home-Account.com

By Jessica Ward on July 29, 2010 10:31 PM

Bills.com, an online portal for consumer financial information and advice, acquired Finovate alum Home-Account.com for an undisclosed sum on July 28, 2010.

Bills.com was an early investor in Home-Account, which helps mortgage and refinance shoppers find loans in a "competitive, transparent, convenient and affordable manner."

Bills.com told TechCrunch (link here) they plan to scale the Home-Account service to other consumer financial needs such as paying off debt.

Bills.com attracts considerably more website traffic. In June, the financial portal attracted 130,000 unique U.S. visitors compared to less than 15,000 for Home-Account.com and its related Refinance.com site (Source from Compete.com).

For more information about Home-Account.com:

Video demos

Finovate 2009 (video)

Finovate Startup 2009 (video)

Blog posts

June 3, 2010: Home-Account Launches "Mortgage Grade" a Thorough Online Mortgage Application Pre-qualification Service (link)

January 15, 2010: Home-Account Launches New Service at Refinance.com (link)

September 1, 2009: Who's Innovating in 2009? Finovate Preview (link)

Alumni News -- Week of July 11, 2010

By Jessica Ward on July 18, 2010 4:52 PM

Here are our news updates for the week of July 11, 2010. To get our updates real-time, follow us here.

Acculynk's pin debit software powers the PULSE home debit pin pad technology. The PULSE technology will allow financial institutions to issue bank-branded home pin pads to consumers for online purchases. http://bit.ly/finovate7151

Blippy can now import purchase receipts direct from your Gmail inbox. Don't worry, you'll still get to approve them before they post to the world. http://bit.ly/finovate7162

California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) selects BrightScope to analyze teachers portfolios. BrightScope's "On Target Index" will be used to benchmark portfolios in this optional retirement plan for Calif. teachers. http://yhoo.it/finovate7142

Cortera releases study showing businesses are experiencing better cash-flow. Businesses are being paid nearly one week faster, the fastest in two years. http://bit.ly/finovate7131

eRollover raises $1 million from Imlay. This investment was announced previously, but the amount was undisclosed. http://bit.ly/finovate7132

Kapitall's platform can be used for a portfolio contest! See details here: http://bit.ly/finovate7143

Kasasa has full-page ad on the back of this month's issue of ICBA's Independent Banker

Mshift and CashEdge team with Patelco Credit Union (San Francisco) for Popmoney person-to-person electronic funds transfers -- Patelco users can send funds via text or MMS message from a mobile device. http://bit.ly/finovate141

OnPoint Community Credit Union finds that Tyfone mobile adoption has grown much faster than expected. Monthly enrollment of mobile banking grows an average 20% per month. http://bit.ly/finovate7111

Powered by Jwaala, Michigan First Credit Union now includes Twitter direct messages as a "mobile alert" option. Members can receive account alerts via Twitter DM, email and text: 31% of members are active users of the mobile alerts system. http://bit.ly/finovate7144

TradeKing hires CIO. Dan Raju was formerly the senior technology executive at Associated Press. http://bit.ly/finovate7133

Visa invests more in Monitise, now owns 14.4%. Monitise's shares increased 12% as consumers responded to the news on July 13. http://bit.ly/finovate7161

Last Day to Save $300 on Your FinovateFall Ticket

By Eric Mattson on July 15, 2010 9:12 PM

I love July for two reasons. First, it means that summer has finally arrived in Seattle (reminding me why I live in this beautiful city). Second, it means that we're buried up to our eyeballs in fascinating screening calls to pick all the cool new fintech innovations that will showcased during FinovateFall.

This year, our screening process has been particularly fun because, with the newly expanded 2-day format for the fall event (October 4 & 5), we're going to get to showcase an even broader spectrum of innovations than in the past. And with the huge number and high quality of applications we've received, this fall's demo lineup is going to be great.

