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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Catch up with Finovate VP and host of the Finovate Podcast Greg Palmer as he interviews some of the most interesting entrepreneurs, analysts, and thought leaders in fintech today.
In recent podcast episodes, Palmer and his guests have covered topics including the emerging regulatory environment in Europe, the outlook for cryptocurrencies, the opportunities in conversational banking, and the challenge of financial inclusion for female entrepreneurs in the Global South.
Will Martino (LinkedIn), President and Co-Founder of Kadena, talks with Finovate podcast host Greg Palmer about crypto, the SEC, and what shifting regulations mean for the fintech industry. EP 245.
Founded in 2016, Kadena is a scalable Layer 1 Proof of Work (PoW) blockchain. The technology is purpose-built to support the demand of businesses and traditional financial institutions.
Greg Palmer sits down with Janusz Mieloszyk (LinkedIn) and Lukasz Gajewski (LinkedIn) from FinovateFall Best of Show winning company Nest to talk about their partnership with Efigence, conversational banking, and the future of customer service. EP 244.
The first AI-enhanced bank in Poland, Nest caters to both entrepreneurs and individuals with a comprehensive suite of innovative payment methods and personalized banking services.
Rory Tanner (LinkedIn), Head of UK Affairs with Revolut, talks with podcast host Greg Palmer about neobanks, predictions for fintech and financial services in 2025, and a preview of FinovateEurope. EP 243.
A neobank and fintech platform, Revolut offers multi-currency accounts, international money transfers, debit and virtual cards, as well as stock and cryptocurrency trading. Founded in 2015, the company serves more than 50 million customers around the globe.
Greg Palmer and Mary Ellen Iskenderian (LinkedIn), President and CEO of Women’s World Banking, discuss the challenges of expanding credit for women entrepreneurs in the Global South and how fintechs can help. EP 242.
Women’s World Banking is an international non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the future of economically empowered women. To date, the organization has help provide 14 million women in emerging markets with access to transformative financial products and services.
After two days of live demos from more than 65 fintech companies, the attendees of FinovateFall 2024 have made their decisions as to which of these innovators will take home Finovate’s coveted Best of Show awards. Featuring both Finovate newcomers and Finovate veterans alike, the winners of Best of Show for FinovateFall 2024 are listed below.
Bancography for its software tool that lets bankers predicate branch investments on sound market data, not intuition, preventing costly missteps and ensuring optimized investments.
CardLift for its solution that enables companies to build a co-branded browser extension for their partners that automatically finds and switches users’ card-on-file to their partners’ card.
Credit Mountain for its technology that helps organizations grow their businesses by retaining, nurturing, and cross-selling declined borrowers.
Delfi Labs for its technology that creates efficient risk management and hedging strategies in minutes, enabling clients to defend margins, enhance performance, and raise valuation.
Eko Investments for its platform that offers investments via a financial advisor to all clients–and not just the top 1%–starting from $10.
Illuma for its innovations in deepfake detection that enable community financial institutions to keep their members and customers connected with their funds in a convenient and secure manner.
Nest Bank & Efigence for their collaboration, N! Assistant, a virtual AI-powered assistant that revolutionizes finance.
Themis for its solution that enhances compliance efficiency, minimizes regulatory risk, and fosters seamless collaboration, empowering banks and fintechs to focus on growth and innovation in financial services.
Please join us in congratulating our eight, Best of Show-winning companies. Let’s also raise a glass to all of our demoing companies for their innovations in fields ranging from regtech and payments to lending, wealth management, and beyond. We are especially grateful for our attendees and sponsors, whose support continues make our Finovate conferences among the most anticipated events in our industry. We look forward to seeing you again next year!
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 each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three 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 six 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 through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2024 conferences are below:
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall in New York on September 9 and 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.
Abrigo
Abrigo has been trusted by 2,500+ financial institutions for over 20 years to fight financial crime. The organization’s FinCrime suite includes market leading AML and fraud solutions.
Features
Offers AI/ML-powered check image analysis
Delivers nationwide consortium of check fraud data
Includes configurable rules engine
Who’s it for?
