Finovate Best of Show Winner Chimney Inks Partnerships with a Pair of U.S. Banks

Finovate Best of Show Winner Chimney Inks Partnerships with a Pair of U.S. Banks
  • Chimney announced partnerships with two banks, Farmers & Merchants Bank and Northwest Bank, that will deploy Chimney’s embeddable financial tools to boost customer engagement.
  • Formerly known as Signal Intent, Chimney won Best of Show at FinovateSpring in 2021.
  • Courtesy of this week’s agreements, Chimney now boasts a total of 15 bank partnerships.

In a bid to boost customer engagement, Farmers & Merchants Bank and Northwest Bank have teamed up with Chimney and will deploy the New York-based company’s financial calculators to help their customers make better decisions about their financial futures.

“In the last two years, we’ve seen greater investments into digital experiences that put customers first,” Chimney co-founder and CEO Matthew Covi said. “Consumers no longer want to be pushed products and services; they want experiences that add value to their everyday life and improve their financial health.”

Previously known as Signal Intent – and winning a Best of Show award in its Finovate debut a year ago at the all-digital edition of FinovateSpring 2021 – Chimney offers embeddable modern financial calculators that can be launched quickly and require no coding to set up and deploy. Chimney has developed more than 35 financial calculator templates, covering a variety of financial categories. Whether a business is looking for tools to better engage homebuyers, automobile shoppers, or simply consumers looking to improve their investment portfolios or savings and budgeting habits, Chimney provides organization with the kind of embedded turnkey digital experiences that help turn website visitors into customers.

“F&M Bank has grown slowly and safely since 1907, earning its reputation as ‘California’s Strongest,'” F&M Bank CEO and board chairman Daniel K. Walker said. “We have supported the communities we call home for more than 100 years, and we aim to continue that. By working with Chimney, we will build deeper relationships with customers by transforming and personalizing their banking experience with the help of meaningful data. We believe this will be incredibly valuable to our customers.”

F&M Bank serves customers in South California and has more than $11 billion in assets. Iowa-based Northwest Bank has 70,000 customers and $2.3 billion in assets.

Chimney began 2022 with a pre-seed investment from the ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator and a seed investment from Anil D. Aggarwal, founder and chairman of Fintech Meetup, as well as Fin Venture Capital and Converge. The company rebranded as Chimney in February, in a shift that Covi said reflected a commitment to move beyond “providing outstanding products and services” and toward “delivering not just the products consumers want, but the experiences they expect.”


Photo by Pixabay

Signal Intent Rebrands as Chimney and Secures Seed Investment

Signal Intent Rebrands as Chimney and Secures Seed Investment
  • New York-based Signal Intent has rebranded as Chimney.
  • The company won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring last year.
  • The rebrand announcement accompanied news that Chimney had raised seed funding that “exceeded its investment goals.”

Signal Intent, which won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2021, has rebranded as Chimney. The company develops financial calculators for banks, credit unions, insurers, and mortgage companies that are “built for the digital age.” The New York-based fintech’s rebrand, announced last month, was accompanied by a seed investing round with participation from individual investor Anil Aggarwal, as well as investment firms Fin VC, and Converge.

“Banking is fundamentally changing as consumer behaviors shift,” Chimney CEO Matthew Covi said. “To compete, banks must change their digital strategy. It is no longer about providing outstanding products and services. It’s about the value they provide through digital experiences. As consumers increasingly make financial decisions online, they expect experiences that are embedded in their everyday life. Chimney is committed to delivering not just the products consumers want, but the experiences they expect.”

More than 60 financial institutions in 30 states use Chimney’s financial tools and technology to better engage their customers and fund more loans. The company said that its financial institution clients have experienced a 15% boost in conversions since deploying Chimney’s technology that helps connect customers to the right solution at the right time. Chimney also helps FIs reduce acquisition costs while growing their loan portfolios.

Selected for the 2022 ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator program, Chimney plans to add to its team, including multiple “key positions” over the next several months. The company’s co-founders include Chief Technology Officer Ryan F. Salerno, former Technical Co-founder of equity management platform Finta (previously Equity Token); and Chief Revenue Officer Chase Neinken, former VP of Global Sales at B2B media company Industry Dive.

“We created Chimney to build the future of financial guidance,” Neinken said. “We believe in a world where people are empowered to make better financial decisions through technology – it’s about confidence and understanding. The demand so far has exceeded expectations and we’re thankful to our clients, partners and investors. Big things are coming ahead.”


Photo by Mikhail Nilov from Pexels

FinovateFall 2021 Sneak Peek: Signal Intent

FinovateFall 2021 Sneak Peek: Signal Intent

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 13-15, 2021. Register today and save your spot.

Signal Intent is reimagining financial guidance for the digital age. The company’s innovative platform transforms how banks and lenders engage customers at scale.

Features

  • Financial tools to engage and convert more customers
  • Shift from reactive to proactive marketing
  • Powerful customer data to prequalify and send relevant offers

Why it’s great
With millions of customer interactions happening every month, we’re building data models that empower banks to deliver personalized marketing and build stronger customer relationships.