If you're interested in attending the event, the deadline for Super Early-Bird Tickets is midnight on Friday, July 16 (only about 24 hours away!). Registering now will save you $300 on your ticket and reserve your spot among a rapt audience.

Just a few of the organizations that are already attending include: Citi, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, RBC Ventures, Tower Group, USAA, Capitol One, Discover, Intuit, Wells Fargo, AXA, IDC, CIBC, Standard Chartered, Alliant CU, Rabobank, Umpqua Bank, Visa, Associated Press, Harris Bank, H&R Block, TD Ameritrade, AARP, SunTrust, Microsoft, Polaris Ventures, Aite Group, Thomson Reuters, and Gartner.

Don't miss out on your chance to watch the future of fintech unfold live onstage. Register today to lock in your ticket and these savings. We'll see you in New York!

Eric Mattson is CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. He can be reached at eric@netbanker.com.

GlobeFunder changes strategy with IOUSOS.com, creates PaymentClinic.com

By Jessica Ward on July 13, 2010 12:13 PM

Earlier this year, GlobeFunder, parent company to IOUSOS.com, launched PaymentClinic.com.

PaymentClinic represents a change in strategy for GlobeFunder, in response to requests from medical providers for a more proactive payment system.

With 25% of payments now coming from patients rather than insurance companies, medical offices are spending more time managing invoices, payments and the collections process. PaymentClinic was created to serve not only the debt-settlement needs of medical providers, but also other patient-payment services.

The IOUSOS website is not active and now refers visitors to PaymentClinic.com, but the technology is being white-labeled by other payment-negotiation sites, and the technology is the negotiation engine for PaymentClinic.

PaymentClinic offers the same settlement and negotiation tools that IOUSOS did, and also provides payment plans, receivables followup, online bill-pay and other administrative services.

Patients who use PaymentClinic can receive discounts from their providers for early payment, pay bills online, arrange a payment plan, or settle an old bill at no additional charge.

Such payment flexibility means that providers benefit from accelerated receipts while avoiding awkward collections issues. Because PaymentClinic does not charge providers a set-up fee, provider-conversion costs are kept to a minimum. Online bill-pay services are provided at no charge to providers or patients.

The PaymentClinic revenue model for collections and bill discounting is a percentage of payment from the provider - providers only pay when a collection is successful. For providers who elect to have PaymentClinic manage receivables for them, the company is paid on retainer based on the invoice dollar volume each month.

According to PaymentClinic, there are 2,000 patient users already, and one of the largest clients has improved patient-pay revenues more than 30% in 90 days.

What is next for PaymentClinic?

Currently, patient communications from PaymentClinic encourage users to tell their friends and medical providers about the service. Looking forward, a referral program is in the works which will reward users with savings on their bills in return for patients spreading the word to other patients and providers.

PaymentClinic is also working to add more flexible payment options such as ACH transfers.

Corporate Citizenship

PaymentClinic supports St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, with twenty-five cents from every transaction to support medical research for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases.

GlobeFunder's PaymentClinic is an example of another great innovation from a Finovate alumni company. Do you know of an interesting innovation from a Finovate presenter that we should consider profiling here? If so, please email us at blog@finovate.com.

Alumni News Week of July 4th, 2010

By Jessica Ward on July 12, 2010 11:12 AM

Here are our news updates for the week of July 4, 2010. To get our updates real-time, follow us here.

Home ATM shifts focus to mobile Merchants. Home ATM isn't abandoning PIN-based transactions at home but is concentrating on what they call "anywhere commerce" such as service companies, flea markets, and market vendors. http://bit.ly/finovate771

Jemstep inks aggregation deal with CashEdge. Aggregation will allow Jemstep users to view all of their investment accounts at once and determine allocation across all of their portfolios. http://bit.ly/finovate761

Outright.com releases improved sales tax collecting features. Two new categories are available to users "Sales Tax Collected" and "Sales Tax Submitted." http://bit.ly/finovate772

Online Banking Report on real-time bank transaction feeds and alerts. Look at Blippy/Swipely. http://bit.ly/OBR_181

