Recently in Alumni News Category

Here are the news headlines posted this week on Twitter (follow our feed here).

MoneyAisle appears in Kiplinger's Retirement Report (print only). The story appears in the June issue and explains the new "auto loan search" features at MoneyAisle. More from MoneyAisle at http://bit.ly/FINOVATE671

BBVA Compass Bank replaces West Bank as SmartyPig's banking partner. BBVA Compass is the 15th largest bank in America. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE672

Kapitall unveils "search by brand" feature. The new search helps investors to identify the parent company of their favorite brands. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE681 or www.kapitall.com

SecondMarket CEO Barry Silbert interviewed by Dan Rather [vid]. See more on SecondMarket's management of "illiquid assets." http://bit.ly/FINOVATE691

MoneyAisle featured in Wallet Pop. Read more about shopping for an auto loan from MoneyAisle at http://bit.ly/FINOVATE692.

SmartCredit.com featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show. See SmartCredit.com at work with Oprah and Jean Chatzky as part of the "Debt Diet" series on the program. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE693

Ebay recognizes Outright.com as most innovative app. Outright.com received an award for most innovative application at the Ebay developer's conference. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6101

MPower Ventures in the running for Business Week's "Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs." Twenty-five companies are finalists. Read more at http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6102 or www.mpowerlabs.com.

Micronotes raises another $1.6 million in funding. Yahoo Business reports on the startup's fund raising success. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6103

TransFS.com helps merchants shop for better credit-card processing. TransFS claims that user merchants can save up to 40% by shopping around for merchant services. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6111

Billeo expands merchant directory. Billeo users can now pay their bills online with more than 10,000 merchants. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6112

Peer-to-Peer lender Prosper.com seeks regulation as a lender to avoid SEC. Prosper has asked to become regulated as a lender to ease the regulatory burden of being regulated as an investment firm. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE6113

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

ThreatMetrix partners with Offerpal Media to stop fraud -- The ThreatMetrix data will give Offerpal additional abilities to identify potentially fraudulent user transactions. http://bit.ly/cerWUY

Peter Pham to leave BillShrink -- Schwark Satyavolu will re-assume the CEO Position. Pham will be leaving BillShrink to join Trinity Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE611

iBearSoft releases a video demo of the iBearMoney for iPad -- Money for iPad is a top-selling app in the paid personal finance category in the American iTunes app store. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE613

Lending Club hits $10 mil in monthly originations for first time -- Congratulations to Lending Club on their continued growth! http://bit.ly/Finovate621

mFoundry featured in NY Times -- (6/1/10 p.B1) Article on card-based loyalty programs moving to mobile. http://nyti.ms/cardloyalty

Zecco's CEO Michael Raneri has been named a winner of IDG's 2010 InfoWorld CTO 25 Award -- Zecco is an online brokerage which offers free stock trades and low-cost options trades. http://bit.ly/FINOVATE621

Alpha Clone investment account service has launched -- A clone is a portfolio of stocks based on the stock idea of one or more fund managers. http://bit.ly/aQcBgu

Bling Nation, mobile payments provider, hires Shan Mehta to lead strategic alliances -- Mehta will also be responsible for maintaining and expanding exiting relationships with service partners. http://bit.ly/Finovate631

MoneyStrands adds cash tracking to application -- Cash tracking is now available for MoneyStrands via Web and mobile app. http://bit.ly/finovate641

In April 2009, kaChing demonstrated its new Investment IQ platform at FinovateStartup. (video link) Since then, the company has made several changes to its business model.

In 2009, the platform was open for anyone to share their holdings and allowed users to mimic any private investor's portfolio. Since that time, kaChing has altered its platform to so that it only tracks professional Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs). As to what motivated the change in direction, the startup says that most people are more interested in following a professional investor's strategy than another DIY investor. It also found that professional investors were looking for a platform to share and promote their track record.

There are now two sides to the kaChing business:

Consumers

kaChing allows investors to open an account and invest with RIAs based on their track record and portfolio focus. This provides small-scale investors unique access to high-level fund managers that normally only service customers with minimum portfolios of $50,000 to $500,000 or more.

Business-to-Business (KaChing Pro)

kaChing Pro is the professional side of the platform. The company handles administrative chores and provides many analytic tools allowing RIAs to profitably manage smaller accounts. Any professional can use kaChing Pro, but only those whose "Investment IQ" surpasses 140 points are open to all users to invest with.