U.S. banks and credit unions.
Bancography
Branches consume sizable capital and noninterest expense costs. Bancography Plan maximizes those investments by identifying opportunities to deploy new branches and reconfigure or close current ones.
Features
Examine prospective merger candidates
Identify overlapping branches and forecast attrition
View full pro forma financial impact, before and after closures
Detect impacts on efficiency ratio and ROA
Who’s it for?
Banks and credit unions.
Diadem Capital
Diadem Capital is a deal flow engine and fundraising solution connecting private companies to private capital ranging across venture capital, private equity, venture debt, and non dilutive funding sources.
Features
Diadem Capital helps investors and lenders streamline due diligence, showcasing only the top prospects. Founders get one-to-one intros to otherwise inaccessible investors.
Who’s it for?
Diadem Capital is a two-sided marketplace catering to any private capital provider looking for deals and private company looking for capital. It is sector, stage, and geography agnostic.
iDENTIFY
iDENTIFY revolutionizes banking with a data validation tool that seamlessly integrates legacy and modern tech, transforming raw data into actionable insights for banks.
Features
Offers real-time data validation
Delivers seamless integration
Provides enhanced insights
Who’s it for?
Banks and credit unions.
Nest Bank & Efigence
Nest Bank, Poland’s first AI-enhanced bank, offers entrepreneurs and individuals innovative payment methods and personalized services. Efigence is a technology company that has been in operation since 1995.
Features
Expense tracking: Monitors and categorizes spending
AI-driven predictions: Forecasts future trends from users’ past actions
Placing instructions: Makes money transfers or issues virtual cards
Who’s it for?
Nest! has a diverse range of clients: Individuals and entrepreneurs who drive over 50% of Poland’s GDP.
Rapid Finance
Rapid Finance empowers enterprises to streamline their small business lending program. Lynx helps users take control of their data and unlock its potential.
Features
Offers comprehensive and holistic 360° views of customers
Advanced AI and analytics provides real time insights and patterns
Customizable rules engine allows users to automate decision making
Who’s it for?
Banks, credit unions, fintechs, neobanks, lending institutions, payment processors, insurance companies, lending and banking platforms, investment banks, wealth management firms, and more.
Winnow
Winnow AI leverages the power of LLP and NLP artificial intelligence. It allows customers to get lightning-fast answers to basic legal questions around topics that Winnow covers.
Features
Quickly answers basic legal questions
Generates responses based on Winnow’s 60,000+ attorney-reviewed legal requirements
Reduces time and effort typically spent on legal research
European investment and savings platform Trade Republic has topped up its 2021 Series C round with an investment of €250 million led by the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan. The funding gives Trade Republic a valuation of more than $5 billion (€5 billion), and will enable the company to “double down” on its product.
“We are amid a transformation of pension systems in Europe,” Trade Republic co-founder Christian Hecker said. “The financing will help us to invest strongly into product innovation to empower millions of Europeans to put their money to work. Improving our valuation in the light of the current market environment is the true testament to our progress in the last twelve months and the large potential ahead.”
Trade Republic enables its more than one million European customers to invest in equities, cryptocurrencies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as well as fractional savings plans. With more than six billion euros in assets under management, Trade Republic offers investors the ability to invest in 9,000 stocks and ETFs; take advantage of 4,000 stock and ETF savings plans; and participate in more than 50 cryptocurrency-based savings plans. Trade Republic also provides access to 300,000 derivatives including warrant bonds, “knock-out products”, and factor certificates.
Trade Republic was founded in 2015 by Christian Hecker, Thomas Pischke, and Marco Cancellieri. The company is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.
Binance Labs, the venture capital arm of international cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has raised $500 million to invest in companies that are “building Web3”. The capital comes from VC firms DST Global and Breyer Capital, and featured participation from a variety of family offices and corporations which remained unnamed.
