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#CuriosiTech – Discover the 4 Best FinTech of the week: Penta, Fentury, Clever Kash and Alan

By
Team Europe
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Every week, Techfoliance highlights four promising Fintech start-ups in different part of the world in various verticals: lending, payment, investment, etc. In this weekly FinTech mapping we have Penta, Fentury, Clever Kash and Alan.

Penta

Penta is a Berlin-based Fintech that provides businesses and startups across Europe with business bank account. Founders created the company to give startups more freedom and power over their banking. The digital bank is still in beta test and should be open to public in the coming months.

Discover here: http://www.getpenta.com/

Fentury

Fentury is a Toronto-based Fintech that has developed the next generation automatic personal finance manager. Clients can automatically import data from their financial accounts or manage their cash flow from their mobile to better understand their financial situation.

Discover here: https://www.fentury.com/

Clever Kash (by ASB)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwoQAaIXfYk

Clever Kash is a new Fintech powered by the Auckland-based bank ASB. The bank has developed a cashless moneybox that teaches kids how to save for the things they want. Parents can transfer money to their child’s ASB savings account and manage everything directly from ASB mobile app. The bank is committed to improving financial literacy throughout New Zealand.

Discover here: http://bit.ly/2pkZYrE

Alan

Alan is a France-based Fintech that aim to reshape health insurance through customer experience. The service is available for corporates and private clients. The company closed a €12 million seed round.

Discover here: https://alan.eu/

 

Key take-aways from Blockshow Europe 2017

By
Nathan Sexer
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Addy Creeze, CEO at Cointelegraph, said it: “Blockshow Europe 2017 is the largest European platform for showcasing established Blockchain solutions”.

Key industry players were represented such as big corporations Deloitte and Commerzbank, established blockchain entities like Waves or Nxt Foundation and fast-growing startups like Bernstein or Etherisc.

See also: Weekly Blockchain Mapping

Although “Blockchain is now” were the final words of the Blockshow’s keynotes, many still believe that the real revolution everyone is talking about won’t happen before 3 or 4 years. Milan Sallaba, Partner at Deloitte and Technology Sector Head, reminded it very clearly:

“We are only scratching the surface right now (…) we need to push the technology and its adoption. Big use cases will come as a results”.

Blockchain: Hype or Game Changer?

This technology will strive to become a game changer in every single industry, driven by its main characteristics, and well synthetized by Paolo Tasca from UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies during the conference: Decentralization; Security, Transparency & Immutability; and last but not least, Automation with Smart contracts (i.e. self executing).

Everyone is working on it: there is undoubtedly a massive Blockchain hype, and it has been so far a buzzword to many. According to Gartner, the Blockchain technology hit in 2016 the highest peak of the famous Hype curve, where “users and the public are suffering from “inflated expectations” about its benefits”. Some facts confirm that statement, when the Bitcoin value reached an ounce of gold on March, more and more people invest in crypto currencies, creating a so-called bubble coming along a general surge in prices.

Cryptocurrencies are exploding in value and number, and ICOs (Initial Coin Offering) are on fire! Only at the Blockshow, at least 5 crypto-investment funds were represented at the event: Satoshi, CyberFund, DAO Casino, TaaS, etc.

“When you’re dealing with blockchain assets – you’re dealing with startups. Hyper volatility.“ said Marina Gureva, CEO at cyber-Fund.

Challenges for a Widespread Blockchain Adoption

« How to make your mom use that service?» asked Roger Benites – CEO at Bitinka. We need to educate people and make it easier to make “moms” use it. To our mind, this will be solved thanks to user experiences made easy and concrete use cases solving true pain points. There is no need for all to fully understand the technology, as beautifully said by Marco Favia – Head of the Blockchain Business Board:

“I don’t understand why everyone want to understand how Blockchains works. No one wants to understand how smartphones work. It just works.”

