Our fifth annual FinovateSpring in San Francisco concluded a few hours ago. After seeing 63 demos over two packed days, the audience voted for their three favorites each day. The top seven overall were named Best of Show (see notes).

The winners (in alphabetic order):

• BehavioSec for its new security layer based on user typing/swiping patterns
• BillGuard for its card charge dispute platform, BillGuard FI
• Dwolla for its FISync service to enable banks to originate real-time payments
• iQuantifi for its new financial planning & advice tools
• MoneyDesktop for its PFM platform and integrated "deals"
• Personal Capital for its iPhone app and interbank funds transfer
• SoMoLend for its P2P lending platform

We'll have videos of all 63 demos posted at Finovate.com as fast as possible (probably 2 weeks out).

Thanks to everyone who presented, attended, tweeted, swapped biz cards, schmoozed and helped push fintech forward. You are the greatest! 

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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 as the day went on and choose three favorites from just the demos of that day. Ballots were turned in at the end of the last demo session each day. 
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. Note: Ballots with more than three companies circled will not be counted." 
4. The seven 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.

It turns out that setting up for 1,200 attendees takes a bit more time than we had anticipated. But everything is set, the demos are all working, and we are ready to kick things off Tuesday morning at 9 AM sharp.

You can read all about the 64 product launches during the next two days at our Finovate blog. And we'll be tweeting away from @finovate while hundreds of others do the same with the #finovate hashtag.

To everyone joining us in San Francisco, and for all that are following from afar, we truly appreciate it!

We have a diverse bunch on stage at the fifth annual FinovateSpring next week. With 64 demos, many touching on multiple themes, it's hard to boil down the topics to a few soundbites.

But that didn't stop us from trying. We fed each presenter's keywords into a nifty little software app and created our first ever "demo word cloud."

I don't think anyone will be surprised there's a bit of attention being devoted to "mobile payments." But who would have guessed (prior to last year), that "rewards" and "coupons" would get so much attention. Welcome to the new world of ad-supported banking.

Here's the geographic distribution of the 64 demoing companies (click to enlarge). It's no surprise that we have 24 from California. But there's almost twice as many from elsewhere around the country and world.

Finally, here's a graphical representation of the job titles from our registration records:

And if you will be in the record-breaking crowd next week (thanks everyone!), here's the demo schedule which lists each company. See you in San Francisco.

With less than two weeks to go, FinovateSpring has officially blown past last year's record attendance of 850 and is rapidly closing in the 1,000-person mark. That said, there are still some tickets available if you want to attend and watch the future of fintech unfold onstage via our signature demo-only format. 

If you're curious about the companies that will be debuting their latest innovations on stage, check out the full demo lineup as well as the three sneak peaks (#1, #2, #3) that we published on the Finovate blog recently.

And, in case you're curious who's in this record-setting audience, here is a small sample of the attending organizations:

If you would like to join executives from these organizations (and many others!) grab your ticket today before it is too late. And, if you have any questions about the event, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at info@finovate.com. We hope to see you in May!

FinovateSpring 2012 is sponsored by: Backbase, The Bancorp Inc., the law firm of Hudson Cook, & Intuit

FinovateSpring 2012 is partners with: BankInnovation, BankerStuff, BayPay Forum, Benzinga, California Bankers Association, Celent, Filene, Finance on Windows & PYMNTS.com

FinovateSpring is less than six weeks away and ticket sales are on pace to make the conference our largest West Coast event ever -- significantly bigger than last spring's record audience of 850!

And as you can see from the small sample of the organizations already registered listed below, not only does the size of Finovate audiences continue to grow but so does the quality:

If you would like to join executives from these organizations (and many others!) and watch dozens of cutting-edge fintech companies demo their latest innovations on May 8th & 9th in San Francisco, early-bird tickets are still available through March 31st. If you have any questions about the event, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at info@finovate.com. We hope to see you in May!

FinovateSpring 2012 is sponsored by: Backbase, The Bancorp Inc., the law firm of Chambliss Bahner & Stophel, Intuit, & TxVia

FinovateSpring 2012 is partners with: BankInnovation, BankerStuff, BayPay Forum, California Bankers Association, Celent, Filene, Finance on Windows & PYMNTS.com

FinovateSpring is just around the corner. And with a mere seven weeks until dozens of new fintech innovations take the stage in San Francisco, it is time to announce the handpicked companies that we've selected to demo their latest and greatest. It was a tremendously competitive application process and we're very excited to showcase these new ideas.

Without further ado, here are the companies that will demo their newest innovations at FinovateSpring this year:

We will also be announcing a few stealth companies closer to the conference.

