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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on October 14 through 15, 2019 in Singapore. Register today and save your spot.
ExchangeConnect, from S-Ancial, focuses on incorporating the resourcefulness of data intelligence to empower capital markets. The company effectively integrates the global market ecosystem with its proprietary technology.
Features
Pioneers pre-transaction technologies
Gathers unstructured data and structures flow of information
Provides seamless communication and enhanced outreach between stakeholders
Why it’s great If all data released into the capital market ecosystem can be structured and machine-learnable, automation can take over, benefitting all stakeholders. ExchangeConnect does this.
Presenter
Pradip Seth, Managing Director Seth founded S-Ancial in 2014 as a fintech startup. He has broad knowledge of global corporate governance and disclosure practices. He has been spearheading the development of ExchangeConnect. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on October 14 through 15, 2019 in Singapore. Register today and save your spot.
ChintaMoney is proactively easing financial stress for individuals across the globe through a combination of open banking and payments with a personalized suite of financial products and services.
Features
Payments merged with budgeting
Financial literacy
Complete finance products and services in one application
Why it’s great ChintaMoney is a proactive, turnkey personal finance solution that combines payments with financial products and services.
Presenters
Uday Wagh, CEO Wagh is an innovator and serial entrepreneur, having launched scientific inventions in botany and physics before delving into theater as an actor and finally beginning his career in fintech. LinkedIn
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateAsia on October 14 through 15, 2019 in Singapore. Register today and save your spot.
FinBit.io, a leading data aggregation and analytics platform, is launching a disruptive credit analytics and scoring product – BankScore – to solve for people suffering with traditional credit scores.
Features
BankScore is based on analysis of an individual’s bank transactions
Real-time aggregation and analytics using machine learning
Solution addresses the large population that struggles with credit scores
Why it’s great Traditional credit scores are broken and incomplete for developing economies as the majority of people may not have a credit card or loan history. BankScore disrupts just by analyzing a bank account.
Presenter
Prashant Paliwal, Founder and CEO Paliwal was driving Yodlee’s APAC fintech business before starting FinBit.io to address large pain points in India and Asia. He is a fellow from MIT Sloan, earned an MS from the University of Cincinnati, and holds two patents. LinkedIn
Ashvi Mittal, Product Manager Mittal is instrumental in devising core analytics algorithms and products as well as driving sales from Mumbai. She holds an MS in Finance from EDHEC France. LinkedIn
If there is one region where “A Tale of Two Fintechs” applies, that region is Asia.
From blockchain-based innovations in trade finance to leveraging mobile to better serve the historically underbanked, fintech’s role in Asia is not just a tale of economic and technological development. Increasingly, it is a story of leadership in solving real world problems, as well.
As Finovate returns to Singapore for FinovateAsia next week, we thought it would be an ideal opportunity to look at some of the notable numbers and key trends in fintech in the region.
Singapore
Singapore is home to 500+ fintech startups and 40+ innovation labs
Fintechs in Singapore picked up more than $370 million in funding in 2018
The fintech adoption rate by consumers in Singapore topped the global average this year.
When it comes to fintech, Singapore is clearly punching above its weight. With a smaller population, fewer local customers, and a modest pool of tech talent to draw from compared to the U.S., the U.K., and China, the fact that Singapore was ranked fourth in a listing of global fintech hubs – after the U.K., and the east and west coasts of the U.S. (judged separately in a report from Ernst & Young) – is a testament to the vibrancy of Singapore fintech.
How does Singapore do it? Close alliances and mentorships, including private-public partnerships and a willingness to work with other countries and fintech hubs around the world are one factor. The city-state’s central bank and financial regulatory body, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, has pledged to commit $168 million over the next five years to support collaborations between financial institutions and fintechs. Singapore has also begun issuing more digital banking licenses in recent months. Could a booming challenger bank industry be far behind?
$25.5 billion in fintech deals in 2018 according to Accenture; 44% of all fintech investments worldwide
Top Deals in 2018: Ant Financial’s Alipay raised $14 billion, Baidu spinoff Du Xiaoman Financial raised $4.3 billion, Lufax raised $1.3 billion
Four of the top 10 fintechs in the world are Chinese according to H2Ventures and KPMG
Payments dominate Chinese fintech: 34 out of top 100 fintechs are payments companies. And with ecommerce driving much of fintech innovation in China, many are wondering what the next big thing in the industry will be? Some have suggested that wealth management, catering to a new generation of Chinese investors, may be the next frontier for innovation in Chinese fintech.
