Short term small business lender Kabbage raised a $250 million Series F round from Japan's SoftBank, bringing their total equity funding to $500 million; according to TechCrunch, Kabbage CEO Rob Frohwein says the funding will be used to expand their US footprint, launch more analytical tools, expand into the Asian market and add new products; when talking with TechCrunch before the round was public, Rob explained the thought process behind going into new products like payments; Frohwein says: "Look at how PayPal and Square have both gone from being payments companies to small business lenders. There is a clear connection between how companies think about those two business areas, so it's not a giant leap of faith for us to consider this." Source
The company has raised its Series B round in an effort to expand the number of retail partners; Menlo Ventures led the equity portion of the investment with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, and RRE Ventures, among others; Victory Park Capital is providing the debt facility; founded in 2014 the company provides a white label solution for retailers to offer financing to their customers; they compete directly with firms such as Affirm, PayPal Credit and Klarna. 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
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
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
USAA went live on Wednesday with a virtual assistant that works with Amazon's Alexa voice interaction device; Alexa will be able to answer commands from consumers who ask about accounts, balances, spending and transactions; USAA is now one of many financial institutions working with Alexa and as American Banker points out the USAA version is more flexible with voice commands than other institutions; when prompting Alexa they do not need to say the command a certain way, they can say the command as they wish; USAA is working with software company Clinc to customize their experience, as Jason Mars, Clinc's CEO, tells American Banker, "You've got this ability to speak to it in a messy, convoluted way, and the AI can understand everything, you feel like you're speaking to a human in the room." Source
Join LendIt for a webinar about blockchain technology and how it can streamline operations for wealth managers and insurance back office operations; register here for the August 14 webinar at 2:00 PM EST; presenters include Jayant Khadilkar, global head of analytics and technology at Tiger Risk, and Ryan Rugg, business development at R3. 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
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
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