The new fund arrives at a time when cryptocurrrency prices are in a significant retreat. Binance Labs has suggested that the current weakness in digital asset prices might provide an opportunity for investment in companies involved in everything from NFTs to blockchain infrastructure. “The goal of the newly closed investment fund is to discover and support projects and founders with the potential to build and to lead Web3 across DeFi, NFTs, gaming, Metaverse, social, and more,” Binance Labs Executive Director of Investments and M&A Ken Li said.
The new fund will invest in projects in a wide range of development stages including incubation, early-stage venture, and late-stage growth. Binance Labs has invested in and incubated more than 100 projects from more than 25 countries. The firm’s portfolio includes companies such as blockchain research firm Dune Analytics, as well as blockchain networks such as Elrond, The Sandbox, and Polygon.
“Europe is a mature, technologically advanced market that is also a hotbed of fintech innovation thanks to its adoption of open API technology,” Buckzy President and CEO Abdul Naushad said. “(This) has opened up the financial sector and created opportunities for innovative new companies to provide new products and services. More and more of our customers around the world want to send and receive real-time payments to and from Europe, and we are enabling them to do so.”
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
As more and more fintechs add their support to the people of Ukraine and create new pathways for individuals and organizations to contribute financially, the Ukrainian government has had to adapt in order to make some of these contributions not just possible, but legal.
This week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed month-old legislation to provide a legal framework for the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies in the country. Per the new legislation, cryptocurrency exchanges and other companies dealing in digital assets will be able to register with the Ukrainian government in order to operate in the country. Additionally, the new law will allow banks to open accounts for cryptocurrency companies.
Going forward, Ukraine’s National Securities and Stock Market Commission will set the country’s policies on cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, issue licenses, and serve as a regulatory watchdog over the fledgling industry. The law is the second bite of the apple for Ukraine’s cryptocurrency advocates; the Ukrainian parliament voted to legalize cryptocurrencies last fall, but the legislation was vetoed by Zelenskyy, who cited the cost of creating a new regulatory entity to govern cryptocurrencies.
Ukrainian interest in cryptocurrencies certainly predates the Russian invasion of the country; a New York Times feature in November 2021 ran the headline “The Crypto Capital of the World” with the subhead “It has to be somewhere. Why not Ukraine?” But that interest has spiked since then as the country reportedly has received “tens of millions of dollars” in cryptocurrency donations to help Ukrainians cope with the devastation of their country at the hands of the Russian military.
Nordigen partners with French fintech Saveengs, U.K. lender Mallard Finance
Latvian open banking platform Nordigen has announced a pair of new partnerships this week. Saveengs, a French startup that specializes in helping people with little or no savings build a strong financial foundation, will work with Nordigen to help users find ways to save better. Nordigen’s technology will enable the Saveengs app to analyze the user’s finances to find opportunities to save in small amount, typically in increments of 20 euros.
“While the amount of money saved seems small at first, it definitely adds up,” Saveengs CEO Mourad Ketir said. “Open banking enables the app to perform financial analysis on our users’ existing funds and transactions quickly and easily, allowing the process of saving to start as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile across the channel, U.K.-based independent lender Mallard Finance has chosen Nordigen as its Account Information Service Provider (AISP). A specialist in providing financing for automobile purchases, Mallard Finance will leverage its new partnership with Nordigen to access financial data directly from borrower bank accounts during the application process. This will give the lender, which serves both individuals and businesses across the credit risk spectrum, a more exacting and accurate view of the applicant’s financial status.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Mallard Finance,” Nordigen CEO and co-founder Rolands Mesters said. He praised both the company’s professional team and its success in serving its customers since 1995. “We are happy to see companies continuing to choose open banking to further enhance their already existing services and internal assessment procedures,” Mesters added.
Nordigen most recently demonstrated its technology on the Finovate stage at FinovateEurope 2019 in London. At the conference, the company demoed its Nordigen Report, which enables banks and lenders to access loan applicant account histories and verify income and other important insights.
Efigence teams up with Polish bank Getin Noble
Getin Noble, a Warsaw, Poland-based banking and financial services company, has partnered with Polish digital banking solutions providerEfigence to help it launch new online banking services. The enhancements, to be introduced modularly, include new functionalities as well as modernization of its online presence.
