Glia Lands $78 Million in Series C Funding

Glia Lands $78 Million in Series C Funding

In a round led by existing investor Insight Partners, multi-channel digital customer experience specialist Glia has raised $78 million in capital. The Series C round takes the company’s total funding to $107 million, and will be used to help scale the company’s digital customer service offerings with an emphasis on product development and an eye toward potential strategic acquisitions.

“Just as Zoom has transformed the way consumers communicate with colleagues, family and friends, Digital Customer Service is changing the way businesses support and engage with customers,” Glia co-founder and CEO Dan Michaeli explained. “This is an area that has gone mainstream, as evidenced by Facebooks’s recent billion-dollar acquisition of Kustomer.”

Glia’s fundraising comes as the company reports growth of more than 150% in 2020. This is due in part to the impact of COVID-19 related lockdowns and Work From Home policies that drove consumers and employees alike toward digital channels for commerce and work. Glia’s platform enables customers to communicate with businesses using any channel – voice, text, video – and to seamlessly transition between those channels during the interaction. The technology allows customer service representatives to guide customer journeys, increasing personalization and efficiency and boosting customer satisfaction and retention rates.

Insight Partners Lonne Jaffe praised Glia’s platform for providing the tools required for businesses to engage customers digitally and “communicate through the customer’s channel of choice.” Dan Brown, founder and CEO of Interactive Intelligence, who also participated in this week’s investment, added that Glia represents a solution for companies that are “still focused on moving antiquated, on-premises telephony systems to cloud contact centers that essentially offer the same functionality.” Brown added that if he were to build his company again today, “I would take Glia’s approach.”

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New York, Glia last demonstrated its digital customer service technology at FinovateWest Digital 2020, earning Best of Show honors. Formerly known as SaleMove, Glia has teamed up with more than 150 financial institutions, insurance companies, and fintechs, most recently partnering with intelligent virtual assistant company Interface, and fellow Finovate alum and AI-powered chatbot developer, Finn AI.


Photo by icon0.com from Pexels

FinovateWest Digital 2020 Sneak Peek: Glia

FinovateWest Digital 2020 Sneak Peek: Glia

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

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

Features

  • Seamlessly move between modes of communication
  • Receive improved sales results and customer satisfaction via richer customer interactions
  • Deliver the best experience for customers and agents

Why it’s great
By employing a digital-first approach to customer conversations, financial institutions improve customer satisfaction, reduce customer effort, and gain operational efficiencies.

Presenter

Dan Michaeli, CEO & Co-Founder
Michaeli is the driving force behind Glia’s vision to combine the human touch with technology to create the best customer experiences.
LinkedIn

New York’s Finest: Catching Up with FinovateFall’s Best of Show

New York’s Finest: Catching Up with FinovateFall’s Best of Show

What have the companies that won Best of Show awards at last year’s FinovateFall conference been up to in the months since our New York show? With our autumn event less than a month away, we thought it would be a great time to check in on the nine companies that took home top honors this time last year.


BlytzPayIntegrated its digital payments technology with Dealer Management Systems (DMS) leader ABCoA Deal Pack. Announced strategic partnership with AFS Dealers.

CinchyJoined the 2020 MassChallenge FinTech Program in December 2019 along with five fellow Finovate alums. The program noted that 70% of the participants in its previous cohort launched a pilot or proof of concept within a year. Earned a $500,000 cash prize as one of the winners of the 2019 VentureClash competition. Raised $10 million in funding in May.

College Aid ProPartnered with Horsesmouth, a company that provides educational and marketing solutions for financial advisors and their clients. Announced collaboration with the American Institute of Certified College Financial Consultants. Teamed up with online student loan refinancing marketplace Credible.

ebankITForged North American partnership with fellow Finovate alum Enterprise Engineering this spring. Announced updates to its multichannel banking platform.

GliaWon Best of Show at FinovateEurope for a second year in a row. Integrated its technology with fellow Finovate alum Alkami’s Online Banking Platform. Inked partnerships with 20 credit unions across the U.S.

MXTopped 50,000 direct-to-bank API agreements to major financial institutions and fintechs. Launched data connectivity API, Path by MX. Named one of Inc. Magazine’s Best Workplaces 2020.

owl.coNamed one of Canada’s Most Innovative Tech Companies by the Canadian Innovation Exchange. Delivered $1 million in revenue within six months of launching.