KaChing Pro markets to small and medium-sized RIAs with assets under management not exceeding $500 million. Currently, kaChing has sixteen qualified RIAs and more than 600 investors. The company has almost $11 million in assets under management. The company has raised more than $10 million in venture capital funding. The company has more than 20 employees, up from 10 at the time of FinovateStartup 2009.

For more information about kaChing see www.kaching.com or for more information about kaChing Pro, see http://pro.kaching.com. The company's brokerage partner is Interactive Brokers, LLC.  

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

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

DebtGoal raises first round of VC funding - In its first round of institutional funding, DebtGoal raised $2 million. The round was led by Tugboat Ventures, with participation from seed investor New Cycle Capital. To date, DebtGoal has raised a total of $3.1 million. http://bit.ly/bZxzq4

Diversinet awarded two patents - Diversinet was awarded two patents for mobile technology. One patent was awarded for a system that detects and classifies mobile devices, allowing apps to be matched with handsets. The other is for security technology for mobile digital data delivery. http://bit.ly/cDkHOU

Finovate Alums Among Webby Award Honorees - Finovate alumni FiLife, Kapitall, Lending Club, and SimpliFi are among the 12 honorees in the Financial Services category of the 14^th annual Webby Awards. Fifteen percent of Webby nominees received honoree status. The actual Webby awards, presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, will be announced June 14^th. http://bit.ly/cqC9Fa

GreenSherpa holds contest for savings tips - GreenSherpa is hosting a contest for reader-submitted money-saving tips. On April 21, two winning tips will be randomly selected. Winners receive annual subscriptions to GreenSherpa. http://bit.ly/cDakPl

Lending Club raises $24.5 million - Lending Club received $24.5 million in investment funds from Foundation Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Canaan Partners. The company says it will use the capital for new loan products, new investment tools, and website improvements. http://bit.ly/9zU4lO

Lending Club also recently announced its fourth Twitter contest, in which daily winners will be rewarded for tweeting about the company's ongoing photography contest. Twitter winners will receive shirts, messenger bags, and other products. http://bit.ly/d19g5g

Mint adds new feature to track cash spending - Mint added a new feature that allows users to manually enter spending data. Previously, all transactions had to be automatically uploaded from financial accounts. http://bit.ly/a3EtRb

Monitise reports more than 2 million registered users - Monitise has passed the 2 million registered user mark. The company stated that the increase in users was driven by increased uptake of its smartphone apps. Monitise serves more than 240 banks and financial institutions in the U.S. and U.K. http://bit.ly/cjMh7R

SecondMarket launches asset-backed securities market - SecondMarket, which provides a marketplace for trading in illiquid assets, announced that it launched a market for asset-backed securities. The move adds a ninth asset class to SecondMarket's platform. http://bit.ly/b2GHFc

The company also announced $70 million in private company stock transactions this March, the highest amount that SecondMarket has ever traded in one month. In contrast, the company traded $44 million in private stocks in February. The company reported that 41% of the transactions were Facebook stock trades. http://tcrn.ch/bpcXpQ

SeerGate announces new COO - Jim Fancher has joined SeerGate as its new chief operating officer. Fancher was previously general manager at FIS subsidiary Endpoint Exchange Network and has also served as senior vice president of marketing at VECTORsgi and CEO of Gilson & Associates. http://bit.ly/9FilPo

SmartyPig recognized at Prometheus Awards - SmartyPig was honored Breakout Company of the Year by the Technology Association of Iowa in its fifth annual Prometheus Awards presentation. http://bit.ly/bUi0Hf

ThreatMetrix provides fraud detection for OnlineLabels.com - ThreatMetrix is providing fraud detection for OnlineLabels.com, which produces laser and inkjet-printable labels. The company's online ordering system is automated, making it an easier target for credit card fraud. ThreatMetrix helps the company analyze transactions to detect suspect orders. http://bit.ly/bGRFMl

Transparent Financial Services adds business verification system - Transparent Financial Services, also known as TransFS, added a business-verification system that speeds up the company's submission process. The new system identifies businesses based on their name and ZIP code. http://bit.ly/amDwqf

Zopa honored for innovation - Zopa was recognized by the U.K.'s Nesta, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, in its Open 100 competition, which honors firms for open innovation. Peer-to-peer lender Zopa was awarded in the open business category. http://bit.ly/bs82cL

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

Acculynk Introduces Program for Independent Sales Organizations - Acculynk, which provides online PIN debit payment services, introduced PaySecure Plus, a new program that expands the company's services to include Independent Sales Organizations. http://bit.ly/bV5xgA

