Celebrating the Women of FinovateEurope 2026

By David Penn Posted on March 5, 2026
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026, Women in Fintech

Finovate kicks off its Women’s History Month commemoration with this salute to the women who introduced their companies to our FinovateEurope 2026 audience last month in London.

These CEOs, founders, executives, and analysts demoed a range of fintech solutions to help banks and other financial institutions integrate enabling technologies, grow their businesses, and enhance the customer experience for financial services consumers everywhere.

Natalia Corobco, CEO, Founder, and Marzia Niccolai, Chief AI Officer, Francis

Francis helps financial institutions and fintechs tackling open finance problems put AI at the center of the client’s value proposition. Headquartered in London, England, Francis was founded in 2025. Demo video.

Triin Preem, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Northern Eruope, Mifundo

Mifundo helps banks grow business volume by up to 15%, reflecting the share of foreign and cross-border customers in most European markets, by enabling them to serve this segment effectively. Headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, Mifundo was founded in 2022. Demo video.

Erin Smith, Policy & Impact Analyst, MyPocketSkill

A digital technology companies working at the nexus of fintech and edtech, MyPocketSkill is making Gen Z more money savvy and able to save and invest. Headquartered in London, England, MyPocketSkill was founded in 2020. Demo video.

Svitlana Vyetrenko, Founder & CEO, Outsampler

Outsampler improves research productivity by 40% so that portfolio managers can focus on high-value client conversations. Headquartered in Strasbourg, France, Outsampler was founded in 2025. Demo video.

Marya Bazzi, CEO & Co-Founder, Sea.dev

Sea.dev automated underwriting workflows, eliminating copy-paste and document collection so credit analysts can focus on higher-value analysis, faster decisions, and growth—ultimately serving more of the economy. Headquartered in London, England, Sea.dev was founded in 2024. Demo video.

Savannah Price, Founder & CEO, and Lizzie Collins, Chief of Staff, Serene

Serene transforms a compliance burden into sustainable growth. The company’s technology delivers insights that optimize collections, reduce arrears, empower front-line teams, and safely expand lending to underserved markets. Headquartered in London, England, Serene was founded in 2023. Demo video.

Magda Targosz, CEO, Skill Studio AI

Skill Studio AI reduces training costs by 95%, accelerating compliance readiness from weeks to minutes, and scales globally with 170-language support—eliminating a regulatory risk and operational bottlenecks. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Skill Studio AI was founded in 2025. Demo video.

Ashley Parekh, CEO, Syntex

Syntex lets clients submit applications and documents digitally while giving bank teams visibility into approvals, document status, and ownership, reducing delays, drop-off, and lost deposits. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Syntex was founded in 2025. Demo video.

FinovateSpring 2026 will take place at The Sheraton San Diego on May 5-7. Register today using this link and save 20%.

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Sustainability, Quantum, and Cloud: Three Dogs That Did Not Bark at FinovateEurope 2026

By David Penn Posted on February 18, 2026
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026, List series

Great conferences are defined largely by what does happen: what themes are discussed, what trends generate the most passionate conversations. But great conferences are also defined by what doesn’t happen: by those topics and trends that have become exhausted, failed to live up to the hype in the first place, or simply aren’t ready for prime time.

Having just looked at some of the main topics of discussion at FinovateEurope, today we’re taking a quick tour through the pound to learn more about the dogs that did not bark at FinovateEurope 2026 last week.

Sustaining Sustainability in the Age of AI

Sustainability has been a stronger theme among fintech innovators in the UK and the EU compared to the US—and arguably all the more so given the fusillade of disincentives from the Trump Administration. Past Finovate conferences have showcased fintechs such as Connect Earth (UK), ecolytiq (Germany), and Little Blocks (India) that are helping institutions and individuals calculate their environmental impact; reduce carbon emissions via online marketplaces, and align their investing and banking preferences with their attitudes toward the environment.

While never a large fraction of the demoing companies at any given show, it was notable that no companies focused on sustainability on the demo stage. This likely reflects at least in part the shift in emphasis toward AI and blockchain-related innovations, especially as these innovations are increasingly moving from the experimental to real-world use cases. Even as these enabling technologies appear to be in their earliest stages, the fact that they already are responding to real problems in financial services makes them an especially attractive field for innovation compared to sustainability.