Presenter

Matthew Covi, CEO & Co-Founder
Previously the Head of Growth at Stash, a fintech unicorn, Covi is now focused on reimagining financial guidance for the digital age.
LinkedIn

Building Better Banking Websites and Stronger Fintech Teams

Building Better Banking Websites and Stronger Fintech Teams

Time to catch up on the latest from the Finovate Podcast featuring Finovate VP Greg Palmer!

Last week, the podcast hosted Matthew Covi, co-founder and CEO of Signal Intent. A Best of Show winner in its Finovate debut this spring, Signal Intent builds financial calculators for banks, credit unions, and other financial services companies.

These solutions, designed for the digital age, help companies enhance the customer experience they offer with what Covi called “modern, digital tools that will help them compete in today’s landscape.”

“Calculators are a tool that exist on nine out of ten banking websites,” he explained. “But the options that exist really haven’t kept up with the times.”

In this conversation, Covi explains how financial services companies can leverage Signal Intent’s next generation calculators to gain valuable insights into customer preferences, and to use those insights to further enhance the customer experience.


Building a fintech company that lasts was the theme of Danny Shader’s conversation on the Finovate Podcast earlier this month. Shader is the founder and CEO of PayNearMe, a payments experience management firm that enables businesses to boost customer engagement, improve efficiency and drive payment costs lower.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, PayNearMe made its Finovate debut more than a decade ago at FinovateFall in New York.

In the years since, PayNearMe has grown into a leading payments innovator, processing billons of dollars a year in all payment types ranging from ACH, cards, and cash, to mobile-first options like Google Pay and Apple Pay.

In this podcast, Shader talked about what he’s learned as a successful fintech CEO and why every startup needs to be prepared to re-envision, if not re-invent, itself in order to succeed in the long-term.

“I know of almost no hugely successful startup – with the possible exception of maybe Facebook – that ended up doing what it set out to do,” he said. “Your first business ideaI think of as a prop and its the excuse that lets you interact with customers.”


For more from the Finovate podcast, check out last month’s May lineup featuring:

Jeff Horvath of DigiPli on regulatory risk and the changing compliance landscape. Is showing you’re trying good enough?

Jonathan Bell of Red Compass Labs on the fight against human trafficking and slavery in fintech, and the role banks and innovators have to play.

Peter Hazlehurst of Synctera on building a true partnership model for fintech and creating a community banking experience.

FinovateSpring Best of Show Winners Announced

The people have spoken and the votes for Best of Show for the second, all-digital FinovateSpring have been counted. After two days of innovative fintech demos, here are the companies that have been awarded Finovate’s top prize.

Dreams for its financial wellbeing platform that helps banks attract the new generation and create superior digital engagement by leveraging the latest insights from cognitive and behavioral science. Video.

Glia for its digital customer service platform that connects financial institutions to their customers using chat, voice, video, co-browsing, and AI. Video.

Signal Intent for its financial calculators for the digital age – built to win you more customers, capture better customer data, and help you move fast in the era of digital transformation. Video.

Thank you to all of our demoing companies, our speakers and presenters, our sponsors and partners and, of course, our wonderful audience and digital attendees.

Stay connected to the Finovate blog for more from our FinovateSpring companies and presenters, as well as updates about our upcoming events in July for FinovateAsia and our return to in-person conferencing in September for FinovateFall.


Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites during each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three favorites.
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: “Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed.”
4. The three companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named “Best of Show.”
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2020 conferences are below:
FinovateEurope 2015
FinovateSpring 2015
FinovateFall 2015
FinovateEurope 2016
FinovateSpring 2016
FinovateFall 2016
FinovateAsia 2016
FinovateEurope 2017
FinovateSpring 2017
FinovateFall 2017
FinovateAsia 2017
FinovateMiddleEast 2018
FinovateEurope 2018
FinovateSpring 2018
FinovateFall 2018
FinovateAsia 2018
FinovateAfrica 2018
FinovateEurope 2019
FinovateSpring 2019
FinovateFall 2019
FinovateAsia 2019
FinovateMiddleEast 2019

FinovateEurope 2020

FinovateFall 2020

FinovateWest 2020

FinovateEurope 2021

FinovateSpring Digital 2021 Sneak Peek: Signal Intent

FinovateSpring Digital 2021 Sneak Peek: Signal Intent

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateSpring Digital on May 10 through 13, 2021. Register today and save your spot.

Signal Intent creates financial calculators for the digital age – purpose built for digital growth.

Features

  • Win more customers with modern calculators built for digital growth
  • Improve the digital customer journey with the calculator widget on any web page
  • Personalize experiences and capture more data

Why it’s great
Signal Intent is reimagining the financial calculator. Their solution is purpose built to win you more customers, capture better customer data, and help you move fast in the era of digital transformation.

Presenter

Matthew Covi, CEO & Co-Founder
As CEO of Signal Intent, Covi is responsible for executing the product vision. After 10+ years in marketing, technology, and fintech, he’s passionate about building best-in-class technology.
LinkedIn