BancVue Launches MoneyIsland.com - BancVue launched MoneyIsland.com, a teaser site for its financial literacy game that becomes available to community financial institutions in September 2010. MoneyIsland 1.0 is an expansion of the beta CentsCity game, which BancVue picked up in its recent acquisition of Skill-Life. http://bit.ly/bY7WFf

Boulevard R Partners with Financial Planning Association - Boulevard R has partnered with Financial Planning Association to offer its finance management software to consumers on FPA's website. http://bit.ly/aSCwKS

CashEdge Appoints Global Head of Product & Marketing - CashEdge appointed Catherine Palmieri to Global Head of Product and Marketing. Prior to joining CashEdge, she served as Executive Vice President, General Manager, for Citibank, overseeing Citibank.com, Citibank Direct, and CitiMobile. http://bit.ly/azYw56

Centrro Launches Mortgage Product Beta - Centrro launched the beta version of its new product, Centrro Leads, which helps connect mortgage brokers to consumers based on credit profiles. http://bit.ly/bGgZBE

iPay Technologies Joins High Impact Portfolio - iPay Technologies joined the High Impact Portfolio, a public/private partnership of between Louisville Metro Government and Greater Louisville Inc.'s ENTERPRISECORP designed to support Louisville, KY businesses. iPay was named as one leading top-growth companies in the Louisville metro area. http://bit.ly/bpW2GC

Kasasa Signs its First Virginia Member - Kasasa signed its first financial institution in Virginia, Northern Star Credit Union. The credit union will offer three new products, Kasasa Cash, Kasasa Saver, and Kasasa Giving. http://bit.ly/dmLGKV

Lending Club Offers Cash Bonus to Members - In an email to its members, Lending Club offered its members cash bonuses on new deposits in an invitation-only rewards program. Lending Club will provide a bonus of 1% to funds over $2,500 and 1.5% to funds of $15,000 or more. www.lendingclub.com

Monitise Enters Joint Venture in Asia - Monitise has signed a 50/50 joint venture agreement with First Eastern Investment Group to develop services in the Asia Pacific region. First Eastern is based in Hong Kong. http://bit.ly/9TcpCF

Monitise Americas Publishes White Paper - Monitise Americas has published a white paper examining the adoption of mobile services as a strategic option for financial institutions. The paper includes a case study following H&R Block. http://bit.ly/9llGRW

Zecco Releases New Web Tools - Zecco launched two new browser-based tools, Zecco Streamer and Zecco Streamer Lite, which provide traders with real-time market data. The Lite version is free, while the standard version, which covers more stock exchanges and offers email alerts, has a monthly fee. http://bit.ly/bt9wb4

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

Bill.com wins Monarch Innovation Award -- Bill.com has been recognized with a 2010 Monarch Innovation Award from Barlow Research Associates. The company received an honorable mention in the Industry Partner category. Bill.com was one of only six companies awarded this year. http://bit.ly/bCCati

Kabbage Loans to eBay Users - Kabbage is offering short-term business loans to eBay sellers. The company will evaluate sellers based on eBay ratings, whether they have an eBay Store, and funds flowing through their PayPal and merchant credit card accounts. http://bit.ly/bcOd9c

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

Acculynk Provides Debit Service to Sun Country Airlines - Sun Country Airlines has partnered with Acculynk to provide its customers PIN debit service. Acculynk's service allows users to make online purchases using their current debit card and PIN numbers without requiring any additional enrollment with the merchant. http://bit.ly/97u9EE

AlphaClone Adds Funds, History-Viewing Features, and Alerts - AlphaClone, which develops investment portfolios by duplicating the patterns of successful investors, has added 18 new funds to its investment options. The company also added a feature that allows members to view a manager's holdings back to 1999. Finally, AlphaClone is now providing email alerts when fund managers file a Form 13G or 13D with the SEC, indicating that the manager has purchased more than 5% of a public company. http://bit.ly/aKCsIE; http://bit.ly/9Pj1As; http://bit.ly/9q9QB2

DebtGoal Gains Board Member and New COO - Ed Ojdana, the founder of FreeCreditReport.com, has joined DebtGoal's board of directors. Igor Vaks, former CIO of Experian Consumer Direct, has joined as the company's chief operating officer. http://bit.ly/93UWux