It is important to note that this does not necessarily mean that there has been a decline in interest in sustainability and climate-related fintech innovation. In fact, investment in climate-related fintech—and climatetech in general—increased from 2024 to 2025. Europe represented a significant amount of the $103 billion raised globally at 56%, with US-based funds contributing 16% toward the international total. But sustainability is increasingly being seen less as a standalone solution, and more as a cost-cutting feature to be integrated as in embedded finance or as part of a broader risk and data analytics package. Those looking for sustainability to return to the center stage will likely need to see the rise of stronger regulatory mandates such as those for stricter environmental financial disclosure or other incentives. Technological innovation alone may not do it.

Quantum Computing: Waiting for the Great Leap Forward?

While there was a sole presentation on quantum computing at FinovateEurope, the discussion of this technology still remains limited in most fintech forums. This is despite the conviction by analysts that quantum computing will make a significant impact on all technology—including financial technology—in the years to come. It is also interesting insofar as we are seeing emerging, enabling technologies in AI and the blockchain that continue to surprise detractors and outperform expectations when it comes to practical use cases. Why not quantum computing?

First, credit where credit is due: Day One of FinovateEurope featured Amal Nazar, Head of GTM at Wultra, a firm that provides post-quantum authentication solutions to financial institutions around the world. Nazar’s Special Address emphasized that it was important for banks and other financial institutions to transition to post-quantum cryptography in order to secure long-term digital operations. With regulators urging firms to complete this shift by 2030, it is clear that whatever conversations we are not yet having with regard to quantum computing will likely begin sooner than we think.

But not quite yet. Unlike AI and blockchain-based technologies like stablecoins, quantum computing is still significantly “pre-commercial,” meaning that while there is considerable investment interest, practical commercial applications in financial services have yet to materialize. There are a number of reasons for this, but essentially the issue is developmental (read: hardware) rather than software or regulation-related in the cases of AI and stablecoins, respectively. Arguably, when it comes to quantum computing, this technology as it applies to financial services is about where AI and stablecoins were seven to ten years ago: long on hype and promise, but short on use cases. Those use cases are developing; as Nazar’s presentation suggests, cryptography is one of the primary areas where we should anticipate quantum computing use cases emerging. But compared to AI and stablecoins, quantum computing may experience the “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” syndrome for a few more seasons, at least.

“Nobody Here But Us Cloud Companies …”

If you suspected that the inclusion of “cloud” as a theme that was underrepresented at FinovateEurope was little more than a ruse to talk about AI, then I confess to being guilty as charged. But the comparison between the “cloud revolution” and the “AI revolution” was one I heard from Finovate delegates and on-stage experts alike, and an interesting notion to add to this conversation on fintech trends.

No company demoing declared themselves a cloud company this year. That’s because, in a sense, they are all “cloud companies.” The ubiquity of cloud technology in fintech has rendered the descriptor almost obsolete. And increasingly something similar is happening with AI. While we did go through the obligatory period when companies felt the need to append “ai” to their names, we are nevertheless seeing an impressive urgency with which companies are seeking to leverage AI to improve efficiency for both their own workers as well as for their customers. Perhaps not since the early days of digital banking has as much attention been paid and innovation devoted to both sides of the customer experience at the same time.

What this means, as Senior Finovate analyst Julie Muhn remarked to me in the run-up to FinovateEurope this year, is that there is less and less a conversation about “AI,” and more and more a conversation about generative AI, or explainable AI, or agentic AI, or ethical AI … You get the point. The evolution in our way of talking about AI reflects nothing more than our growing understanding of the diverse ways AI technology can be deployed, as well as the myriad responsibilities involved in deploying it. So while we won’t stop hearing about “AI” anytime soon, we should be prepared for a new way of talking about the technology as our relationship to it evolves.

Photo by Anoir Chafik on Unsplash

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Successfully Implementing AI in Banking: Insights from Allica Bank CEO Richard Davies

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 18, 2026
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026, Interview, Sponsored

This article is brought to you in collaboration with Gregory.

AI is rapidly reshaping the competitive landscape in banking, and for many institutions, the real challenge lies not in experimentation, but in implementation. Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank, has been focused on exactly that: how to successfully deploy AI across an organization and drive meaningful adoption at scale.

