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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
The physical border between the U.S. and Canada may be closed, but that’s not stopping tech startup financing provider Lighter Capital. The Seattle-based company announced today it has launched its services in Canada.
Canadian businesses can now take advantage of Lighter Capital’s debt financing offerings, including term loans and lines of credit, as an alternative funding source from bank loans and VC funding. Both debt financing options offer companies up to $1 million in capital.
The company’s flagship offering, Revenue Financing, will not yet be available to Canadian businesses. Lighter Capital’s Revenue Loans help borrowers access up to $3 million in loans that they repay based on their monthly cash inflow.
“With the Canadian tech industry’s continued growth, we’re seeing a correspondingly greater need among startups for access to venture capital as well as to various forms of debt financing,” said Meredith Powell, Vancouver-based venture partner at Voyager Capital, an investor in Lighter Capital. “Lighter Capital is a trailblazer in the area of debt-based financing and I have little doubt that, given the increasing demand for their services, they’re positioned for success across the nation.”
Fueling its Canadian expansion, Lighter Capital will open an office in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company is also partnering with the Canadian branch of the Founder Institute, a startup accelerator.
Founded in 2012, Lighter Capital has offered more than $200 million to 350+ U.S. startups. Of those, 20% have had successful exits.
Two of the biggest themes in fintech – digital identity and the rise of fintech in Central and Eastern Europe – meet in the latest announcement from biometric authentication specialist and Finovate Best of Show winner iProov. The company’s facial recognition technology now makes it easier for users of SK ID Solutions’ Smart-ID Service in countries like Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to renew their accounts without having to visit a physical bank branch.
“This is a major development for all digital identity providers,” iProov CEO Andrew Bud said. “Estonia has proved, for the first time, that a remote, automated, biometric ID verification service can deliver the highest possible levels of security.”
Recognized as equal to a handwritten signature throughout Europe, Smart-IDs enable users to authenticate themselves and provide permissions online using a smartphone app. iProov’s facial recognition technology adds a three-second scan to compare the image of the user to the image on their presented ID document to help defend against fraud and identity theft.
Smart-ID also leverages NFC-based ReadID document verification technology from InnoValor.
Financial crime risk management innovator Featurespace will be helping Enfuce combat fraud and money laundering courtesy of a newly announced partnership. Enfuce, a financial services firm based in Finland, will use Featurespace’s ARIC Risk Hub to enhance its ability to protect its customers from fraud and financial crime.
“Our clients deserve industry-leading services that allow them to freely and fully concentrate on the success of their core business, without worrying about ever-evolving fraud,” Enfuce co-founder and chair Monika Liikamaa said.
ARIC Risk Hub offers real-time transaction monitoring for fraud and financial crime, enabling institutions to identify and act against anomalous and potentially dangerous behavior as it occurs. The technology also reduces the number of false positives by as much as 70%, keeping anti-fraud processes efficient. Featurespace introduced its fraud-fighting technology to Finovate audiences at FinovateEurope 2016.
Here is a round up of recent news from our Finovate alumni.
Sezzleunveils new logo along with its first annual report.
Flybitsexpands its executive team in New York, Toronto, the U.K., and Dubai.
Yseop and Automation Anywhere join forces to scale intelligent automation.
Lighter Capitalappoints Kevin Fink at CTO and Patricia Elliott as CSO.
InCommlaunches Roblox gift cards in France and Germany.
Finovate Alum Features and Profiles
Revolut’s $500 Million Round Boosts Valuation to $5.5 Billion – Global financial platform Revolut has secured its place as the U.K.’s most valuable fintech.
Dealing with Deepfakes in Fintech – The fintech industry is ripe with security firms, such as iProov, that use AI to combat both video and audio deepfakes with anti-spoofing technologies.
Envestnet | Yodlee Acquires Indian Data Aggregator FinBit.io – Envestnet | Yodlee has acquired another asset in its strategy to further grow and develop its data aggregation and analytics business.
Meet Sonect: Cash Network Builder, Finovate Newcomer, Best of Show Winner – What’s better than having a large pizza with all your favorite toppings delivered to your front door? How about a side order of cash, saving you a trip to the ATM or bank branch?
Azimo Taps Ripple for Cross-Border Payments to the Philippines – Fueling these payment transfers is Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution that uses XRP to source liquidity and complete money transfers within three seconds.
Lendio Lands $55 Million to Match Small Businesses with Lenders – The investment more than doubles the company’s previous funding, bringing its total to $108.5 million.
SheerID Expands Identity Marketing Platform – The move enables brands to identify and acquire new customers across the globe.
OurCrowd to open its 13th global office in São Paulo, Brazil.
Jack Henryappoints Ted Bilke as new CTO and promotes Greg Adelson to new Chief Operating Officer position.
Deloitte Romania and FintechOSpartner to offer banks digital transformation and automation solutions.
Finastralaunches Fusion Mortgagebot Data Insights, a tool to benchmark mortgage borrower information for banks and credit unions against other Fusion MortgagebotPOS users.
InCommadds Giant Eagle to its Healthcare OTC Network.
Westcon-Comstor to distributeCheck Point Software.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Strandscelebrates 15th birthday with 700 banks in 30 countries.
