Acorns has partnered with personal financial management app Clarity Money; Acorns now has two million investment accounts with users investing spare change into customized investments; Clarity Money launched in 2016 and is an app for personal finance advice and expense and savings management; users of both platforms benefit from the partnership with Clarity Money customers able to use Acorns' automated investing features and Acorns' investors able to sync their Acorns investment account to their Clarity Money dashboard. Source
Brothers Patrick and John Collison have revolutionized how payments are transacted on the internet through their startup Stripe; source provides details on their backgrounds and the development of the business; reports on how the company has grown to provide services for more than 100,000 businesses and their new partnership with Amazon. Source
Personal Capital, a hybrid wealth management platform, raised another $40 million and it now brings their total funding to $200 million; this Series E round was led by IGM Financial, part of the Power Financial Corporation group of companies, with participation from other existing investors; they plan to use the new capital to expand product offerings, increase their marketing spend and build up their advisory service; they also plan to move into San Francisco and Denver, building on the markets they currently are in which include Dallas, Atlanta, New York, Greater Los Angeles and Chicago. Source
The fundraising round was led by TransUnion, Hearst, and Macquarie with participation from existing investors Uprising and John Mack; firm plans to use the funding for expansion of its data analytics platform services; it will also extend its services to the traditional lending market; following the deal, Steve Chaouki, executive vice president and head of TransUnion's financial services business unit, will join the PeerIQ board along with Shea Wallon, managing director of Hearst's Financial Venture Fund. Source
The round was led by NEA and Wing Venture Capital; the company works with mobile operators to access consumers in emerging markets, offering pre-paid customers a micro-loan when they are low on data or minutes; through the app, users are also able to build up their credit over time and Juvo hopes to offer users more financial services products in the future; the seven carriers that Juvo works with also benefit by reducing customer churn and increasing revenue. Source
Celent is a research and advisory firm to mid and large sized banks, credit unions and technology providers; the company partnered with FI Navigator to present data on mobile app adoption in banking; we know what the historical channels of branches, contact centers, ATMs, internet and mobile are all about; mobile is becoming an omnichannel platform for both bankers and customers spanning branches, contact centers and ATMs which Bob Meara explores in his presentation; shares that half of retail customers aren't using digital channels, concerns from consumers about digital and mobile channels, and other data about mobile adoption. Source
US fintech Square reported $16.4 billion in gross payment volume, a 32% gain from 2Q16, as the company attracted larger sellers and increased product usage through cross selling; revenue was $552 million, increasing 26% from 2Q16; earnings per share were $0.07, increasing from $0.02 in 2Q16; the firm's lending business, Square Capital, reported a 68% year over year increase in loan volume for the quarter. Source
Leading cloud based loan and leasing software provider Cloud Lending Solutions launches a new product offering for banking clients, CL Portal™; the new product will allow a lender to integrate loan product workflows and document management for a seamless customized experience; Snehal Fulzele, CEO of Cloud Lending Solutions, explains: "Every day, more and more banks are asking for an integrated loan portal that allows them to configure a highly personal, customer-centric experience. CL Portal™ allows banks to build that interaction with an origination platform in months, rather than years." Source
Even Financial is an industry leading online finance products and services search and comparison service provider; it has announced the launch of a new semi-automated tool to support online advertising for online finance products; new tool includes automation for analyzing the placement of ads. Source
Leading non bank lender loanDepot opened the mello™ Innovation Lab where the tech team will continue working to expand their proprietary mello technology; in comments regarding the innovation lab, loanDepot CEO and Chairman Anthony Hsieh said: "Our lending professionals and LD tech team have combined strengths to create an unstoppable force in next-gen lending. Our never-ending, iterative innovation process is the basis of our business strategy and our true competitive advantage."; the mello technology is designed to make loan origination faster, easier and more accurate by integrating marketing tools and third party data; the digital experience is available to consumers, referral partners and lending professionals; this new lab is meant to foster innovation and allow the technology team to work in a unique environment that includes fun activities and nice weather. Source