Founded in 2020, Allica is a digital bank focused on established small and medium-sized businesses. To date, it has lent over £3 billion and been twice named by Deloitte as the UK’s fastest growing technology company. In 2025 the Financial Times identified it as the second fastest growing company in Europe.

Richard delivered a fascinating keynote address at FinovateEurope, titled: “Successfully Implementing AI & Scaling Adoption: What Are the Challenges Around Rolling Out to Production?”. Afterwards, we sat down with him to talk about what it really takes to embed AI into a bank’s operating model.

Tell us a little more about your role as CEO of Allica Bank and what you’re focused on at the moment?

Richard Davies: Allica is a fintech bank focused on established small and medium-sized businesses. We typically define that as businesses with five or more employees or at least £500,000 in revenue. So we’re not talking about the very smallest microbusinesses, but those that are at a point where things start to get more complex and there are multiple staff to support.

We find these businesses fall into a gap between the corporate banking divisions and retail banking divisions of the major banks. That’s the space we focus on.

We have been building Allica for five or six years now and provide a full stack of services, including current accounts, cards and all types of lending. Increasingly, we are moving into financial operations areas such as spend management and cash flow forecasting. Alongside that, we have been thinking hard about how we can apply AI to power many elements of what we do across the organisation.

In your keynote, you spoke about successfully implementing AI and scaling adoption. What do you see as the biggest challenges for banks when it comes to rolling AI out in practice?

Davies: I would group it into three main areas:

First, ensuring that AI adoption happens across the whole company, rather than sitting in an innovation lab or small specialist team. A big focus for us has been getting people bought in, upskilled and confident, and encouraging teams to create their own simple, agentic use cases. I am a big believer that bottom-up adoption tends to win over purely top-down mandates.

Second is software engineering and product development. Around a third of our staff are in engineering, and that is probably the area that has seen the greatest progress in AI tooling. We have focused on helping people move towards more T shaped or full stack roles, and ensuring our tech stack is AI enabled to unlock significant productivity gains. Depending on what you measure, we are seeing productivity improvements of two to ten times.

Finally, there are more complex agentic use cases. We have specialized teams working on these, and we have been learning a lot over the past two years about what it takes to get them live in production. It’s exciting because beyond engineering, you start solving real world problems that consume a lot of human time and can be inconsistent when done manually.

A lot of banks are investing in AI at the moment. How should they decide where it makes the most sense to focus first?

Davies: My view is that you should not overly narrow your focus. If you pick two areas, you are neglecting ten others, and those areas will fall behind.

Perhaps I have the luxury of leading a fintech organization that is naturally inclined towards this, but I think AI needs to be embraced across the company. Where you do need focus is on infrastructure, including data quality, enabling access to different AI models and ensuring that is done company wide.

If I had to pick one area with immediate and certain benefit, it would be engineering. The productivity unlock in software development is huge. If teams are still working in traditional ways, they need to move quickly, not just for the company’s benefit, but for their own careers. The industry is shifting rapidly, and people need the skills and experience to keep up.

Beyond the technology itself, what changes do banks need to make internally for AI to really become part of how they operate?

Davies: Culture is a big part of it. People need to lean into it. You need the infrastructure in place, as well as training and upskilling so people feel confident using AI.

At the same time, organizations need to remain risk aware. Different AI use cases carry different risks, and teams need to understand those.

In many ways, it’s similar to previous organizational transformations, such as moving from traditional waterfall practices to agile. The enablers are not conceptually different, but it does require deliberate leadership and a clear view of how you enable the organization to change.

From what you’ve seen at FinovateEurope so far, what themes or conversations around AI in banking have stood out to you the most?

Davies: Some of the most interesting conversations have been happening off stage. Recently, we have seen software company valuations come under pressure following major AI model releases, with the view that people can now build their own software more easily.

At the same time, traditional banks have re-rated quite significantly over the past year. In the UK, share prices are up roughly 80 percent. It creates an interesting dynamic.

Fintech has at times in the past been viewed by investors as a poor relation to software, but in reality, building a fintech is much harder than building a pure software company. You have complex regulatory requirements and balance sheet considerations that software firms do not.

It feels like there may be a shift happening in the relative valuation of where companies with real assets versus asset light software companies. For many fintechs, particularly those with strong fundamentals, that could ultimately be a net positive.