Finovate News -- Week of June 27, 2010

By Jessica Ward on July 5, 2010 7:21 PM

eRollover receives series A funding from Imlay Investments. The initial investment amount was not disclosed. http://bit.ly/finovate6291

Kapitall adds iPad application. The product will officially be released in late summer, 2010. http://bit.ly/finovate6293

Kasasa in the New York Times. "Looks like a bank, sounds like a bank, but no way!" http://bit.ly/finovate721

LendingClub selected as Mint.com goals launch partner. The partnership aims to help consumers pay off debt faster. http://bit.ly/finovate6292

Finovate on Mint's "Goals" feature. http://bit.ly/finovate723

Wall Street Journal profiles Mint.com's new Goals feature. The story includes a video demonstration of the Goals tool. http://bit.ly/finovate6301

Mint.com releases android application. The app is free in the Android Marketplace under "finance." http://bit.ly/finovate712

ReceivablesExchange in Forbes. "An eBay for Invoices. http://bit.ly/finovate722

TransFS releases PayPal calculator. The free tool compares PayPal fees vs. Merchant Account fees. http://bit.ly/finovate6302

Online Financial management pioneer Wesabe closes PFM platform and opens source code. Users have until 7/31/10 to export their data. http://bit.ly/finovate711

Mint.com Unveils Goals Tool

By Jessica Ward on July 2, 2010 7:58 AM

Earlier this week Mint.com launched a new "goals" feature, which lets users track progress towards a goal in sync with their other Mint transactions.

The new feature has already garnered coverage from the Wall Street Journal; the New York Times "bucks" blog; and the US News and World Report blog.

In typical Mint fashion, the goals feature is a "refreshing" take on planning for your financial future. Users can either select a goal from eight of the most popular, or add a custom goal.

Mint syncs the goal with the account or accounts that you select and then applies payments and debits. Your goals are automatically updated, along with your expected completion date. Mint also prompts you with action items relevant to the goal.

Mint is not a bank, so while users cannot move funds into goal accounts within Mint, they can manually record progress towards goals in unlinked accounts and can also link accounts within Mint to view progress in the goal graphics.

The Wall Street Journal reported that a direct banking/saving linkage, including the ability to transfer funds from within Mint, is in the works, perhaps as early as late 2010. Additionally, Mint is developing year-by-year sub-goals. (See below for a step-by-step goal-setting example about how my retirement savings goals might be a little less intimidating when presented as an annual picture).

Step-by-step goal preview

Mint allows you to set serious financial plans in just a few steps. Easy calculations (all done for you) and a non-threatening interface make financial planning more accessible. I was able to establish a retirement goal in three steps. Timing myself, it took just three minutes, two of which were choosing a retirement age. Retirement-age dates can be updated as needed.

Mint goal-setting preview:

1. Answer a few simple questions about your desired outcome for the goal.

2. Personalize your goal with a picture and title. (image)

3. Tell Mint how to track your goal; manually, or with a linked account.

Mint revs its advertising engine

Mint continues its strategy of providing a free service sponsored by relevant advertisements. Affiliated vendors appear on all goals tabs. Under college savings, two 529 plans were offered. When I selected the "save for a car" goal, I was prompted to sock away the savings with two high-yield savings account options, or I could choose one of my existing deposit accounts.

When I established a "get out of debt" goal, I was prompted to try for a lower interest rate with Lending Club and Prosper.com (image below), a smart strategic partnership for the peer-to-peer lenders. A Lending Club press release announcing the partnership indicates that 60% of Lending Club's personal loans have been taken out for the purpose of consolidating credit card debt.

Mint.com demonstrated the goals tool at the Finovate conference in April 2010. The video is available here.

Mint's goal-setter tool is an example of another great innovation from a Finovate alumni company. Do you know of an interesting innovation from a Finovate presenter that we should consider profiling here? If so, please email us at blog@finovate.com