Pinkaloo TechnologiesRaised $1.25 million in funding. Joined Goldman Sachs-owned Ayco Marketplace for financial counseling and wellness services. Partnered with Eastern Bank to power its Give for Good charitable giving program.

Zogo FinanceTeamed up with fellow Finovate alum Bankjoy. Announced partnerships with 11 community banks and credit unions across 12 states. Surpassed 1,000,000 financial literacy modules completed.


FinovateFall Digital 2020 kicks off Monday, September 14 and continues through Friday, September 18 with hours of live and on-demand content. Visit our registration page today and join us for Finovate’s biggest, digital-first event to date.


Photo by Yuting Gao from Pexels

FinovateFall Digital 2020 Sneak Peek: Glia

FinovateFall Digital 2020 Sneak Peek: Glia

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateAsia Digital on June 22, 2021. Register today and save your spot.

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

Features

  • Seamlessly move between modes of communication
  • Receive improved sales results and customer satisfaction via richer customer interactions
  • Deliver the best experience for customers and agents

Why it’s great
By employing a digital-first approach to customer conversations, financial institutions improve customer satisfaction, reduce customer effort, and gain operational efficiencies.

Presenters

Dan Michaeli, CEO & Co-Founder
Michaeli is the driving force behind Glia’s vision to combine the human touch with technology to create the best customer experiences.
LinkedIn

Intuit’s $7 Billion Bid for Credit Karma; FinovateEurope Salutes its Best of Show

Intuit’s $7 Billion Bid for Credit Karma; FinovateEurope Salutes its Best of Show
Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom from Pexels

How’s $7 billion for good karma? One of Finovate’s earliest alums Credit Karma is reportedly the target of what would be Intuit’s biggest acquisition to date. According to The Wall Street Journal, the cash and stock deal could be announced as early as Monday.

Credit Karma will continue to function as an independent company with founder and CEO Kenneth Lin at the helm. The acquisition gives Intuit, maker of online tax filing service TurboTax, another contact point with the online personal finance world. Credit Karma provides its members with access to their credit scores and borrowing histories, helps them monitor their accounts for security breaches and, perhaps most relevantly, has offered a free online tax preparation service since 2017.

If the deal holds up, Intuit will be paying a significant premium for Credit Karma. The personal financial wellness company was last valued at $4 billion, based on a 2018 private market transaction.


With another Finovate conference in the books, our Finovate Best of Show ranks has a new set of members. Congratulations to Dorsum, Glia, Horizn, iProov, Sonect, and W.UP for taking home top honors earlier this month at FinovateEurope!

The victory may have been especially sweet for Sonect, whose Best of Show award-winning demo was also the company’s Finovate debut. The Switzerland-based start-up offers what it calls “the world’s first social cash network” that enables consumers to access cash without having to visit a bank branch or ATM. Sonect offers merchants the ability to grow their business via increased traffic and gives financial institutions a way to extend their ATM networks without the cost of additional hardware.

The Best of Show win was also a first for Horizn. The company, which made its Finovate debut three years ago at FinovateEurope, offers a platform that helps employees and customers maximize the opportunities of digitized financial services. Horizn uses simulator microlearning, as well as gamification and advanced analytics, to promote digital adoption across channels.

And last but not least, a special tip of the hat to Dorsum, Glia, iProov, and W.UP, all of whom won Best of Show honors at FinovateEurope for a second year in a row.


Here’s a round up of recent news from our Finovate alumni.

  • Larky enters reseller agreement with Access Softek.
  • Bison Bank in Lisbon, Portugal selects PSD2-ready software from ndigit.
  • Techround interviews Tradeshift co-founder Mikkel Hippe Brun.
  • Bremer Bank leverages Backbase’s digital-first banking platform to fuel digital transformation.
  • Paysend’s multi-currency global account launches in Europe.
  • Kinetica launches Kinetica Cloud.
  • Futurex taps ISARA to bring quantum-safe cryptography and crypto-agility into its Key Management Enterprise Server (KMES) Series 3.
  • With new FCA license, Meniga seeks to expand product offering.
  • StrategyCorps and Digital Onboarding partner to help banks grow checking account relationships.
  • Baker Hill renews partnership with Washington Trust Bank to streamline loan origination and portfolio risk management.
  • Aire launches Credit Insight Suite to improve access to credit.
  • Coinbase becomes Visa principal to offer more feature for Coinbase Card customers.
  • InComm partners with Eezi to launch Poundland’s gift card program.
  • Enveil secures $10 million in Series A funding for secure data collaboration.
  • Trulioo adds image capture SDK to Trulioo GlobalGateway.
  • Amaiz taps ValidSoft for voice authentication.
  • OurCrowd expands focus on growing early stage tech companies.

