Technology companies offering alternative payment methods and websites that help people monitor their spending and investments are thriving during the current economic turmoil.
According to three panelists speaking at Thursday’s DEMOgala event hosted by the Colorado Software and Internet Association, sites such as Mint , which aggregate banking, billing, loan and investment information, are seeing a growing number of users.
The event showcased Colorado tech companies and focused on companies nationwide that are transforming the sector.
“In tough economic times, it’s a challenge for customers to save money and cut back spending,” said Aaron Patzer, founder and chief executive of , a San Francisco-based company that received $12 million in venture capital in March.
Patzer participated in a discussion called “Financial Turmoil — How Far Will It Go?” which detailed how certain niche companies were taking advantage of the turbulent stock market.
Marwan Forzley, founder of Canada-based , said the tightening credit markets are pushing people to use his service, which allows customers to make online purchases using cash or debit cards. Instead of entering a credit-card number, eBillme prompts customers to go to their bank’s website to make a payment. When the payment is received, the item is shipped.
Forzley and the other panelists said there are still venture capitalists looking to fund companies with solid ideas and plans. Forzley said the market volatility didn’t delay his funders from closing on a $12 million round of funding last month.
“About one-third of consumers are shifting from credit,” he said. “Banks are tightening credit. … There’s going to be a quite a bit of restriction of who’s going to get money, and that’s going to affect consumer spending.”
Instead of having users log on to a website to check the status of their financial health, Houston-based pushes alerts to users via e-mail, said founder and chief executive Nikhil Roy. The site, launched last month, received $2 million in funding last December.
“Personal finance is like cleaning your closet — no one wants to do it — so that presents a challenge to those of us in this business. So logging into a website, people are not going to do it,” he said. “People want to make quick decisions. There’s a trend that’s shifting toward mobile banking.”
Kimberly S. Johnson: 303-954-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com