Photo by Google DeepMind

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FinovateEurope 2026 in 1,046 Photos

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 17, 2026
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026

FinovateEurope 2026 wrapped up last week, but the fintech conversations are still flowing across social media. The two-day event was packed with meaningful conversations, fast-paced demos, a reunion of familiar faces, and new connections.

And while speakers and attendees were busy talking and learning about all things fintech and banking, Finovate’s photographer was capturing the event in more than 1,000 photos.

The photos are broken down into three categories, and we’ve pulled in a few photos as well as highlights to help summarize FinovateEurope via pictures. If you’re looking for a full content summary, check out our event summary blog post.

The FinovateEurope experience

Some of the best discussions happen off stage. And with almost a dozen networking sessions baked into the event, there were a lot of valuable ideas exchanged in the hallways and on the networking floor. Heightening this experience were a live caricaturist and, even though fintech has a magic of its own, a magician.

The sessions

Between panel discussions, fireside chats, and keynote presentations, the FinovateEurope stage hosted some of the brightest minds in fintech (and I’m not just saying that because I was on stage). We heard from founders on their biggest challenges, venture capitalists on the state of funding as we move into 2026, and bankers on how they actually measure the value of AI pilots.

The demos

The more than 20 companies that demoed their newest technology on stage showcased some of the most cutting edge ideas in fintech. From identity verification to core modernization, banks and fintechs face a lot of challenges. These fintechs took the stage to show their newest technology in under seven minutes.

You can view the entire photo album on Finovate’s Flickr page.

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FinovateEurope 2026: From AI Hype to Operational Reality

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 17, 2026
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026

If you attended FinovateEurope in London last week, you may have noticed that the energy of the event felt different.

In previous years, the conversation leaned heavily toward experimentation. This year, it shifted toward execution. Across the demo stage, panel sessions, and hallway conversations, it was clear that fintech is maturing. And that maturity is reshaping how banks create, partner, and serve customers.

AI moves from experimentation to operationalization

Agentic AI dominated the agenda in a pragmatic way that eschewed hype for reality.

Speakers discussed the importance of governed agentic AI that protect users with guardrails, auditability, and human oversight. Among these protective barriers, trust, explainability, and regulatory alignment were highlighted as central design principles when implementing agentic AI tools. It is clear that the conversation has shifted from “Can AI agents work?” to “How do we deploy them safely inside regulated institutions?”

Fraud and identity also pulsed throughout conversations about AI, as new technologies are evolving these elements from singular checks to continuous behavioral intelligence. The topics of responsible AI and the impact of AI on the future workforce were also front and center, with standing-room-only crowds on the AI stage discussing governance, skill atrophy, and ethical deployment.

As one attendee said, “When it comes to AI, speed may win attention, but trust wins the relationship.”

Customer experience: from product-centric to embedded

In the Analyst All-Stars session, much of the conversation centered on customer-centricity. Banks are moving from product-centric models to embedded, predictive, and contextual financial experiences.

In my panel discussions on embedded and challenger banking, we explored how digital lending is moving closer to the customer as part of the journey. Executing embedded lending is about being present at the moment of need in the correct channel.

Other panel discussions and keynotes offered more insights around improving the customer experience:

Customers compare bank journeys to every digital experience they have.
Onboarding remains a major friction point.
Personalization and channel choice are now expectations.
Balancing compliance, risk, and conversion requires smarter orchestration.

Challenger banks continue to influence customer expectations, especially when it comes to how they think about brand and community. Many conversations along these lines considered the benefits of collaboration. In fact, over 70% of fintech product launches now involve strategic partners, and panels on platform banking reinforced that partnerships are structurally necessary to compete.

Payments, tokenization, and agentic commerce

Many of the payments discussions highlighted the fact that instant payments are becoming mainstream, but geography and behavior matter. By increasing the speed of payments, fraud also accelerates. This shift is pushing institutions toward implementing “friendly friction,” with biometrics and AI-powered detection.

While not highlighted quite as much, the topic of agentic commerce was brought up in the payments track. If (or when?) bots become customers, banks must rethink identity verification and value-chain control. With ISO 20022 becoming the common language for blockchain-based value exchange, tokenization and programmable money will become key pieces of infrastructure.