According to Deloitte, main barriers to blockchain adoption are listed as follow:

[tabs tab1=”Social Acceptance” tab2=”Regulation” tab3=”Technical Standards” tab4=”Legal Uncertainties”]
[tab]Technology understanding and acceptance, employee adoption, customer adoption and operating model.[/tab]
[tab]Understanding, regulatory approval of new business models and lead times, auditability.[/tab]
[tab]Smart-Contract maintenance, On/Off Boarding, Key-management; Data governance, Interoperability.[/tab]
[tab]Storage of personal identifiable information, Enforcement of contracts (“smart contracts are just code”).[/tab]
[/tabs]

Act, Learn, Build…

Philipp Krömer – from Commerzbank & Blockchain Lab gave a speech with some valuable advice to banks and big corporations in general regarding the Blockchain. Following our vision to help decision makers understand emerging trends and take actions accordingly, we thought that some advice were worth mentioning:

Milan Sallaba said “work iteratively and focused: start small and work the way up”. Philipp Krömer completed by “Don’t wait for your board to open a budget, go take a developper, see some front-end problems and work on it”.

Corporates and individuals should be aware of its potential, learn how to implement it and the best way to go, is actually learning by doing. So go build your blockchain!

Companies should focus on building solutions with genuine added value instead of communicating around Blockchain just for the hype.

Think of the problem first and develop customer-centric solution. Involve Blockchain only if it adds a unique value.

Blockchain Awards

Also, congratulations to Etherisc for winning the award of “The Most Innovative Blockchain Startup” and SolarChange for the “Startup With The Biggest Potential for Betterment of Humanity” during the Blockchain Oscar Competition, respectively earning €5000 worth of Bitcoin and Humaniq tokens!

 

The Coolest Banking Products for the Snapchat Generation

By
Team Europe
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0

The Snapchat generation is not satisfied anymore by the old methods used by banks to let them pay or manage their savings.

The millennials are addressing new challenges to banks to switch from traditional methods to more modern and “hyper-personalized” financial services. As a result, we have seen more and more banking products being created to comply with the new generation of digitally savvy people. Here are few examples of the services targeting the Snapchat generation:

Note: feel free to leave comments below if you’ve heard of other cool banking products in your country

Selfie Banking

Companies like Mastercard or HSBC now let customers take selfies to pay or open bank accounts. This selfie security verification technology is an alternative to the classical PIN code or biometrics methods used so far by most banks. Banks are actively working on new kinds of ID recognition in an attempt to eradicate hacking or ID fraud.

See also: IDnow: identification in the digital age

Sunglasses Payment

Visa announced few weeks ago that it was running a new pilot program of contactless payment-enabled sunglasses. To pay, the user takes off the glasses and swipe them on a Visa NFC-enabled terminal, as simple as that. The sunglasses were first released during a festival in Texas and surf competitions in Australia.

The “Swatch Bellamy”

Swatch and Visa partnered to launch the “Swatch Bellamy”, a wearable watch to do contactless payments. The watch was created in 2016 and first launched in China, Brazil, the US and Switzerland. Compared to its competitors (like the Apple Watch), the “Swatch Bellamy” is not connected to internet for security (and cost) reasons. The watch has partnered with Union Pay in China and Visa for the rest of the world.

The Payment Ring

 

Forget the wallet, the mobile or the cards, and pay with a ring! Companies like Kerv in the UK or Icare Technologies in France have created contactless payment rings to make payment as easy as swiping a finger on a POS terminal. In both cases, the ring is connected to a mobile app to manage expenses and credit cash on the ring. Kerv let people make payment up to £30 and works in all places where Mastercard contactless payments are avaliable. Icare Technologies works pretty much the same way and has set up a secured contactless personal identification system.

 

B2B Fintech are less glamourous… but yet super attractive – Nav

By
Xavier Gomez
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0

As part of its series on [B2B Fintech], Techfoliance is proud to introduce you Nav: the modern way for businesses to manage their business credit profile and access financing.

Reports show that 2017 will be the year for the rise of B2B Fintech with more and more start-ups now positionning on a B2B model in the investments space, asset management, crowdfunding or payment sector, according to a recent study published by Roland Berger.

As a result, Techfoliance will introduce you B2B Fintech start-ups that you may have never heard of but yet well positioned to shake the financial industry.