Fiserv Launches Bill Payment Widget - Fiserv launched a new bill payment widget that enables consumers to pay bills from within their online banking homepage. The widget is available to financial institutions using Fiserv's online banking solutions. http://bit.ly/aYNFb2

mFoundry Provides Platform to Nassau Educators Federal Credit Union - Nassau Educators Federal Credit Union will offer its 140,000 members mobile banking services supported by mFoundry's mobile platform. Services will include bill payments, fund transfers, and balance checking. http://bit.ly/9k4Q9N

moneyStrands Celebrates First Anniversary of PFM launch - moneyStrands is celebrating the first anniversary of launching its PFM. Highlights of the year include acquiring Expensr and partnering with Savings.com and SouthPointe Digital Technologies. The company also passed 100,000 users in its first seven months. http://bit.ly/aVDXCp

Outright.com Opens Blog for Developers - Online bookkeeping service Outright.com has added a new blog for developers. Outright already hosts a support blog for its users. http://community.outright.com/

Prosper Raising Fourth Round of Funding - Prosper is finalizing its fourth round of funding, seeking to raise $13.3 million to $15.8 million. The company signed a letter of intent with new and existing investors to raise the round, which is expected to close by April 15. http://bit.ly/cqiRr6

ThreatMetrix Provides Fraud Protection to iReel.com - ThreatMetrix is providing fraud detection and prevention services to online movie rental company iReel.com. iReel offers digital movies through an automated process. ThreatMetrix adds a layer of credit card authentication to the system. http://bit.ly/9uFTDI

TradeKing Deploys Recognia's Strategy Builder - TradeKing is making Recognia's Strategy Builder stock-research tools available free to its clients. Strategy Builder allows users to compare the performance of various investment strategies. http://bit.ly/bVzF1z

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

Billeo includes AARP discounts in Offer Assistant - Billeo's Offer Assistant program, which helps online shoppers find discounts and incentive rewards, now includes AARP (American Association of Retired Persons). The association has about 40 million members. http://bit.ly/dtxfzU

BillShrink holds Facebook sweepstakes - BillShrink is giving away an iPad in a sweepstakes to encourage Facebook users to follow the company. The company will also give an iPad to the person who referred the winning user. The contest is similar in structure to a Mint promotion (our story here). Both are being handled by Wildfire. http://bit.ly/b8Vr6M

Bling Nation signs Adirondack Trust Company - The Adirondack Trust Company, located in Saratoga Springs, New York, is offering mobile payments through Bling Nation's system. This is the first East Coast deployment of the payments system. http://bit.ly/8Y0QR2

Bling Nation helping banks and merchants build relationships - According to a report from American Banker, Bling Nation's community-based payments system is building stronger ties between banks and retailers. By providing a payment system between community banks and merchants, Bling can offer lower transaction costs, encouraging merchants to work with local banks. http://bit.ly/9JkfgK

CashEdge provides P2P to Boeing Employees Credit Union - Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU) is the first credit union in the country to offer CashEdge's POPMoney person-to-person payments service. The service launched on March 20. http://bit.ly/9RPJ2k

Diversinet expands focus on healthcare sector - Diversinet announced at the CTIA Wireless 2010 conference that it would increase its focus on providing mobile solutions to the healthcare market, connecting care providers and payers with healthcare information. The company's new strategy involves introducing new mobile applications, creating custom data portals for care providers, and developing systems to connect mobile devices to medical equipment. http://bit.ly/dcshRf

Fiserv to provide Mobile Money services to SunTrust Banks - SunTrust Banks selected Fiserv's Mobile Money to provide customers with mobile financial services. The Fiserv system will allow SunTrust to offer account access and customer alerts via text messaging and mobile browsers. http://bit.ly/bvvcFY

Lending Club photo contest with up to $2,500 in prizes - Lending Club launched a photo contest to encourage submission of new background images to use in its redesigned website; as many as six winners will take home cash prizes. http://bit.ly/b632aj

Mortgagebot case study: Community Bank - Charmichaels, PA- based Community Bank is using technology from Mortgagebot to open up new business channels and make the mortgage loan process more efficient. A Mortgagebot-produced case study on the bank reported a 68% increase in the volume of closed loans in 2009, compared to its results in 2008. http://bit.ly/9fi0t2

SecondMarket plans presence in Asia -- SecondMarket is preparing to push into Asian markets, where it may eventually employ as many as 150 people. The move into Asia follows $15 million in financing obtained from two Asian investors in February 2010. http://bit.ly/9OcLyQ

Yodlee data aggregation powers new PFM -- Newly launched online PFM In & Out Cash Management has partnered with Yodlee to import transaction data from more than 10,000 U.S. financial institutions. http://bit.ly/ah4nbY

Zopa marks fifth year in business -- Zopa (UK) announced its fifth anniversary in March. To celebrate, the company is running a sweepstakes awarding a 5% loan each day. http://bit.ly/9O5nQu

As part of our regular monthly tracking of Finovate alums, we examined the U.S. website traffic for the 134 sites they operate, using data from web-analytics company Compete. (Our review for the previous month is available here.)