Hong Kong-based fintechs received $545.7 million in funding in 2017
Host to more than 550 fintech companies, Hong Kong has a 67% fintech adoption rate
80% of publicly-funded tertiary educational institutions have fintech-related programs for undergraduates or graduates
Public-private partnerships are a key driver of fintech innovation in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s launch of its Faster Payment System in 2018 paved the way for instant fund transfers between the Chinese renminbi and the Hong Kong dollar, as well as the issuance of eight virtual banking licenses this year. The Monetary Authority is also responsible for introducing a trade finance platform based on blockchain technology.
The overall transaction value for the Indian fintech industry is estimated at more than $66 billion in 2019 by PwC
Indian fintechs received $1.8 billion in venture capital funding across 97 investments in 2018
With a fintech adoption rate second only to China’s, India surpassed China in the number of fintech deals in Q2 of 2019
India is often overlooked in the conversation on Asian fintech. But the most notable aspect of the country’s experiment with mobile payments, its unified payment interface (UPI), has been a dramatic display of the power of interoperability. In the three years since UPI was launched, the service facilitated 800 million monthly transactions. More than 140 Indian banks are participating in UPI and both Alphabet’s Google and Facebook’s WhatsApp offer instant payments via the technology.
The ASEAN region is the third largest region in Asia and consists of Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia
In Southeast Asia, less than 30% of adults have access to formal banking services. Approximately 33% of SMEs lack access to business financing
Market growth of the fintech market in Southeast Asia is expected to reach as much as $70 billion by 2020
The fintech industry of Southeast Asia is increasingly gaining the attention of analysts and investors alike. Earlier this year, Indonesian e-commerce payments and lending innovator Akulaku picked up a $40 million investment from Ant Financial. The #1 payment app in Vietnam, Momo, closed a Series C investment at the beginning of the year valued at $100 million.
And while financial inclusion is a huge theme for the underbanked in this region, innovations in a variety of fintech subcategories should be recognized, as well. For example, fintechs like Jitta in Thailand are bringing digital investing solutions to the region while Malaysia’s mortgagetech innovator MHub offers networking and collaboration solutions for property developers and financial services professionals.
A pair of Finovate alums – Privakey and bleu – have earned spots in the 2020 class of the IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator. The program, launched this June, is dedicated to supporting innovative startups in both the fintech and healthtech industries. A total of 15 companies from nine countries were selected for the Accelerator’s incoming class.
Each participating startup will get up to $120,000 in IBM Cloud credits, an in-person workshop in the U.S., technical and business mentorship, and business value design assistance, as well as access to IBM’s network of partners, customers, and stakeholders. Startups will also work with program collaborators such as IBM Alpha Zone, Queen City Fintech, and MEDICI.
The IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator added that it will use IBM Cloud Hyper Protect Services powered by LinuxONE to ensure program startups have “the highest level of security, uptime, availability” as they innovate and scale their solutions.
Privakey demonstrated its cloud-based, identity and authentication service at FinovateFall 2017. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Privakey began the year with the release of the latest version of its Privakey CX solution. Last month, the company launched its PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) solution.
“Our PSD2 compliant solution is designed to eliminate what merchants fear most about SCA – shopping cart abandonment,” Privakey CEO Charlie Durkin said. “The customer experiences a transaction flow that is intuitive, simple, consistent, and contextual. Privakey eliminates out-of-band codes and other inconvenient authentication methods typically associated with SCA.”
Making its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2015, bleu leverages low energy Bluetooth beacons to facilitate mobile transactions. A small wireless device sends a Bluetooth signal to a customer’s Bleu app when they enter a store. The beacon links the customer with the store and when the customer is ready to pay, they choose their preferred method of payment to automatically complete the transaction.
The Los Angeles, California-based company was founded in 2014. Sesie Bonsi is CEO.
Along with Privakey and bleu, the rest of the cohort is below:
Azaad Health (healthtech – Pakistan)
BioTrillion (healthtech – U.S.)
Cube Wealth (fintech – India)
encore (fintech – U.A.E./Pakistan)
Fostrum (fintech – Canada)
Galen Data (healthtech – U.S.)
Home Lending Pal (mortgagetech – U.S.)
MotionsCloud (insurtech – German)
My Allergy (healthtech – U.K.)
px pulse (healthtech – U.S./Pakistan)
Verge.Capital (fintech – Ireland)
Wayapay (fintech – Kenya)
Well Kept Beauty (healthtech – U.S.)