Capital is maturing

Most of the investors on the networking floor and up on stage agreed that fintech funding rebounded globally in 2025. Today, capital efficiency and unit economics have returned to the center of strategy. To keep up, founders are tightening business models and refining their distribution strategies. Additionally, panelists mentioned that community-backed capital structures, which add accountability, are increasingly being used alongside traditional venture funding.

Beyond the stage

The Women in Fintech panel was one of the most popular sessions. The overflowing crowd was a reminder that inclusion plays a role in organizational growth. Geopolitical risk, national security strategy, and regulatory shifts also underscored the fact that financial services innovation does not happen in isolation.

Thanks to all of our speakers who braved the stage to share their insights, and to everyone who attended. You all make up such a great community and we truly could not do this without you all!

We’ll see you in San Diego on May 5 through 7 for FinovateSpring, in New York on September 9 through 11 for FinovateFall, or back in London in 2027.

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FinovateEurope 2026 Is Almost Here: What You Need to Know Before You Go

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on February 2, 2026
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026

The countdown is on! FinovateEurope 2026 lands in London on February 10 through 11 at the InterContinental O2 in London, and the global fintech community is gearing up for one of the year’s most engaging events.

The two-day conference will feature more than 1,000 senior decision-makers, including bankers, investors, founders, and fintech leaders as they uncover what’s next in fintech and banking. You’ll see over 20 live demos of cutting-edge technology with 100+ expert speakers offering insights that go well beyond buzzwords.

If you already have your ticket (if you don’t, there’s still time to register), here’s how to make the most of your days on-site:

Download the ConnectMe app and create your profile to start networking, set your schedule, and view the agenda.
The invitation-only Leaders+ and Impact+ sessions begin on February 9 at 6:00 pm.
Registration and networking begins at 8:15 am on February 10 and the day concludes with the Best of Show announcement during the evening cocktail reception, which starts at 4:30 pm.
Breakfast and networking begins at 8:15 am on February 11 and the day concludes with the Investor All Stars panel, which wraps up at 4:30 pm.
Bring your badge each day. You’ll need it for entry!
Plan your travel time to the venue, especially if you’re commuting or taking public transport.
Dress code? Business casual to business formal. Be comfortable, but ready to make an impression.
Need help? Stop by the registration desk or find a Finovate team member for assistance.
Follow #FinovateEurope on LinkedIn and Twitter for live updates and key takeaways.

Whether your goal is to track early fintech trends, forge new partnerships, or benchmark your strategy against peers, FinovateEurope delivers. With elite networking, live product insights, and industry-shaping conversations all under one roof, this conference promises to kick off 2026 with fresh ideas and real momentum.

See you in London!

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Beyond the Demos: The Industry Stage Conversations Driving FinovateEurope 2026

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on January 29, 2026
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026, Speaker series

As FinovateEurope returns to London on February 10 and 11, the spotlight on the second day of the conference shifts from demos to deep discussion. On February 11, FinovateEurope’s Industry Stages run in parallel with one another, giving attendees the opportunity to dive into strategic conversations shaping financial services in 2026.

This year’s event features five Industry Stages: Artificial Intelligence; Banking, Regulation & Risk; Customer Experience; Lending; and Payments. Each stage is designed to offer banking and fintech leaders more than just theory. The sessions focus on what’s working in practice, what’s breaking under the pressure of new technology and regulations, and what institutions need to rethink about their current operations.

Artificial Intelligence: from pilots to production

The AI stage will feature discussions on one of the biggest challenges facing financial institutions today: moving beyond experimentation. The sessions will explore lessons learned from early AI agent pilots, governance frameworks to combat “shadow AI”, and how banks can scale AI responsibly. Highlights include a keynote from Richard Davies, CEO of Allica Bank, who will speak about the realities of implementing AI in production. The stage will also host panels tackling ROI, data readiness, and responsible AI as a competitive necessity.

Customer Experience: personalization without losing the human touch

On the Customer Experience stage, the conversation moves past buzzwords to focus on execution. Sessions will examine how open data enables hyper-personalization, why mindset can be the biggest challenge, and how banks can retain empathy while scaling. A standout power panel brings together leaders from J.P. Morgan, Invesco, and PolyAI to explore what banks can learn from other industries as customer expectations are being reset by the evolution of enabling technologies.

Payments: instant, intelligent, and under threat

Payments are quickly evolving across the globe, especially with new regulations such as PSD3 and new capabilities and enabling technologies such as instant payments, stablecoins, and cross-border modernization. Panels will focus on how data-centricity and AI can unlock growth while strengthening security, especially as fraud losses and cyber threats keep rising.