Out of 109 sites with data available (see note 1), 42 (38%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in February 2010 (see table #1, below). Of those, 32 (76%) had fewer visitors than in the previous month and 22 (52%) saw a decline year-over-year.

Notable successes:

• Expensify was up nearly 9-fold over its count for the previous year.
• FiLife, with an increase of more than 1.3 million visitors, scored more than eight times as many visitors in February 2010 than in February 2009. ThreatMetrix followed with nearly eight times as many.
• Mint.com saw more than one million visitors for the ninth month in a row.
• TradeKing is up nearly 9-fold over the previous month.

Of the alumni with more than 10,000 visitors, January's traffic leader FiLife is still topping the chart, despite a 44% decrease in visitors from the previous month. In fact, the top six from last month all retained their positions on the list, despite seeing fewer visitors than in January. BillShrink rose to displace CashEdge in the seventh spot.

#1. Finovate alumni with more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in Feb. 2010

Source: Compete.com, March 16, 2010

#2. Finovate alumni with year-over-year growth of at least 5,000 U.S. visitors

Source: Compete.com, March 16, 2010

Notes:

1. We reviewed 134 unique sites. Data was unavailable for 25 sites because they had been acquired, were no longer available online, or had active sites that were not covered by Compete for various reasons, including some that were not U.S. domestic companies.

2. At larger companies we tried to measure traffic to the sub-domain most closely aligned with the Finovate demo, e.g. www.checkfree.fiserv.com. Also, searscreditscore.com, a private-label site supported by Credit Karma, has been added to the list.

3. Numbers have been rounded to three significant digits.

4. The charts include companies that did not have measurable traffic in February 2009, indicated by a N/A.

5. Compete draws its information from the online activity of a panel of more than 2 million US Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic, and may undercount at-work usage. 

BancVue announces results for Kasasa - Since its launch in May 2009, Kasasa has produced 71% lift in new account acquisition at its member banks and credit unions, says parent company BancVue. Of these new accounts, 53% represented new customers to the financial institutions. http://bit.ly/9zbvae

CashEdge cuts fraud by $140 Million - CashEdge announced that it has prevented an estimated $140 million in client fraud losses in 2009 through its risk-management services. The dollar amount is derived from the total value of potentially fraudulent transactions detected and prevented by CashEdge's risk-monitoring services. http://bit.ly/aoyaaZ

ClairMail announces new Mobile Connectivity Architecture platform - ClairMail's new platform for financial institutions will allow institutions to offer mobile banking services including real-time transactions and account management. http://bit.ly/9SjpK7

Digital Insight changes name - Digital Insight has rebranded as Intuit Financial Services. The company was acquired by Intuit in 2007. http://bit.ly/9jM4QB

Expensify celebrates first anniversary - During Expensify's first year, it raised $1 million, came out of beta, launched in the Google Apps Marketplace, and integrated with Outright.com, Salesforce, and Intuit. http://bit.ly/asZr1z

Kapitall demos at Apple Store - Kapitall will preview the beta version of its online investing platform on March 24, in the San Francisco Apple Store. CEO Gaspard de Dreuzy will present the product. http://bit.ly/a4i4Oh

Kasasa adds SMW Federal Credit Union - SMW Federal Credit Union is the first financial institution in Minnesota to offer Kasasa brand checking accounts. SMWFCU offers three of Kasasa's four products - Kasasa Cash, Kasasa Tunes, and Kasasa Giving. http://bit.ly/bKvXFC

Lending Club reaches milestones - Lending Club issued its 10,000^th loan, surpassing $95 million in loans issued. The company also exceeded $1 billion in loan applications. http://bit.ly/dmC9VK

Mint.com wins Web award at SXSW Conference 2010 - Mint won the "Classic" category at the SXSW Conference Web Awards. While the SXSW awards generally note the best new Internet destinations, the Classic Award honors sites that have been in operation for more than a year. http://bit.ly/dDyP5t

