FinovateAsia 2012 Best of Show Winners: CurrencyFair, Finantix, SocietyOne and Ubank

Our first FinovateAsia wrapped up a few hours ago. At the end of the packed day, the Singapore audience voted for their favorite three demos from among the 35 contenders. The top four overall were named Best of Show (see notes).image

The winners (in alphabetic order):

  • CurrencyFair showed off its new Marketplace for peer-to-peer international transfers
  • imageFinantix launched Sharp digital banking platform to improve sales and service interaction
  • imageSocietyOne debuted its ClearMatch technology used to streamline the loan application process 
  • Ubank, a unit of National Australian Bank (NAB), launched imageits  peer-spending comparison tool, People like U

We’ll have videos of all 35 demos posted at Finovate.com within two weeks.

Thanks to everyone who presented, attended, tweeted, networked, blogged, and helped push fintech forward in Asia and beyond. You were a great audience!

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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 during the day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their their 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 four 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.

Finantix Debuts Finantix Sharp Digital Banking Platform

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Concluding FinovateAsia 2012, Finantix launched Finantix Sharp:

“Finantix Sharp is a multi-channel platform for digital banking that introduces a new and exciting approach to customer interactions. Sales and service processes are made engaging, effective and paperless by applying user-friendly interfaces, gameful simulators, social and multimedia content, and natural language commands. Special focus is devoted to smooth collaboration of customers, banks and third parties in helping customers address their financial needs and reach their goals.” 

Product Launch: November 2012
HQ location: Venice, Italy
Founded: 1994
Website: finantix.com
Twitter@Finantix
Finovate demo video: Demo videos will be posted next week
Introducing Alessandro Tonchia (Director & Founder) and Jakub Downar (Pre-Sales Manager)

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CustomerXPs’ Clari5 Empowers Relationship Managers to Provide More Personalized Services

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Then, CustomerXPs launched Clari5:

“Clari5 iRM brings extreme real-time intelligence to Relationship Managers (RMs) on the move. Typical RM apps are the extensions of CRM screens on the RM’s tablet or phone. As these are not connected in real-time to the underlying core systems, RMs are the last ones to know when a significant moment of truth event happens. Clari5 iRM is a next generation product that interprets customers’ structured/unstructured events in real-time and provides an inference instantly empowering RMs to provide more personalized services. 

Clari5 iRM also leverages the full power of the mobile/tablet by using its real-time push, GPS, voice recognition, video, and screen sharing capabilities. Through Clari5 iRM, RM would not only be the first person to know of a potential fraud or Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) situation, but also would be able to modify/stop the transaction.”

Product Launch: November 2012
HQ: Bangalore, India
Founded: December 2006
Metrics: 5+ year-old Enterprise Product company; $4M Series A from JAFCO; Gartner Cool Vendor 2012; Red Herring Asia 100, 2012 winner; Markets: Japan, Southeast Asia, Middle East & India
Twitter@customerxps
Finovate demo video: Demo videos will be posted next week
Introducing Rivi Varghese (CEO) and Madhavi Natukula (Marketing Manager)

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Pandai Brings P2P Lending to China

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After, Pandai showcased its P2P lending platform for the Chinese market:
“Peer-to-peer lending platform that connects borrowers with lenders through a robust credit risk management system that understands different customer demographics within China. 
For our lenders:
    • High fixed-income returns (12-15% p.a.) for lenders through investing as little as 100 RMB
    • High liquidity through loan transfers on a homogenous platform
    • Platform and borrower transparency through our convenient web platform 

For our borrowers:

    • Fair-priced products based on borrower demographics risk profile
    • Build credit over the long term, garnering lower-priced loans
    • Convenient online platform for application and payment
Moreover, with our robust credit management system and customized loan product design, Pandai.cn also is a platform for trying and testing alternative credit models.”
Product Launch: March 2012
HQ: Beijing, China
Founded: July 2011
Metrics: 15-20 employees
Website: pandai.cn
Finovate demo video: Demo videos will be posted next week
Introducing Roger Ying (CEO)

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Vermilian’s Bancapp Provides a Single Mobile Marketing Channel

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Next, Vermilian took the stage with bancapp:
“bancapp seamlessly delivers mobile banking together with sales, marketing, and communications providing an all-in-one mobile banking and marketing channel. Available as iOS and Android native apps as well as a supporting dedicated mobile website, bancapp integrates with numerous banking and marketing systems to provide individual banking services and personalised marketing communications. 
bancapp provides a unique communications capability that allows financial institutions to keep in touch with customers through the expanding mobile channel. The product presents financial institutions with a solution to challenges being faced by the changing nature of retail banking, as consumer demand for on-the-go banking increases.”
Product Launch: August 2012
HQ: Sydney, Australia
Founded: 2001
Website: vermilian.com
Finovate demo video: Demo videos will be posted next week
Introducing Anthony Voigt (Director) and John Kean (Director) 

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TradeHero’s Virtual Trading Community Leverages Social Elements and Gamification

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Then, TradeHero showcased its interactive, virtual trading community:
“TradeHero leverages mobile real-time push notifications, mobile-optimized and deep social-network integration with creative and addictive game-play elements, and we operate across the breath of the mobile space from Android through to iOS and HTML5. Key USPs include the core concept of our platform as an information-brokerage: no trade execution, no regulatory constraints; professional-grade trade modeling and verification; and access to global equities markets through our partnerships with multiple market data providers.
Unlike our competitors, our proprietary trade-validation algorithms guarantee meaningful user-generated trade content. Taken together, these unique advantages form the key components of our intellectual property and are subject to ongoing proceedings to establish legal protection across the largest possible range of key territories.”
Product Launch: Coming Soon
HQ: Singapore
Founded: August 2012
Metrics: 5 employees, pre-launch, alpha-test phase
Finovate demo video: Demo videos will be posted next week
Introducing Dominic Morris (CTO) and Dinesh Bhatia (CEO)

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BankFiling by Luminous Automates the Collection of Financial Information for FIs

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Third, Luminous took the stage with BankFiling:

“BankFiling is an innovative solution that saves banks millions by automating the timely collection of financial information from business customers with credit exposure to the bank.”