Banking, regulation & risk: resilience in a volatile world

Regulatory pressure and operational resilience will be the center of the conversation on this stage, where discussions will span DORA, dispute management, and the risks embedded in cloud and AI adoption. These sessions are especially relevant for banks navigating complex vendor ecosystems while being asked to do more, faster, and with greater accountability.

Lending: capturing the embedded opportunity

The Lending stage will look at how banks can reclaim growth by meeting unmet needs, especially in small business and embedded lending. Panelists will explore how AI is reshaping credit decisioning, how regulation is evolving, and where incumbents can realistically compete with fintech challengers.

Together, these five Industry Stages on February 11 will offer a concentrated look at the decisions that will define banking’s next chapter. If you register for FinovateEurope before January 30, you can still save £300.

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IMPACT+ Showcases Early-Stage Fintech Innovation at FinovateEurope 2026

By David Penn Posted on January 29, 2026
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026

This year, FinovateEurope 2026 is bringing a new addition to our annual showcase of innovative fintech. Our invitation-only Impact+ event, held on Monday, 9 February, is a unique opportunity for investors to meet and network with fintech startups that have developed solutions for a variety of challenges currently facing banks, financial services providers, and their customers and members. As part of the program, the evening will feature a series of four-minute pitches from eight startups selected in collaboration with London & Partners, Fintech Sandbox, and other leading startup specialists.

“I’m delighted to unveil the Impact+ Founders & Funders program at FinovateEurope 2026,” Heather Stowell, Finovate VP and Director of Demos, said. “The eight startups pitching to investors as part of the February 9 session are presenting cutting-edge ideas and technologies from across fintech and finserv. It’s inspiring to see this level of innovation from such young companies and exciting to foresee the connections coming up for them with investors.”

Exclusively for investors and startups, Impact+ takes place Monday, 9 February—the evening before FinovateEurope 2026 begins in earnest. The program starts at 6pm and ends with a networking and drinks reception beginning at 7:15pm.

Anna Tsiganchuk—CEO & Co-Founder, Aleta Index

A product leader with a foundation in design, a passion for AI innovation, and a track record of building and scaling impactful solutions, Tsiganchuk is CEO and Co-Founder of Aleta Index.

Aleta Index is an AI-powered platform that analyzes alternative data sets including news and social media to expose bias and source credibility to enable business analysts and researchers to make better decisions and develop more accurate prediction models driven by machine learning. Founded in 2024, Aleta Index is headquartered in London.

Filiberto Tasca—CEO & Co-Founder, Aurea Hub

With a strong conviction that the third internet revolution of Web 3.0, decentralized finance (DeFi), and the metaverse will have a significant impact on every aspect of society, Tasca is CEO and Co-Founder of Aurea Hub.

Aurea is the EU-native B2B infrastructure for on-chain finance. The company offers a white-label, fully-compliant Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) platform that serves as a neutral technological bridge to empower banks, fintechs, and merchants to integrate digital assets and stablecoins into their existing applications.

Barak Katz—CEO & Founder, DotzLink

An alum of Tel Aviv University and Harvard Business School with more than a decade of Chief Executive experience, Katz is founder and CEO of DotzLink.

DotzLink is creating a financial protection platform designed to fight the growing challenge of scams and financial abuse. The company’s AI-powered technology provides real-time detection, proactive protection, and actionable insights to help seniors and families stay safe and financially secure. Founded in 2025, DotzLink is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Máté Jendrolovics—CEO & Founder, Intuitech

With a background as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Head of Digital at Hungary’s Gránit Bank, Jendrolovics is CEO and founder of Intuitech, an Agentic AI and digital solutions provider for companies in the financial industry.

Intuitech is a 200+ member, full-stack development and AI services studio—launched in 2018—that empowers banks, insurers, consultancies, and other firms to reach their digital potential, from customer applications and automated platforms to sophisticated back-office and AI solutions. The company is based in Budapest, Hungary.

Joshua Ojo—CEO & Founder, Ndewo Finance

An innovator with a background in mathematics and a strong passion for using technology to solve business challenges, Ojo is CEO and founder of Ndewo Finance.