ThreatMetrix launches Fraud Network - ThreatMetrix launched Fraud Network, a suite of tools for e-commerce, financial services, and information-technology companies. Fraud Network provides tools for verifying new accounts, authorizing payments and transactions, and authorizing user logins. http://bit.ly/b26pLo

ThreatMetrix partners with Verifi - ThreatMetrix is partnering with Verifi to deliver its fraud detection and risk-assessment tools to merchants through Verifi's payment risk-management system. Verifi provides global electronic payment solutions for card-not-present retailers. http://bit.ly/bGcqW3

TradeKing earns 4-star rating from Barron's - Online broker TradeKing was awarded a four-star rating in Barron's 15th annual Best Online Brokers survey. TradeKing ranked sixth overall out of 22 firms evaluated. This is the fourth consecutive year that TradeKing has received four stars (out of a possible five) from the survey. http://bit.ly/9Zz1cF

TradeKing launches trading-info site - TradeKing launched OptionsPlaybook.com, a free online resource for beginning and advanced options traders. The site includes jargon definitions, a brief history of the options market, and more than 40 options strategies. http://bit.ly/9Gxda7

Tyfone partners with First Data - Tyfone is partnering with First Data to provide SideTap micro secure digital (MicroSD) memory cards. The cards can contain financial information and secure identification from multiple sources such as retailers and financial institutions, creating a virtual wallet. http://bit.ly/byoHJH

Yodlee to host webinar - Yodlee is hosting a free webinar on conversion strategies for bill payment systems on March 23. The webinar will focus on changing bill payment systems without disrupting users. http://bit.ly/aslHQG

ZimpleMoney offers Starbucks card - ZimpleMoney sent a promotional message to its members, offering a $25 Starbucks card if a loan is initiated. The loan must be accepted by March 31 to qualify. www.zimplemoney.com

Here are the news headlines we posted recently on our Finovate Twitter feed (follow it here).

Acculynk Provides Debit Payment System for Ritz Interactive -- Acculynk will provide its PaySecure debit payment service to Ritz Interactive. The service, which allows consumers to make PIN-based debit transactions online, is being deployed on 16 Ritz e-commerce sites. http://bit.ly/aE5DlD

FIRST ROI Joins BancVue -- FIRST ROI, which develops interactive products for financial institutions, is joining its parent company BancVue and changing its name to BancVue Interactive. http://bit.ly/auuovg

NFCNews Covers Bling Nation's Mobile Payments Pilot Program - Bling Nation is testing its mobile payments program in Colorado. According to the NFCNews report, about 500 customers of The State Bank of La Junta use Bling Tags - tiny chips attached to their cell phones - in order to make debit purchases at more than 50 participating businesses in the Colorado town. Bling Nation authenticates the transactions over cell phone networks. About half the bank's customers have signed up for the service. http://bit.ly/bqHhMa

Financial Institutions Adopting POPMoney -- CashEdge announced that more than 100 financial institutions will add its POPMoney person-to-person payment service to their customer options by the end of the second quarter of 2010. POPMoney allows payment transactions over e-mail and mobile services. http://bit.ly/aNNazq

Fiserv Introduces Boardroom Series -- Fiserv announced a new information service for its clients. Called the Fiserv Boardroom Series, the service provides clients with research data and business advice from a series of subject matter experts. The Series will include videos, webinars, and white papers. http://bit.ly/9hEA8J

Fiserv Study on Gen Y Banking Habits -- Research conducted by Fiserv shows that members of Generation Y are frequent users of online and mobile financial services. Gen Y also favors debit cards over credit cards and is more comfortable with Internet-based services than previous generations. http://bit.ly/cLbHBu

Firethorn Expands its Mobile Offering to More Banks -- Firethorn has updated its mobile banking app to allow consumers to access their accounts at more than 3,700 US financial institutions. Previously, Firethorn's mobile banking solution only worked with institutions that were integrated Firethorn providers. http://bit.ly/apbePC (Finovate blog entry here.)

