12 Coolest Brands in Banking 2017 Page 5
9. Nymbus: New Core on the Block
Core banking can be a dull topic – innovation there is rare, and the problem of switching out old cores for new ones is so complex that it is often compared to open-heart surgery – one of the things you probably don’t want your process to be compared to. But the advantages – de-siloing, the elusive 360-degree view of the customer, and on and on – mean it’s always in the back of bankers’ minds.
Along comes Miami-based Nymbus, a startup looking to reinvent core banking, and even make it sexy. In its sights are the likes of Fiserv, FIS, Jack Henry, D+H, Temenos, and other entrenched players. Attacking entrenched positions requires a lot of firepower. Nymbus’s splashy launch party at Money20/20 put it front and center on the fintech stage, and it quickly took a shortcut to getting customers – buying other core technology providers, such as Sharp Bancsystems of Texas.
After picking up three such companies last summer, Nymbus went on to raise another $12 million. One of Nymbus’s advantages may be expertise from another industry – its founders previously worked on a publishing CMS. It is aggressively going after customers and betting that the advantages its tech brings will help community banks not just survive, but thrive in the digital age.
10. Cleo: It’s AI’s Time to Shine
We have already established that 2017 will be the year of artificial intelligence in banking. For consumers, this means a lot more and a lot smarter financial chatbots.
Cleo, a London-based fintech startup that has developed a virtual assistant for personal finance, is already proving the trend. The startup raised $700,000 in a round of seed funding last month, including from an angel investor Niklas Zennström, founder of Skype. Altogether, the round consisted of eight angel investors, including Zennström.
Cleo is designed to be a consumer’s financial assistant, responding to queries such as “what’s my balance,” or telling the user how much they’ve spent during the month at a specific restaurant or merchant. Dubbed “Siri for personal finance” by her creators, Cleo also launched on Facebook Messenger in January. In addition to Messenger, Cleo is available as a standalone PFM app or through Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