PyraMax Bank selectsInsuritas to launch a bank-owned insurance service.
Identitiisigns new license agreement with HSBC Bank Australia Limited for its Overlay+ platform.
PYMNTS considers how Tuition.io helps employees pay down debt faster.
Norima Consulting joins the QuadientPartner Advantage Program to provide financial services companies customer journey mapping and communication management.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
PayStandLeverages the Blockchain to Document Proof-of-Action.
DriveWealthPowers Commission-Free Trading for Revolut Cardholders.
Around the web
Columbia Bank to leveragenCino’s Bank Operating System.
Fast Company highlightsLighter Capital as a competitor to Clearbanc.
Ezbobwins the Best Fintech Partnership category for its Smart Onboarding Engine in this year’s Banker’s Tech Projects Awards.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Startup financing company Lighter Capital is broadening its horizons this week. The Seattle-based company announced it is now offering a more diverse set of financing options to fuel entrepreneurs with working capital.
Now, in addition to its flagship, revenue-based financing option that has provided $150 million to over 300 startups in more than 500 rounds of financing, Lighter Capital offers lines of credit and term loans. Similar to the revenue-based financing option, the Lighter Line of Credit and Lighter Term Loan are non-dilutive, meaning startups don’t have to give up equity, or offer board seats.
“Evaluating small startups and providing small loans requires a sophisticated technology platform and data science,” Lighter Capital CEO BJ Lackland told GeekWire. “Our fintech lending platform pulls in 6,500 data points through APIs, creates projections that are 97 percent accurate on average, and automates much of the funding process.”
The new offerings are called the Lighter Line of Credit and the Lighter Term Loan. The Lighter Line of Credit is a revolving working capital line that enables startups to draw and return capital numerous times to even out their cash needs. The Lighter Term Loan provides startups growth capital with predictable payments and offers them the right to get additional capital for a period of time.
The two new credit offerings are meant to complement revenue-based financing. Startups can combine all options for a total of $3 million.
Founded in 2010, Lighter Capital most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2013 where it showcased loan analysis and monitoring tools. Last year, the company launched a new Client Perks Program and increased its funding limit to $3 million.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Dwolla introduces Labels to helpapplication owners customize how funds are allocated.
AkamailaunchesEnterprise Defender to help customers secure all enterprise applications and users.
Kabbage to power loans for Azlo small business clients.
Lighter Capital has financed more than $150 million in 500+ rounds of revenue-based financing to over 300 startups.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
London-based anti-fraud platform Fortytwo Datarebrands as Napier.
Fenergolaunches new low to no-code administration suite, Fenergo Digital Configuration Studio.
Lighter Capitalprovides $700,000 in growth capital to FitSmallBusiness.com.
Forrester namesCREALOGIX a leader in the Now Tech: Digital Banking Engagment Platforms, Q4 2018, category.
Artivestannounces expansion of its platform to include product structuring and fund distribution solutions.
TransUnionunveils its Auto Payment Shopper solution to improve the car buying process for consumers, lenders, and dealers.
ieDigitalnamed “market challenger” in latest Ovum Decision Matrix.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Upserve (formerly Swipely) releases newest point-of-sale device, Upserve POS, now available for Android.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Ocurrency interviews Radoslav Albrecht, Founder & CEO of Bitbond.
Insuritaspartners with Sound Community Bank to launch bank-owned digital insurance agency platform.
Bill.compartners with First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) to offer enhanced digital business payments solutions.
Lighter Capital’sinvestment in Springboard Retail reaches $1.1 million.
Provident Bank choosesGro Solutions to boost mobile-first user-experience and drive account growth.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.
Revenue-based small business financing startup Lighter Capitalannounced today it has increased its funding limit by 50%.
The Washington-based company will now provide tech startups with up to $3 million in working capital in exchange for 2% to 8% of their business’ future revenue. The $3 million cap is up from Lighter Capital’s previous funding limit of $2 million. Unlike with VC funding, startups retain full ownership of their company.
“As more and more tech entrepreneurs discover alternatives to equity-based venture funding, we realized the need for even more significant financial commitment,” BJ Lackland, CEO of Lighter Capital said. “The reality is, most banks won’t fund small, early-stage tech startups, and venture capitalists demand significant equity in the company. By increasing our loan amounts by 50 percent, we can ensure burgeoning tech startups can rapidly expand and get ahead of competition.”
Founded in 2010, Lighter Capital has funded more than 270 early stage tech startups in 450 funding installments totaling $125 million. The company today announced it has provided an additional $555,000 in funding to proptech company ListReports. Thanks to the more than $2 million in total financing from Lighter Capital, ListReports has increased its revenue by 11x since Lighter Capital first began investing in it in 2016, Regarding the round, Lackland said, “Since day one, ListReports has been on an upward trajectory, showing continuous growth, while building out a sustainable business model. We’ll happily provide them with the financing they need to become a dominant force in the real estate technology market.”
Lighter Capital most recently demoed at FinovateFall 2013 where it showcased loan analysis and monitoring tools. Last month, the company launched a new Client Perks Program and a few weeks back appointed Anthea Louie as Chief Marketing Officer.