Finovate Alum Features and Profiles

eToro’s Evolution – Social trading and investment platform eToro has never been one to stand still for very long. The company’s development cycle is fast enough to make even the most sprightly fintech jealous.

Lending Club Snaps Up Radius Bank for $185 Million – When Lending Club was founded in 2007, the startup aimed to serve as a place to help borrowers avoid dealing with banks. In a somewhat ironic move today, that same startup is becoming a bank itself.

Breach Clarity’s New Offering Provides Consumers Personalized Protection – Fraud detection and prevention company Breach Clarity announced this week it has developed a new platform to help financial service providers offer personalized protection for their customers.

New SumUp Card Empowers SMEs as Business Payment Makers and Takers – The company that has helped bring fintech innovation to e-commerce with its mobile point-of-sale (mPOS), card reading solutions now offers merchants a card of their own.

FinovateEurope Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateEurope Best of Show Winners Announced

The votes are in and the people have spoken! Congratulations to the winners of Best of Show at FinovateEurope in Berlin, Germany!

Dorsum for its Communication HUB that provides real-time, private, banking customer engagement through automated notifications and instant human and AI chat possibilities. Video.

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

Horizn for its focus on equipping frontline employees and customers directly with the knowledge to improve customer experience and increase digital adoption. Video.

iProov for its solutions – used in production globally by governments and banks – that use biometrics to authenticate users online. Video.

Sonect for its easy-to-use and accessible for everyone, everywhere global platform for cash transactions. Video.

W.UP for its banking personalization platform that turns data into better banking. Video.

Thanks to all the demoing companies that took the time and effort to demonstrate their innovations live on stage. Thanks also the City of Berlin for being such a wonderful host for our first conference of the new year and new decade. We are already looking forward to returning in 2021!


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 six 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 2019 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 Sneak Peek: Glia

FinovateEurope Sneak Peek: Glia

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 14-16, 2020. Register today and save your spot.

Glia is a digital customer service platform that connects financial institutions to their customers using Chat, Voice, Video, CoBrowsing and AI.

  • Seamlessly move between modes of communication
  • Receive improved sales results and customer satisfaction via richer customer interactions
  • Deliver the best experience for customers and agents

Features

Why it’s great
By employing a digital-first approach to customer conversations, financial institutions improve customer satisfaction, reduce customer effort, and gain operational efficiencies.

Presenter

Dan Michaeli, CEO & Co-Founder
Michaeli is the driving force behind Glia’s vision to combine the human touch with technology to create the best customer experiences.
LinkedIn

FinovateFall Demo Videos Are Live

FinovateFall Demo Videos Are Live

Maybe you missed your chance to attend FinovateFall earlier this month. Or maybe you want to watch your favorite demos over again. Either way, today’s your day. We’ve just released all of the videos from the 75 companies that demoed their fintech on stage.

All of the 7-minute demos are available to stream and download for free at Finovate.com. And if you don’t know where to begin, we’ll get you started with the nine demos that won Best of Show at the event.

BlytzPay

Cinchy

College Aid Pro

ebankIT

Glia

MX

owl.co

Pinkaloo Technologies

Zogo Finance

FinovateFall Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateFall Best of Show Winners Announced

The votes have been cast and the ballots counted. And after two days of live fintech demos from 75 innovative companies, here are the best of the best: the companies our attendees have deemed FinovateFall’s Best of Show.

BlytzPay for its text-to-pay solution that makes billing and communication simple, streamlined, and secure while providing flexibility to pay by card, check, or cash. Demo video.

Cinchy for its Data Collaboration Platform that lets data work the way it should: connected, controlled, and accessible for real-time collaboration. Demo video.

College Aid Pro for its innovative technology, supported by a community of financial advisors, that changes the way America shops for college. Demo video.

ebankIT for its omnichannel digital banking platform that helps banks and credit unions transform their businesses. Demo video.

Glia for its technology that creates digital-first moments that simplify and transform communications between businesses and their customers. Demo video.

MX Technologies for its platform that helps financial institutions and fintechs quickly and easily collect, enhance, analyze, present, and act on their financial data. Demo video.

owl.co for its instant KYC/AML tool that automates enhanced due diligence on both individuals and companies. Demo video.