Geezeo to Provide PFM & Social Tools to Vantage Credit Union -- Vantage Credit Union selected Geezeo to provide additional online tools to its Internet banking services. Vantage members now have access to Geezeo's customizable online personal finance management and social networking platform. http://bit.ly/9tHqWH

iPay Technologies Announces Invoicing System -- iPay Technologies announced Billpayperless, a new electronic invoicing and receivables management product for small businesses. The system allows small business owners to receive electronic payments through credit cards or PayPal accounts. http://bit.ly/9C9hUb

iThryv Rebrands to Alkami Technology -- iThryv announced on March 2 that it has completed the transition to its new corporate identity, Alkami Technology. Under the new name, the company will focus on providing online banking solutions for the financial services industry. http://bit.ly/domtAa

Mint Giving Away Apple iPad -- Mint.com is encouraging people to follow the company on Facebook by giving away a free Apple iPad. The winner will be selected on March 17. http://bit.ly/cvRsPi

Prosper Launches Talk Taboo Website -- On March 3, Prosper launched its new Talk Taboo website. The site allows users to share personal finance stories. The site offers a debt consolidation guide and is running an introductory sweepstakes to encourage users. http://bit.ly/9SuG02

TradeKing Launches Mobile Trading Site -- Online broker TradeKing announced a new mobile trading site. After activating the mobile features, clients can access TradeKing from any mobile at http://m.tradeking.com to get stock quotes, check account balances, and place trades. http://bit.ly/b4GRrP

Tyfone Announces MicroSD Secure Digital Memory Cards -- Tyfone announced the completion of its SideTap micro secure digital (MicroSD) memory cards, which will become available to consumers in the second half of 2010. The memory cards, which carry financial information, can be used in mobile phones and accessed at contactless payment terminals, creating an electronic wallet. http://bit.ly/9wi5aR

WorkLight to Host Widget Webinar -- On March 16, 2010, WorkLight will host a webinar entitled, "5 Questions You Should Answer Before Launching Widget Banking." The webinar will cover widget technology and its impact on the banking world, as well as providing discussion on implementation. http://bit.ly/d7LhDz

Zecco Updates Website with New Tools -- Online broker Zecco has rebuilt its website to offer new data tools for investors. New additions to the site include real-time quotes, charting tools, and real-time portfolio monitoring. http://bit.ly/aYghMi

Here are the news headlines we posted recently on our Finovate Twitter feed (follow it here).

Acculynk and EFT Networks Establish Advisory Council -- Acculynk and partner EFT Networks have established the Internet PIN Advisory Council. The council brings together members of EFT's business network, including ACCEL/Exchange, Alaska Option, Credit Union 24, PULSE and SHAZAM. The function of the council is to establish the processes, procedures, rules and best PIN practices for PaySecure, Acculynk's software service for online debit payments. http://bit.ly/cxlCLv

CashEdge Launches Integration Kit - CashEdge has launched a new Integration Kit, making it easier for financial planning, customer relationship management, and portfolio management application providers to simplify the addition of aggregation services into their applications. http://bit.ly/9aSYKv

Credit.com in Money Magazine's Top 20 Websites & Fast Company's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies -- Credit.com has been listed at #7 among Money Magazine's top 20 best money websites. Other companies on the list include Mint.com, BillShrink, and Morningstar. Credit.com has also been included in Fast Company's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies list, where it ranks #7 in the finance category. http://bit.ly/cPzRT6

Mint.com Offers New Support Forum -- PFM Mint.com is implementing a new user support forum, supported by San Francisco company Get Satisfaction. The forum provides a support resource for Mint's nearly 2 million users. http://bit.ly/bg2FYW

Online Resources Launches iPhone App for PeoplesBank -- Online Resources launched a new iPhone app that provides mobile banking services to customers of PeoplesBank. The Massachusetts bank has $1.5 billion in assets and has been a client of Online Resources since 1999. http://bit.ly/bckTX3

SecondMarket Secures Second Round of Venture Capital -- SecondMarket, which provides a market for illiquid assets, has received $15 million in its second round of venture capital. The funding was provided by Hong Kong-based Li Ka-shing Foundation and Singapore-based Temasek Holdings (through its Dunearn Investments subsidiary). Each invested $7.5 million. http://bit.ly/bclL0J

SeerGate and Integrated Banking Technology Introduce Online Banking System -- SeerGate and Integrated Banking Technology have joined to launch SeerGate's Secured Lock System, a secure platform for real-time online banking transactions. IBT will include the Secured Lock platform among the outsourced service offerings it provides to financial institutions in the US and Canada. http://bit.ly/97bzXu

Sparkroom Partners with eBureau -- Sparkroom has announced a partnership with eBureau, a provider of information services for online marketers. The companies will work together to provide technology solutions to help advertisers and lead generators manage online consumer leads. http://bit.ly/c2Woj7

ThreatMetrix Partners with CyberSource -- Online fraud prevention company ThreatMetrix has partnered with CyberSource to provide advanced device identification systems for fraud detection. CyberSource provides more than 200 fraud detection tests and services, while ThreatMetrix offers systems for digitally profiling devices and their online behaviors. http://bit.ly/9w3SXH