“Today’s online banking is much more than a financial tool,” Director of Getin Noble Bank’s Electronic Banking Department Marta Dałkiewicz said. “Customers often have contact with it many times a day, so the solutions we propose must be affordable and easy to use.”
Efigence President and CTO Marek Lesiak said that increasing the accessibility of online banking was a major goal for the collaboration. This included design elements for both the web and mobile apps to make banking more convenient for the customer regardless of which channel they used. “Today, finance is connected with almost every sphere of our life,” Lesiak said, “and the use of online banking should be as easy, intuitive and pleasant as if it were part of our DNA.”
A two-time Best of Show winner, earning the honor in both its Finovate debut as well as at our second Dubai-based event in 2019, FinovateMiddle East, Efigence demonstrated the latest improvements to its digital banking platform at FinovateEurope 2020 in Berlin.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
A look at the companies demoing at FinovateFall on September 14-16, 2020. Register today and save your spot.
Efigence is a technology company specializing in the design and implementation of both off-the-shelf products and development for financial services.
Features
EFI4 SME Digital Banking Platform new features include:
Instant project spaces
IF-THEN screening tools
Business dashboard for 360′ SMART reporting
Why It’s Great EFI4 SME Digital Banking Platform helps reduce operational difficulties to zero.
Presenters
Paweł Haltof, Board Member & Innovation Director Haltof is a consultant, strategist, and co-creator of the most innovative design concepts awarded many times by the most important international bodies. LinkedIn
Bartłomiej Kozieł, Board Member & UX Director Kozieł is a fintech pro specializing in innovative product development. He combines design knowledge with experience in UX management, creating innovative solutions for the financial sector. LinkedIn
Our second FinovateMiddleEast conference is in the books! And after a full day of live fintech demos, our attendees have made their voices heard as to which fintech innovations are most deserving of Best of Show honors. Congratulations to all of our demoing companies for their hard work, and a hearty thanks to our attendees for their votes in our Best of Show competition.
With that, here are the winners of Best of Show at FinovateMiddleEast 2019:
Amber Labs for its Bitcoin Bank, where people anywhere in the world can get all the benefits of a robust, global financial network, without the technical and jurisdictional restrictions, nor the inherent asymmetries, associated with the modern banking system. Video.
efigence for its EFI4 Digital Banking Platform, a seamless digital banking experience that guides retail banking customers through the complexity of the banking world using a three-screen environment. Video.
In addition to all of the companies that demonstrated their technologies live on stage at FinovateMiddleEast this week, we would like to thank our partners and sponsors for their participation and support. We also extend a special thanks to our Strategic Partner, the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Finance, whose guidance in this our second FinovateMiddleEast has been invaluable.
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 each day. At the end of the last demo, they chose their three 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 two 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 through 2014. Best of Show winners from our 2015 through 2019 conferences are below:
Join us next week 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.
FinovateAsia runs from October 14 through October 15, with an additional Summit Day on October 16. Visit our registration page and pick up your ticket today.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Finovate alums Hydrogen, Sedicii, Strands, and Wealth Migrateearn finalist spots in the South African Reserve Bank’s Fintech Demo Day.
Carbon CEO Chijioke Dozie offersFive Lessons Global Banks Can Learn from African Fintechs.
Business Tech highlights 12 of the hottest fintechs in South Africa according to the country’s biggest banks.
Central and Eastern Europe
Alior Bank’s Alior Kantor to deployEfigence’sEFI4 Digital Banking Platform.
Deloitte Romania and FintechOSpartner to offer banks digital transformation and automation solutions.
Sberbankunveils new “Apply for Mortgage” feature on its Sberbank Online mobile app.
Middle East and Northern Africa
Dubai earns top ten ranking in the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI).
Boubyan Bank of Kuwait and Zain Telecom team up to launch a digital Islamic bank.
Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) authorizes financial technology experimental permits enabling three companies to build an equity crowdfunding platform.
Central and Southern Asia
Khatabook, an Indian fintech that helps SMEs track and record businesses transactions, raises $25 million.