The startups selected for the Class of 2020 were chosen by an expert panel of peers from IBM and Queen City Fintech. The criteria used by the panelists included team, value proposition, mission, problem statement, vision, target market, business and economic model, and technical roadmap.
With FinovateEurope set to make its German debut next February, it is especially gratifying to hear that investors are voting with their dollars when it comes to identifying and backing innovative European fintechs.
Hamburg-based online lender and POS financing firm Kreditech announced late last week that it has raised $24 million (€22 million) in funding. The round, led by Runa Capital, takes the company’s total equity financing to more than $519 million, and will be used to deepen its presence in existing markets, especially in Asia.
“I am really excited about our growth plans in India,” Kreditech CEO David Chan said. “We hold a first-of its-kind digital NBFC (non-banking financial company) license in a large and fast-growing market. We have been successful in finding our niche and have established the right proof of concept. Now it’s time to scale up while a key target customer segment remains unaddressed by the competition.”
Also participating in the round were existing investors HPE Growth and Amadeus Capital Partners, as well as private German investors.
Kreditech specializes in offering financing products to “near-prime” customers. In 2014, the company made its Finovate debut, demonstrating how its self-learning, proprietary algorithm accurately assessed the creditworthiness of loan applicants in less than a minute. The technology leverages up to 10,000 current data points to provide better insights into the finances of underbanked applicants who might otherwise struggle to secure credit.
The funding news for Kreditech comes as the company previews its 2018 financial statement, to be released in October. Chan said that Kreditech was “on track” to hit profitability targets, and added that the company was up to the task of “rapid, profitable growth.” In its funding statement, the company noted that it is aiming for $1 billion euros in revenue by 2025.
With more than 300 employees in seven countries and lending operations in India, Poland, Russia, and Spain, Kreditech is also developing regional centers of excellence and tech centers in its native Poland, as well as Romania and Thailand. The company was founded in 2012.
Toronto-based DUCA Financial Services Credit Union has selected Fiserv and its DNA core account processing platform with the aim to modernise its operations and improve overall agility and efficiency, reports Alex Hamiton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
Doug Conick, president and CEO of DUCA, says the credit union’s approach has always been about “high touch” and “high tech.” “We needed an intelligent, agile core platform provider that will strengthen our ability serve members both now and in the future,” he added.
Founded in 1954 as Dutch Canadian Toronto Credit Union, DUCA operates 16 branches and employs more than 260 people. The credit union’s transition to the new core platform will be led by Canadian financial technology provider Celero.
“Our focus is on helping credit unions like DUCA gain the operational and relationship management advantages they need to accelerate their growth strategies,” said Simon Vincent, executive vice president for banking and omnichannel at Celero.
“Through our technology integration experience and relationships with organizations like Fiserv, we are helping drive credit unions’ digital transformation goals forward.”
Rob Palin, general manager for Canada at Fiserv, said that DNA is a system that can provide a “complete view” of member relationships: “Along with our partner, Celero, we are committed to helping DUCA meet its aggressive implementation timeline and growth initiatives.”
Fiserv demonstrated its technology at FinovateSpring 2018. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, the company merged with First Data earlier this year in a deal valued at $22 billion.
Worldline closes 36.4% stake acquisition in equens Worldline.
Moven parent company receives patent for financial wellness product.
MastercardlaunchesThreat Scan to assess bank fraud exposure.
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.
Cash management solution provider MaxMyInterest introduced a new high-yield checking account called Max Checking last week. The latest offering from the New York City-based fintech will help individuals and advisors make more out of their cash holdings. Max Checking offers a 1.00% APY, FDIC-insured account that seamlessly connects the client’s brokerage, checking, and savings accounts to ensure that all of their cash has access to the best rates available.
Max Checking has no fees or minimums, enables free access to ATMs around the world, gives customers the ability to earn rebates on Max membership fees and, via a separate banking app, provides full mobile banking services including mobile check deposit, billpay, and P2P transfers.
In a blog post titled “Why We Launched Max Checking,” MaxMyInterest founder and CEO Gary Zimmerman noted that the reason for introducing the new solution was not to encourage consumers to change banks or checking accounts. Conceding that most people are content with their current banks, Zimmerman wrote that his goal was simply to give checking account users the same access to better cash rates that MaxMyInterest savings account users enjoy.
“Max Checking was designed to deliver on the promise of helping everyone in America earn higher returns on their cash,” he explained, before highlighting new capabilities that were the direct response to client requests. This new functionality ranges from the ability to access a wider number of supported banks to broader management over the technology’s automatic fund-sweeping process.