If you'd like to watch these companies demo the cutting edge of fintech at the early-bird rate of $100 off, please get your ticket before March 31st. If you have any questions about the event, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at info@finovate.com. We hope to see you in May!

FinovateSpring 2012 is sponsored by: The Bancorp Inc., the law firm of Chambliss Bahner & Stophel, Intuit, & TxVia

FinovateSpring 2012 is partners with: BankInnovation, BankerStuff, BayPay Forum, California Bankers Association, Celent, Filene, Finance on Windows & PYMNTS.com

I love this time of year. The days are getting longer. Spring is just around the corner. And, at FinovateHQ, we've begun the fascinating process of choosing the new fintech innovations that we will showcase at FinovateSpring (May 8th and 9th in San Francisco). This year's selection process is particularly challenging however as the volume and quality of new ideas is unprecedentedly high.

While the high-quality pool of applicants makes our job harder, it is great news for the 2012 FinovateSpring audience who will get to witness the best new fintech innovations debut via our signature format that blends fast-paced demos with high-quality networking.

If you're interested in where trends like mobile, NFC, biometrics, offers, big data, social, tablets, p2p, apps, the cloud and more will take the financial world in 2012 then I hope you'll consider joining us in San Francisco in early May.

Tickets for the event are selling quickly and we're on pace to beat last year's record attendance of 850. The already long list of registered attendees includes executives from leading organizations like: American Express, Sallie Mae, Wells Fargo, MasterCard, Mint.com, Charles Schwab, Citi, CNNMoney, Aite Group, H&R Block, BBVA, Capital One, Battery Ventures, Celent Research, SunTrust, PayPal, Wired Magazine, Visa, FIS, E*Trade, BNY Mellon and USAA (to name just a few).

Please get your ticket before this Wednesday to lock in your spot at the very early-bird discount of $200 off. If you have any questions about the event, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at info@finovate.com. We hope to see you in May!

FinovateSpring 2012 is sponsored by: The Bancorp Inc., the law firm of Chambliss Bahner & Stophel, Intuit, & TxVia

FinovateSpring 2012 is partners with: BankInnovation, BankerStuff, Celent, Filene, Finance on Windows & PYMNTS.com

With 2012 underway and winter out in full force, it means that spring is just around the corner. And with the warmer weather will come our return to San Francisco with FinovateSpring 2012.

On May 8th & 9th, we will again be showcasing dozens of Silicon Valley's newest fintech innovations via our signature format that blends fast-paced demos with high-quality networking.

Tickets for the event are selling quickly and we're on pace to beat last year's record attendance of 850. The already long list of registered attendees includes executives from organizations like Wells Fargo, MasterCard, Mint.com, Charles Schwab, Citi, CNNMoney, Aite Group, H&R Block, Intuit, BBVA, and USAA (to name just a few).

If you're interested in joining them to watch the future of financial and banking technology unfold live on stage at this must-attend event then please get your ticket before Friday to lock in your spot at the low super early-bird rate of $300 off. That said, if you can't wait until May for your next fix of fintech innovation, we do still have a few tickets left for FinovateEurope 2012 (February 7 in London).

FinovateSpring 2012 is sponsored by: The Bancorp Inc., the law firm of Chambliss Bahner & Stophel & TxVia

FinovateSpring 2012 is partners with: BankInnovation, BankerStuff, Celent, Filene, Finance on Windows & PYMNTS.com

We're very excited to announce that Finovate will be returning to San Francisco next year on May 8 & 9 for FinovateSpring 2012. Once again, the event will showcase dozens of the best new fintech innovations from leading fintech companies and hot young startups via our signature format that blends fast-paced demos with high-quality networking.

At FinovateSpring 2011 earlier this year, we welcomed the event's largest audience ever with over 850 attendees from organizations like Ally Financial, American Express, Bank of America, Battery Ventures, BBVA, Capital One, Charles Schwab, Chase, Citi, CNNMoney, Discover, ETRADE, Filene, FIS, GE, Google, GRP Partners, H&R Block, ING, Intuit, Morgan Stanley, Paypal, Reuters, Slate, The Bancorp, Time Inc., USAA, US Bank, Visa, Wall Street Journal and Wells Fargo. Overwhelmingly, they said they'd return for 2012 so we expect next year's audience to be even bigger and better!

If you're interested in watching the future of financial and banking technology unfold live on stage at this must-attend event then please get your pre-sale ticket today for FinovateSpring 2012 to lock in your spot (and save $400 via the lowest price we offer).

And, if you're a new startup, established fintech company, or leading financial institution innovating in financial or banking technology, we'd love to have you apply to demo your latest and greatest at the conference. To get more details, please email us at demo@finovate.com.