Coinme, a financial services and blockchain technology company, announced its latest deployment of eight new crypto ATMs in the state of California, bringing its total locations in the state to 23 ATMs. 

InvestCloud Inc., a global FinTech firm, has announced Silicon Beach-based NameDrop Solutions, Inc., as the latest tech firm to enter its Los Angeles Innovation Center. The startup is using the space to bring its data sharing platform to market.

NameDrop is founded by Stephen Van de Wetering – who is also the founder of investment operations outsourcing firm Empaxis Data Management. NameDrop is a mobile app that allows people to share information with other people and businesses through an easy, fast and completely secure data-sharing platform.

The platform is targeted at both consumers and businesses. For consumers, NameDrop auto-fills forms, meaning the app can be used to fill out forms in person, over the phone or online for anything from a job application to booking a flight or filling out a form in a doctor’s office. For businesses and institutions, NameDrop works as an info-gathering tool, collecting accurate data and delivering it real-time, directly into CRM, POS and other systems.

Stephen Van de Wetering, NameDrop’s founder, said: “Filling out forms and onboarding to new services or products is a pain for everyone. The experience is full of friction, and prevents people from continuing to engage with that business – this is especially true in the world of finance. Being able to automatically provide the necessary information through a secure app is our answer to solve this headache.”

Van de Wetering added: “But innovation is hard to achieve in complete isolation – you need the inspiration for creativity. Being close to smart and creative people is also crucial at the early stages of launching a company. This is why we chose the InvestCloud Innovation Center Los Angeles. With access to some of the most creative people in FinTech, we are able to greatly accelerate development and bring our platform to market.”

NameDrop is using the InvestCloud Innovation Center in Los Angeles to continue to develop its proprietary data sharing platform and bring it to market. NameDrop is one of several startups using the Innovation Center, including Finworx and Efficient Tax.

John Wise, Co-Founder, CEO and Chairman of InvestCloud, said: “Internal IT project and startup failure rates are in the 90-percent-plus range. While finding the next innovative idea is half the battle, getting it to market is where most issues occur. Being able to surround yourself with the right people to quality-assure your idea and access the right tools and technology is vital for young businesses at this stage.”

Wise added: “This is why we created the InvestCloud Innovation Center. It allows fast-growing businesses and large established financial institutions alike to create evolutionary applications that will have a real impact across the world. Stephen and the NameDrop team are a perfect example of the kind of business we want in our Innovation Centers, and we look forward to supporting them as they bring their product to market.”

The InvestCloud Innovation Center Los Angeles is based at InvestCloud headquarters at the Pacific Design Center, in West Hollywood. InvestCloud also has a second Innovation Center at its European headquarters in Soho, London.

The InvestCloud Innovation Centers offer both new startups and established financial firms alike the ability to quickly deliver digital solutions, supported by the InvestCloud platform.

As part of a global alliance, Open Banking Nigeria has entered a strategic partnership with Open Vector to jointly develop the Open Banking Nigeria API standards and for Open Vector to assist in shaping and delivering this initiative. 

Citi announces the rollout of key enhancements to Citi Velocity Clarity, its award-winning data and analytics platform which utilizes big data and private cloud technology, delivered through an integrated suite of advanced online capabilities. 

Nubi, a company linked to Banco Comafi, has selected Mambu to provide digital services including online processing of surcharges and payments.

Nubi currently offers businesses and consumers prepaid services for international purchases.  It also allows Argentine SMEs and entrepreneurs who sell services and products abroad to withdraw international payments, and deposit them in their local bank account, both in pesos and dollars.

"We strive to promote financial inclusion and democratisation of electronic commerce in Argentina. To do this, Mambu’s technology is the best fit as it has the flexibility, scalability, and innovation required for our next releases in the local market,” said Martin Borchardt, CEO of Nubi.  “Mambu supports our digital business strategy in real time as part of our cloud-native, composable API-driven architecture."

Commenting on the selection, Edgardo Torres Caballero, Managing Director, Americas, Mambu explained: "The financial sector is leveraging digital technology to meet the changing expectations of customers and markets as well as reach underbanked and unbanked consumers.  As the leading SaaS banking engine, Mambu is aligned to Nubi’s innovative model and culture, and supporting agile and quick integration. We look forward to helping them grow their business in Argentina and reach untapped markets.”

IdeaCarrot is excited to announce the launch of its new Award-based Crowdsourcing and Open Innovation platform. The company works to connect innovative companies with Creative Crowd, Customers and Employees to generate ideas, exchange insights and work on brainstorming new and innovative products. Providing a platform for Co-creation that is Rewarding and Data-Driven, IdeaCarrot is taking open innovation to new levels.