“Max was originally (created) for households who saw no distinction between checking and savings,” Zimmerman said. “Over the years, we’ve come to know many people who are saving for a specific purpose, and who prefer to allocate a discrete amount of cash to savings to earn more, without touching their checking account. With the launch of Max Checking, you can now earn more on savings without Max sweeping funds in/out of your existing checking account, so you’ll have even more control over your funds.”
The new offering is made possible courtesy of a partnership with Radius Bank, a firm Max has worked with since 2018. “Following our success with Radius Max Savings, we were excited to continue our work together to offer Max members a premium checking account,” Radius Bank President and CEO Mike Butler said. “This extension will allow depositors and their financial advisors to have a unified digital banking experience for both their savings, and now checking, needs in just a few clicks.”
MaxMyInterest demonstrated its automated cash management solution at FinovateFall 2014. The company’s technology offers both individuals and financial advisors the ability to optimize the return on their cash by automatically directing funds to FDIC-insured accounts that offer the highest yields. MaxMyInterest customers currently earn up to 2.28% APY on their savings accounts, significantly higher than the national savings average of 0.10%.
Founded in 2013, MaxMyInterest is operated by Six Trees Capital. More than 750 wealth management firms across the U.S. use the company’s technology to help their clients meet their cash needs.
Swedish neobank Personal Finance Co (PFC) has gone live on Mambu’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) banking engine 10 months after launch, reports Alex Hamilton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication.)
PFC offers a personal finance app with an accompanying debit card. Customer are encouraged to reach their financial goals through “automation and data-driven insights.”
The bank plans to launch personalized savings and credit products in the near future and aims to accrue 100,000 users by the end of the year. It operates under a payments institution license, rather than a full banking license.
PFC is backed by Nordea, the largest bank in the Nordics region of Europe, itself going through a core banking transformation with Temenos. It invested €5 million in PFC in July.
Eli Daniel Keren, founder and CEO of PFC, said the neobank selected Mambu as the two firms shared common traits in flexibility and scalability.
He added: “In just nine months we were able to deploy a feature-rich mobile-first neobank and can now focus on international expansion and innovations to enhance the customer experience and deliver more value.”
Eelco-Jan Boonstra, managing director of Mambu EMEA, noted that the partnership will open up unique opportunities for both firms.
“Progressive digital banks have found a new way of doing business and tend to attract young, information-hungry customers that are comfortable with technology. When it comes to user experience, this target audience has high expectations, and also continuously changing needs,” said Boonstra.
“Powered by Mambu, PFC is able to meet these needs, at the same time accelerating the development of new products and features, quickly becoming a one-stop-shop for personal finance.”
Founded in 2011, Mambu made its Finovate debut at FinovateAsia 2013 in Singapore. The company is also an alum of our developers conference, leading a discussion and presentation titled Smart Consumer Lending: Platform and Scoring Architecture at FinDEVrNewYork 2016.
With more than $45 million in funding (€42 million) from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Acton Capital Partners, and CommerzVentures, Mambu is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. In recent months, company has forged partnerships with companies like Swiss online lender bob Finance, U.K.-based neobank B-North, and software development provider ABC TECH Group.
More than 60 lenders join the CrediVia marketplace to source commercial loans.
Bill.com now facilitates payments in more than 130 countries and 100+ currencies.
Dwollapartners with TransferMate Global Payments to allow customers and their end users the ability to make and receive international payments.
Quadient parent company Neopost changes its name to Quadient.
InCommpartners with Mizuho Bank to expand J-Coin Pay in Japan.
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.
Join us in October as our annual Asia-Pacific fintech conference returns to Singapore! FinovateAsia is one of the best ways for fintech startups and innovative industry veterans from the region and around the world to showcase their latest technologies before an audience of C-level decision-makers, venture capitalists, all-star analysts, and more.
For information on how to participate in FinovateAsia as a demoing company, partner, or sponsor, send us an e-mail and we’ll tell you everything you need to know.
Asia-Pacific
Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) partners with proptech innovator SoReal to launch SME property valuation solution.
Bank of China and IBMannounces plans to collaborate on digital transformation, customer experience enhancement, and other innovations in financial services.
North Korea announces plans to develop its own cryptocurrency.
Sub-Saharan Africa
United Bank of Africa (UBA) inks deal with U.S.-based fintech Ovamba Solutions.
FairMoney picks up nearly $11 million in funding to help build a new digital bank in Nigeria.