Yodlee Officially Opens FinApp Store -- Yodlee has opened its FinApp Store, a platform where certified developers can create financial apps and distribute them to users of Yodlee-based PFM products. The FinApp Store supports both free and pay applications. Yodlee is also making its Software Development Kit available to FinApp Store developers, allowing them to work with the Yodlee data infrastructure. Yodlee demoed the store at Finovate2009. http://bit.ly/cWolZR

Since many Finovate alums compete in the online space, one measure of their success is the number of unique website visitors. Using traffic data from web-analytics company Compete, we reviewed visitor numbers for the 100+ companies that have demoed at Finovate.

Out of 104 sites, 44 (42%) had more than 10,000 unique visitors last month (see chart #1, below). Of those, 25 (57%) had more visitors than a year ago. Overall, 51 (49%) had traffic increases, with 37 (36%) more than doubling. There were 27 (26%) company sites that gained more than 5,000 visitors over the year (chart #2).

Notable traffic increases:

• FiLife, which has been running full-page ads in its sister company, The Wall Street Journal, moved to the top of the alumni chart, with more than 2.7 million U.S. unique visitors in January, up 16-fold over a year ago.
• Mint, now owned by Intuit, saw a record number of visitors in January, nearly 1.7 million. The company does no outside advertising, so the totals are completely from word of mouth and links on other Intuit sites (see Netbanker post here).
• ThreatMetrix and Home-Account, both went from zero to nearly 200,000 unique visitors, a phenomenal amount of traffic for a financial company in their first year of operation.

1. Finovate Alumni with More than 10,000 Unique US Visitors in Jan. 2010

Source: Compete, Feb. 18, 2010

2. Finovate Alumni with Year-over-Year Growth of at Least 5,000 US Visitors

Source: Compete, February 18, 2010

Notes:

1. We reviewed 133 unique sites. Data was unavailable for 28 sites because they had been acquired, were no longer available online, or had active sites that were not covered by Compete for various reasons, including some that were not US domestic companies.

2. At larger companies we tried to measure traffic to the sub-domain most closely aligned with the Finovate demo, e.g. www.checkfree.fiserv.com.

3. Numbers have been rounded to three significant digits.

4. The charts include companies that did not have measurable traffic in January 2009, indicated by a N/A.

5. Compete draws its information from the online activity of a panel of more than 2 million US Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic, and may undercount at-work usage.

Here are the news headlines posted recently on our Twitter feed (follow it here).

Billeo's iPad Sweepstakes -- From Feb. 4 to April 5, Billeo is offering an incentive for new users. Sign up to Billeo and be entered into a sweepstakes to win a new iPad. No purchase is required, but you must download the Billeo app and register. http://bit.ly/7JU7q3

Credit Karma Adds Users and New Tool -- Credit Karma doubled its users in 2009 and now serves more than 1 million users. On Feb. 3, the company announced its new Savings Dashboard tool, which helps consumers capitalize on improvements in their credit scores. www.creditkarma.com

Expensify Launches Palm Pre App -- Expensify has released a new app for the Palm Pre that scans receipts and tracks expenses. The company already has apps for iPhone, Blackberry, and Android. http://is.gd/7B22C

GreenSherpa Wins Catalyst Competition Award -- Social networking company Girls in Tech and broadcast platform Vator.TV have announced the winners of their joint Catalyst Competition honoring women-led startup companies. GreenSherpa was among the five winners selected. Other winners were AccessDNA, BakeSpace, MyLawsuit, and Marriage.com, with Graspr winning the popular vote. http://bit.ly/dw7HU1

Intuit Launches PFM product in India -- Intuit has launched a new financial software product in India. The new Intuit Money Manager application aggregates account data and allows users to view real-time information about their expenses. The tool can also track investments, insurance, and other financial instruments through Intuit's collaboration with Moneycontrol.com. http://bit.ly/9N1xMs

Mortgagebot Reports Growth in Users and Revenue -- Mortgage technology provider Mortgagebot reported a 25% growth in revenue for fiscal 2009. The company also gained about 200 new clients in 2009 and now serves nearly 950 clients. http://bit.ly/c9ugjC

Silver Tail to Present Webinar -- On Feb. 23, Silver Tail Systems will present a free webinar on screen injection, a new hacking technique threatening the security of online banking sites. Silver Tail's founder, Laura Mather, Ph.D., will provide detailed information on the hacking technology. http://bit.ly/caqtH8