Nav: business credit and financing

The story

Nav is a Californian-based fintech startup that helps business owners build, protect, and leverage their credit data. Founded in 2012, Nav is the modern way for business owners to manage their business credit and get streamlined access to financing. Its founders, Levi King and Caton Hanson, are lifelong friends and entrepreneurs. They were inspired to create Nav after their own experience dealing with the complexities of business financing.

The product

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eby4635P–E

Nav wants to significantly reduce the default rate of small businesses by bringing transparency, certainty, and efficiency to B2B commerce and financing. Its mobile app gives free access to easy-to-read personal and business credit reports and monitoring. It also provides tools to build business credit and a marketplace that matches users to lending options based on their approval odds. It all makes it much easier for business owners to get affordable funding, lowering costs and saving time.

Ambition matrix

The app is already used by more than 200,000 small business owners. Levi King’s ambition is to reach the 1M users in the next 2 years. As of today, the company has partnered with more than 50 of the top business lenders and credit cards. It has offices in Salt Lake City.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, up to 72% of small businesses are rejected for bank loans. Nav’s research shows that small business owners who understand their business credit scores are 41% more likely to be approved when they apply for a business loan. The survey also showed nearly one quarter of business owners who were turned down for a loan didn’t know why they were denied.

Nav’s business model is innovative and is a combination of personnal and business credit data lenders (BtoB and BtoC). In 2015, the start-up was named on Forbes’ Fintech 50 list. In 2016, it raised $25M in Series B Funding.

Its ambition is to become a market leader in America. It regularly works with the U.S. Small Business Administration and local Small Business Development Centers to host educational presentations and webinars.

 

The Fintech Mergers and Acquisitions Landscape

By
Nir Netzer
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0

Despite the broader investment uncertainty that clouded 2016, and the resulting impact it had on mergers and acquisitions within FinTech, the current outlook for M&A within FinTech remains strong.

Case 1: D+H (Canada) acquired by Misys (UK)

The recent acquisition of D+H Corporation, a Canadian technology provider for banks, by Vista Equity Partners for a total enterprise value of approximately $4.8 billion, is a clear indicator of the strength within the FinTech mergers and acquisitions space. Combining D+H with Misys, Vista hopes to create a global, diversified market leader within the FinTech space. Whatever the outcome, the size of this acquisition during a time of uncertainty clearly demonstrates the underlying vitality in the FinTech sector.

In the third wave of FinTech, both financial institutions and FinTech entrepreneurs are beginning to realize that the most successful way to revolutionize the financial industry will be achieved through synergy. Financial institutions no longer see FinTech as purely a threat, but rather as an opportunity to innovate their own services. Consequently, M&A activity within the sector is becoming increasingly popular as large companies rush to integrate the latest FinTech solution. Combining a small, innovative, fast paced start-up, with the resources and knowledge base of an institution, products can reach even greater heights than ever before imagined.

Case 2: Sling (Israel) acquired by Avante (Brazil)

Digging deeper into previous deals, there is significant variety within the FinTech M&A space. The acquisition of Israeli mobile finance start-up Sling, by Avante, the Brazilian micro-credit giant, has been very successful for both sides. The acquisition gave Sling the capability to reach more customers, notably in the Brazilian market, and to further its vision to empower the most disadvantaged groups in the new economy. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed, but is estimated at $10 million.1

Another notable acquisition was the $1.25 billion acquisition of Fundtech, by D+H Corporation, prior to its own acquisition. The size and scope of these acquisitions varies significantly, illustrating the diversity within the FinTech acquisition marketplace.

The current FinTech M&A landscape is thriving, allowing start-ups to grow and scale, alongside providing exit opportunities for interested parties. Combining large institutions with the agility of start-ups is the essence of the third wave, and the FinTech acquisition is the tool for growth.

Techfoliance community:

Join FinTech-Aviv on April 26 at Rise TLV, for an event that will cover the most interesting angels of M&As in FinTech and discuss on some of the most exciting M&As occurred lately in our eco-system.

Sources:

1 http://www.geektime.com/2016/07/12/brazilian-avante-to-acquire-israeli-startup-sling/

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