Pinkaloo Technologies for its solution that helps financial institutions attract and retain customers and increase deposits and fees by powering their customers’ charitable giving. Demo video.

Zogo Finance for its technology that leverages partnerships with financial institutions to reward kids for learning financial literacy. Demo video.

Those in attendance at this year’s FinovateFall can attest to the energy and enthusiasm that characterized our conference this week. Congratulations to all 75 of the companies that demonstrated their fintech innovations on stage and a heartfelt thanks to our partners, sponsors, and onsite tech team for making this year’s autumn event a smashing success.

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 nine 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 2019 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 Sneak Peek: Glia

FinovateFall Sneak Peek: Glia

A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateMiddleEast on November 20 and 21, 2019 in Dubai. Register today and save your spot.

Glia enables financial institutions to engage customers online via any mode of communication, and enhances experiences via patented CoBrowsing and layered with conversational AI.

Features

  • Seamlessly move between modes of communication
  • Receive improved sales results and customer satisfaction via richer customer interactions
  • Deliver the best experience for customers and agents

Why it’s great
By employing a digital-first approach to customer conversations, financial institutions improve customer satisfaction, reduce customer effort, and gain operational efficiencies.

Presenter

Dan Michaeli, Co-Founder and CEO
Michaeli is the driving force behind Glia’s vision to combine the human touch with technology to create the best customer experiences.
LinkedIn

Finovate Alumni News

On Finovate.com

  • Featurespace Partners with Elavon to Fight Payment Fraud
  • Fueling the Fire: How Venture Capital Empowers Fintech Today
  • Plaid Adds Credit Card Details to Liabilities Offering

Around the web

  • Enrichment Federal Credit Union selects Jack Henry’s ProfitStars Commercial Lending Center Suite create efficiencies in commercial lending.
  • PYMNTS: BlueVine hires PayPal exec as CCO.
  • Wisconsin’s First National Bank and Trust Company to deploy core and digital banking technology from Finastra.
  • Revolut announces new CEOs for its businesses in Lithuania and Ireland.
  • Global Payments completes its merger with TSYS.
  • FICO and risk investigation solutions provider Arachnys partner to help FIs improve their client onboarding and record management processes.
  • Bill.com celebrates grand opening of new Houston office.
  • Finicity ships new Verification of Income and Employment (VOIE) solution using TXVerify technology.
  • SecureKey collaborates with Digital Bazaar to streamline organizational identity proofing.

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.

FinovateSpring Best of Show Winners Announced

FinovateSpring Best of Show Winners Announced

It’s been great to be back in the city by the bay!

After two days of live fintech demos, the attendees of FinovateSpring here in San Francisco have made their selections as to which fintech products, services, and solutions were interesting, impressive, and innovative enough to earn one of our coveted Best of Show awards.

From solutions to help consumers better access credit to technologies that bolster the fight against fraud to “Is this @#$% real?!” demonstrations of AI-powered agents that sound – and feel – as real as any human, this year’s Best of Show winners are truly in a class of their own.

Arkose Labs for its technology that solves multi-million dollar fraud problems for the world’s most targeted businesses with zero impact to user conversion. Video.

Blytzpay for its text-to-pay solution that makes billing and communication simple, streamlined, and secure, while providing flexibility to pay by card, check, or cash. Video.

BlueRush for Individeo, an interactive and personalized video platform for financial institutions to drive online sales success. Video.

Everplans for its solution that helps advisors create better interactions, establish new connections, strengthen relationships, and gain introductions to heirs. Video.

Glia (formerly SaleMove) for its technology that creates digital-first moments that simplify and transform communication between companies and their customers using messaging, video/voice, co-browsing, and AI. Video.

Invest Sou Sou for its smart social banking account designed to help community banks cultivate low-cost deposits and credit-ready borrowers in a secure and cost-efficient way. Video.

Neener Analytics for its regulatory compliant social media analytics platform that delivers specific individual risk outcomes for thin-file, no-file, and credit-challenged consumers. Video.

Voca AI for its smart, human, and empathetic virtual call center agent for financial institutions and service providers. Video.

A thousand thanks to all our demoing companies, our sponsors and partners, and, most importantly, our awesome attendees whose passion and enthusiasm for fintech innovation makes our events all the more engaging and entertaining. We’ll see you next year!

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 eight 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 2018 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