The IdeaCarrot is a startup company that offers a perfect mix of Collaboration, Open Innovation and Award-based Crowdsourcing for ideas in one easy to use platform. It combines best of internal and external influence to bring innovative products to the market.

The company is thrilled to invite interested companies to partner with it and post contests on its Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing platform so that the brightest minds in the world can participate and come up with the best solutions that are based on the current market needs. By participating in contests, creative people can earn cash prizes, recognition, and experience.

"We've all had creative and original ideas at some point. Unfortunately, the process of turning that exceptional idea into a successful business or product seems so daunting. It requires not only production and marketing but also the execution of that particular idea. This means some of the greatest ideas will never turn into actual innovations," said Kayvan Torabian, CEO and Founder of IdeaCarrot. "We are here to change that by providing a platform for a collaborative partnership that is fun and rewarding. Providing companies with tangible and cost-effective results that are customer-centric and data-driven to help drive growth."

Sign up from May 3, 2018, and be among the first companies or individual innovator to benefit from what IdeaCarrot has in store.

IdeaCarrot is an award-based crowdsourcing platform for open innovation crowdsourcing and collaboration of ideas. We bring together companies with innovative minds of the crowd, customers, employees and other stakeholders to collaborate, brainstorm, design and build new innovative products.

Aeris, a technology leader in the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced it has published a white paper written by a leading IoT analyst firm, Strategy Analytics, which documents how the architecture of the Aeris® Mobility Platform (AMP) provides unique advantages to enterprises and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on the journey to IoT.

AMP is a cloud-based IoT software solution that uses a micro-services architecture to package an extensive set of software services known as Granular Entity Modules (GEMs). The GEMs are functional building blocks that can be combined in a multitude of configurations to create application-specific variations, called capsules. AMP's power comes from its customizable ability to address multi-variant complexity.

GEMs are self-contained application environments that have everything they need to run, sustain and maintain an IoT connected delivery service function. Those functions vary from the common - such as data transport, caching or authentication - to the highly specialized - such as global positioning satellite (GPS) location or custom device controls.

As enterprise and OEM IoT-enabled devices grow and push computational limits, and as regulations and other service specifications for different brands, models or regions grow more complex, GEMs can be created to seamlessly expand capacity while at the same time addressing distinct requirements. Like parts from a bin, GEMs are assembled to enable the rapid development, deployment, modification, maintenance, security and scalability of unique Aeris capsules. AMP allows automakers to use cloud-native technologies to simplify complex, global deployments, and ensure services are highly responsive.

CLICK TO TWEET: Mobile devices and #connectedcars for #enterprises and #OEMs to be connected by @AerisM2M Mobility Platform, an end-to-end #internetofthings connected delivery system. #IoT #AerisIoT #GEMs #capsules @SA_Update #strategyanalytics http://www.aeris.com/news/

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Bynder, the global leader in digital asset management (DAM), today announced a new Marketplace integration with Hootsuite, the world's most widely used social media management platform. The integration connects Hootsuitedashboards with creative assets stored in Bynder's portal, enabling users to easily access files for social media content development without the need to download, resize and re-upload each file.

"Our vision is to power download-free workflows, where assets can be seamlessly shared from one platform to the next without the need for downloads or attachments. We're creating a connected ecosystem of intelligent endpoints," said Chris Hall, founder and CEO of Bynder. "Hootsuite is the latest addition to our roster of integrations that can help marketers work faster and smarter with the ability to immediately create, edit and use assets across their social media environments where exceptional visual content is one of the keys to success."

Users save time by eliminating the need to import new creative files to Hootsuite. The plugin loads Bynder's compact portal view directly into the Hootsuite platform allowing users to search for, select and resize the right image for each social post. Hootsuite users can view all available assets in the tool and can use intelligent AI-powered search and filtering functions to find assets based on existing Bynder metadata. The integration also supports brand consistency and version control, guaranteeing that only the most recent and approved versions of creative files are available in social media content creation.

"We have noticed that with the expanding need to capture audience attention on social media, the use of visual content has increased enormously. The Bynder and Hootsuite integration allows creative teams to leverage creative content across media channels quicker and more effectively," said Jeremy Wood, VP Product Marketing. "As social media continues to grow as an incredibly valuable extension of a brand, teams must be confident in their ability to quickly develop creative, effective and consistent experiences for their audiences. This integration will help our users continue to achieve this."

For more information on the Hootsuite connector, visit Bynder's marketplace, the go-to resource for Bynder product integrations.