Ndewo Finance offers a platform for “credit invisibles”—people with significant gaps in their credit files. The company leverages alternative data sources such as home credit history and transactional data to enable underbanked and unbanked individuals to access financial and non-financial services such as rents, mortgages, student loans, credit cards, retail financing, and more. Ndewo Finance is based in Manchester, UK.

Rukayyat Kolawole—CEO & Co-Founder, PaceUP Invest

Dedicated to breaking barriers and reshaping financial empowerment, Kolawole is CEO and Co-Founder of Wealthtech PaceUp Invest.

PaceUp Invest is a B2B and B2C hyperpersonalized wealth technology platform that leverages AI, behavioral science, inclusive cultural context, and human expertise to drive financial wellness. The platform offers multilingual guidance and integrates seamlessly with banks, corporations, insurers, and digital financial apps. Headquartered in Mannheim, Germany, PaceUp Invest was founded in 2020.

Savannah Price—Founder & CEO, Serene

A FinTech London Rising Star for 2025, Price is Founder and CEO of Serene, the infrastructure for financial care that empowers banks, lenders, and fintechs to provide customers with better financial outcomes.

Serene combines behavioral insights, predictive intelligence, and financial data to detect early indications of vulnerability, fraud, or potential distress. This enables financial institutions to do more than just identify risk, but also to understand, predict, and prevent it. Headquartered in London, UK, Serene was founded in 2023.

Mariana Barona—CEO & Co-Founder, Synthera AI

With a background as an analyst at Goldman Sachs and an education from the University of Cambridge, Barona is CEO and Co-Founder of Synthera AI.

Headquartered in London, Synthera AI generates synthetic yield curves, equities, FX prices, and other financial instruments to enable professional investors to test their portfolios on realistic but unseen market scenarios using generative AI. The company’s synthetic data redefines portfolio analysis with AI-driven dynamic scenario testing, predictive analytics, and deep portfolio insights.

Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash

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FinovateEurope 2026 Sneak Peek Series: Part 5

By Madeline Clines Posted on January 29, 2026
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026, FinovateEurope 2026 Sneak Peek, FINTRAC, Maisa, MyPocketSkill, Syntex

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on February 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.

FINTRAC

TRAC by FINTRAC is the governance layer for regulated analytics – making calculations auditable, repeatable, and self-documenting by default.

Features

Includes a governed execution layer compatible with modern analytics architectures
Embeds auditability, repeatability, and documentation directly into execution
Eliminates manual processes and controls

Who’s it for?

Any financial institution that has to execute models and calculations in a highly governed fashion to meet regulatory or internal governance requirements.

Maisa

Maisa allows business users to deploy Digital Workers that automate complex banking operations with full explainability and traceability.

Features

Production-ready in 6 weeks, integrates with systems
Natural language onboarding and deterministic execution
Every output includes a complete audit trail, auto-QAs without human in the loop

Who’s it for?

Global and regional banks, wealth management firms, insurance companies, and financial services providers with complex operational processes requiring regulatory compliance.

MyPocketSkill

MyPocketSkill is an AI-infused platform helping Gen Z earn, save, and learn about money. Supported by PocketAI, their award winning platform helps 13 – 25 year olds become more financially capable.

Features

Adaptive
Personalized
Impactful

Who’s it for?

Financial institutions looking to appeal to Gen Z customers.

Syntex

Syntex is a digital onboarding portal for account opening and lending that pre-qualifies clients, shortens onboarding to less than two days, supports Reg B compliance, and increases deposits by 40%.

Features

Client self-serve intake reduces onboarding from 30–45 days to 2–3 days
Delivers a 40% increase in conversion rates and deposits
Provides Reg B tracking of application completeness and decision timelines

Who’s it for?

Small banks, community banks, and credit unions.

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Five Fintechs Delivering Core Modernization, AI Transformation, and Productivity

By David Penn Posted on January 28, 2026
Categories: FinovateEurope 2026, List series

One of the biggest challenges for financial institutions, large and small, is core modernization and digital transformation. Whether to facilitate automation to streamline workflows or to deploy new products and services faster, modernization and transformation are key to ensuring that banks and financial institutions can grow revenues, expand into new markets, and meet regulatory obligations with regard to security and privacy for customers.