Product Launch: September 2012
HQ: Johannesburg, South Africa
Founded: 2007
Metrics:  Luminous was the first to release a ground breaking solution to deliver in-depth, financial management reports for both the banks and their customers. 
Finovate demo video: Demo videos will be posted next week
Introducing Andrew Buchanan (Global Head of Sales) and Andrew Teversham (CTO)

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Sandstone Launches SmartBank, A Next-Generation Consumer Banking Solution

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Second, Sandstone launched its SmartBank:

“Sandstone is showcasing its ‘next generation’ consumer banking solution combining internet and mobile banking, personal financial management, and loan origination capabilities to form a powerful end-to-end customer acquisition and retention tool. 

Building on the “anytime, anywhere” capabilities of emerging tablet and smartphone platforms, we will show how consumers can interact with their bank for a range of integrated banking services.”

Product Launch: November 2012
HQ: Sydney, Australia
Founded: June 1996
Metrics: Sandstone is a rapidly growing privately owned company with offices in Australia, Asia, and Europe. The company has grown from 40 employees in 2007 to over 230 employees in 2012.
Twitter@sandstonetech
Finovate demo video: Demo videos will be posted next week
Introducing Ray Yap (Product Manager) and Adrian Leow (Product Manager)

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BlinkMobile Interactive’s Platform Offers Enterprises a Cheaper, Efficient Alternative to Access Interactive Systems

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Starting up the final session, BlinkMobile Interactive showcased its Blink Mobility Platform:

“Our innovative Blink Mobility Platform is a radical new Platform-as-a-Service, underpinned by a fundamentally new software architecture called the Interaction-oriented Architecture. The power behind this approach is the ability to rapidly build, deploy, and manage new intuitive and intelligent systems for staff and customers, utilising existing web-based information and business systems. 

The interaction-oriented approach focuses only on what the specific user needs and has the ability to contextualise data depending on time, location, authority, weather, etc. BlinkMobile services are also accessible on all internet enabled devices, from smartphones to tablets, kiosks, smart appliances and SMS-only phones.”
Product Launch: October 2012
HQ: Gosford, NSW, Australia
Founded: July 2005
Product Demoed: Blink Mobility Platform 3.0
Finovate demo video: Demo videos will be posted next week
Introducing Stu Garrow (Managing Director, TechInject)

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Ayondo Demos What’s New in Social Trading

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Concluding the third session, ayondo demoed its new social trading platform:

“The third generation of ayondo brings social trading to a complete new level in terms of usability, social interaction, and guidance of top traders.”

Product Launch: November 2012
HQ: Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Founded: 2008
Product Demoed: ayondo 3.0
Metrics: 12 employees; $3.2M raised to date
Website: ayondo.com
Finovate demo video: Demo videos will be posted next week
Introducing Manuel Heyden (CEO & Founder) and Alexander Surminski (CMO)

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Entrepreneurial Finance Lab’s Credit Scoring Tool Helps Expedite the Bank Lending Process

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After, Entrepreneurial Finance Lab (EFL) demonstrated its Credit Scoring Tool for FIs:

“The EFL Credit Scoring Tool is a credit scoring and management platform that seamlessly integrates into and expedites existing bank lending processes. EFL’s 45-minute credit application can be taken on a PC or mobile tablet device at a bank branch or in the field. The completed application is processed by EFL within 30 minutes into a 3-digit credit score. 

The EFL Score is posted on EFL’s Web Suite, allowing the credit team to simply log on to approve or deny the loan. EFL’s Web Suite offers a 365-view of the applicant and loan portfolio, allowing the bank to track loan approvals and disbursements, measure turn-around-times, arrears data, review applicant GPS, photos and biometrics and much more by branch and region. The EFL Credit Scoring Tool provides the simplicity, speed, and insight needed to make informed credit decisions that lead to higher growth and lower risk in information scarce markets.”

Product Launch: October 2010
HQ: Bermuda Based Global Company
Founded: October 2010
Metrics: 23 Countries, 16 Languages, +40,000 EFL Credit Applications, $1.6M Lent per Week, $7,500 USD Average Loan Size, Offices: Bermuda, Brazil, Nigeria, Peru, South Africa, United States
Website: eflglobal.com
Twitter@efinlab
Finovate demo video: Demo videos will be posted next week
Introducing DJ DiDonna (COO) and Colin Casey (Product Specialist)

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Zighra’s ZFraudShield Leverages Collective User Intelligence to Fight Fraud

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Next, Zighra demonstrated ZFraudShield, a fraud intervention solution:

“ZFraudShield is a fraud-risk intervention solution that leverages mobile contextual information and the collective intelligence of users. In short, we tie the user’s credit/debit card to their mobile phone and send them an authentication message via a custom branded channel on their mobile to confirm the transaction in real-time. Users are able to flag potential fraudulent transactions and share the information with other users in real-time. ZFraudShield is designed to drastically reduce false-positives, improve fraud discovery, and fully automate the resolution process where required.”

Product Launch: 2012
HQ: Ottawa, Canada
Founded: 2009
Metrics: Offices in Canada & India
Website: zighra.com
Twitter@dcdutt
Finovate demo video: Demo videos will be posted next week
Introducing Deepak Dutt (CTO) and Sameer Salahudeen (Lead Asia Operations)

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