Varanium Capital launches $28 million venture fund focused on Indian fintech.
Indian fintechs await regulatory guidelines for deployment of Video KYC technology.
Latin America and the Caribbean
OurCrowd to open its 13th global office in São Paulo, Brazil.
Colombian small business lender Sempli raises $8 million in Series A funding.
EBANX will process payments for Uber in Brazil and other countries in Latin America.
Digital banking technology provider Efigence is deepening ties with Poland’s Alior Bank through a partnership with Alior Kantor, the bank’s online banking currency exchange brokerage.
Alior Kantor has deployed Efigence’s EFI4, a digital banking platform that combines off-the-shelf technology with a customized user experience for each client. The new user interface was recently introduced in Alior Kantor’s Polish and Romanian markets.
With the new launch, Efigence’s EFI4 fuels a new version of Alior Kantor that helps improve customer interaction with the bank and generate revenue by way of customer acquisition, up-selling, and maintenance. The new platform aims to offer a seamless user experience starting from onboarding, which takes less than five minutes. Accounts come with a multi-currency card with competitive exchange rates, account-to-account and peer-to-peer money transfer capability, weekend currency exchange, and more.
“We are more than happy that this product was implemented in two independent markets – Poland and Romania. It’s undoubtedly the right choice for modern and digital-based financial companies like Alior Bank,” said Marek Lesiak, Efigence President and CTO. “Thanks to this powerful digital banking platform the currency exchange has never been so smooth and easy. Moreover Alior Kantor, based on EFI4, is fully compliant with PSD2 and offers facilities for third party providers.”
Today’s news comes two years after Efigence began working with Alior Bank in the Romanian market and more than a decade after Efigence first began working with Alior. The digital banking technology provider’s other clients include Idea Bank, mBank, Nordea, Kontomierz, and Emirates NBD.
Efigence, which most recently demoed at FinovateEurope 2018, took home Best of Show honors for its demo with mBank in 2013. Efigence was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Poland.
OurCrowd to open its 13th global office in São Paulo, Brazil.
Jack Henryappoints Ted Bilke as new CTO and promotes Greg Adelson to new Chief Operating Officer position.
Deloitte Romania and FintechOSpartner to offer banks digital transformation and automation solutions.
Finastralaunches Fusion Mortgagebot Data Insights, a tool to benchmark mortgage borrower information for banks and credit unions against other Fusion MortgagebotPOS users.
InCommadds Giant Eagle to its Healthcare OTC Network.
Westcon-Comstor to distributeCheck Point Software.
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.
As Finovate goes increasingly global, so does our coverage of financial technology. Finovate Global: Fintech News from Around the World is our weekly look at fintech innovation in developing economies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Brazilian card processor Conductor to deploy 3D Secure authentication technology from TAS Group later this fall.
Distributed check capture specialist Panini and technology distributor J. Fleischman team up to bring check truncation to Paraguay.
Visa introduces loyalty program available to issuing banks in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Asia-Pacific
TransferWiseopens office in Hong Kong as part of expansion into Asia.
AsiaCollect, a credit management services provider based in Singapore, raises $4.5 million in funding.
Foreign exchange and international payments company, Frontierpay, opens Asian headquarters in Singapore.
Sub-Saharan Africa
South African fintech walletdoc partners with EasyPay to make it easier for consumer to pay monthly subscriptions and utilities.
AixigoRelaunches Digital Portfolio Management System.
BeSmartee and LoanFuel Help Make Mortgage Lending Mobile.
Around the web
Albania’s Raiffeisen Bank Shqipëri partners with NF Innova to deploy digital self-service kiosks.
TransferWiseopens office in Hong Kong as part of expansion into Asia.
Equifaxteams up with digital consent management platform Consents Online to support open banking.
Nomis Solutionspicks Melbourne as site of new regional headquarters.
Efigenceprovides UI/UX design, development and implementation for new investment platform from Polish home equities broker, CDM Pekao.
Braintridiscusses the commercialization of its contactless payment technology, Jiffee, at SelectUSA Investment Summit 2018.
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.