At FinovateEurope 2026 next month, five fintechs will demonstrate how their innovations are helping banks and financial institutions transform their systems and operations to boost productivity and lower costs. From AI-driven automation that delivers seamless deployment of new solutions to AI-powered learning technologies that keep employee skills up to date, these companies are leveraging enabling technologies to make banks better.

FinovateEurope 2026 will take place at London’s InterContinental O2 on February 10 and 11. Tickets are available now. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today and take advantage of big early-bird savings!

R34DY

R34DY empowers banks and other financial institutions with AI-driven automation for seamless integration and rapid deployment of solutions. The company’s ABLEMENTS solution enables rapid AI transformation, allowing banks to deliver new offerings faster, lower IT costs, and achieve competitive differentiation via context-aware modernization. Headquartered in Budapest, Hungary, R34DY was founded in 2019.

Tweezr

Tweezr helps businesses grow and transform by accelerating time-to-market (TTM) and boosting developer productivity for both legacy-system maintenance and modernization. The company’s technology serves as an AI-powered surgical code assistant that identifies exactly where changes are needed across tens of millions of lines of code without breaking critical functionality. Founded in 2024, Tweezr is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Outsampler

Outsampler helps asset managers better interact with their data and models. With its AI conversational agents that turn complex time-series and tabular data into natural language dialogue, Outsampler’s technology boosts research productivity by 40%, enabling portfolio managers to focus on high-value client engagement. Headquartered in Berkeley, California, the company was founded in 2025.

mAI Edge

mAI Edge transforms the challenges of external creative production into internal marketing infrastructure. The company’s BrandOS is a brand operating system for banks and financial services companies that enables them to create streamlined branded content at scale with consistency across every channel. mAI Edge was founded in 2025.

Skill Studio AI

Skill Studio AI offers AI-driven training that accelerates compliance readiness from weeks to minutes, reduces trading costs by 95%, and scales internationally with support for 180 languages. The company’s technology transforms training documents into engaging, AI-powered learning experiences that boost learner engagement and help keep workforce skills up to date. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Skill Studio AI was founded in 2025.

Why Banks Should Care

For banks and financial institutions that are still on the path toward modernization and digital transformation, the rise of technologies such as AI offers a major opportunity to streamline operations, reduce costs, and offer a much wider range of products and services. Partnering with innovative companies that specialize in working with banks and financial services companies will enable FIs to integrate new technologies at their own pace and for the preferred use cases that matter most to themselves and their customers.

At the same time, the solutions offered by these fintechs remind us that transformation is not just about legacy cores and systems. True modernization in financial services also involves using enabling technologies to make it easier for front- and back-office workforces, including developers and technical talent, to meet increasingly complex responsibilities. From ever-changing regulations to ever-evolving customer expectations, these fintechs are putting new technologies to work in support of people as well as processes.

Photo by Pixabay

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FinovateEurope 2026 Sneak Peek Series: Part 4

By Madeline Clines Posted on January 27, 2026
Categories: Elephant, FinovateEurope 2026, FinovateEurope 2026 Sneak Peek, OPENTECH, Pipl, Sea.dev

A look at the companies demoing at FinovateEurope in London on February 10. Register today using this link and save 20%.

Elephant

Elephant by Pipl delivers identity intelligence and fraud signals to help businesses verify users, detect risk, and make confident decisions across onboarding, payments, and compliance.

Features

Identity resolution (fully GDPR compliant)
Actionable fraud and trust signals
Faster, more accurate onboarding decisions

Who’s it for?

Banks, fintech lenders, payment providers, marketplaces, and digital platforms.

Opentech

Opentech’s OpenPay for Merchants (O4M) brings Buy Now, Pay Later into merchant-owned journeys, turning checkout into a new distribution channel for bank consumer credit.

Features

Offers merchant touchpoints as a consumer credit distribution channel
Delivers a pre-qualified customer base for consumer credit offers
Provides access to detailed spending data

Who’s it for?

Banks and institutions offering consumer credit. Card issuers willing to offer payments products embedded into digital assets of merchants.

Sea.dev

Sea.dev automates business underwriting workflows, eliminating copy-paste and document collection so that credit analysts can focus on higher-value analysis, faster decisions, and growth.

Features

Embeds underwriting-grade AI capabilities straight into existing workflows
Enables expert teams with human-in-the-loop control
Offers full auditability

Who’s it for?

Business lenders and loan origination systems.

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