This week for our Finovate Global Lists feature we congratulate the graduates of Startupbootcamp FinTech Dubai. Eleven startups successfully completed the MENA-based accelerator program in late February, wrapping up the three-month experience with a pitch opportunity before an audience of investors, corporate partners, mentors, and industry analysts.
“As the Demo Day has passed and the 11 startups of our third cohort continue their growth journeys – we are incredibly proud to welcome the 23 amazing founders of these startups as part of our global @sbcFinTech family!” Startupboootcamp Dubai announced via Twitter.
The graduates are:
- Finllect: a UAE-based financial wellness app for Gen Zs.
- Flaist: a digital transformation platform for banks.
- Singular Capital: a digital asset mobile wallet based in Malaysia.
- Open CBS: a Hong Kong-based, open and scalable, cloud-based core banking system for smaller FIs.
- Absolute Collateral: a digital B2B capital markets trading platform based in the U.K.
- Tajjir: a Jordanian startup that offers a stock trading software solution for retail investors.
- Aura Technologies: an insurtech firm that enables non-insurance businesses to sell insurance to their customers.
- CaaS (Compliance-as-a-Service): a regulatory reporting platform based in the U.K.
- Stornest: a UAE-based digital legacy planner to support end of life planning.
- Raseed: an investment platform that enables users in the UAE and Saudi Arabia to buy and sell U.S. stocks.
- Kilde: a global private debt marketplace headquartered in Singapore.
Startupbootcamp FinTech is conducted in partnership with Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Visa, HSBC, and Mashreq Bank. The program is open to fintech startups throughout the MENA region, as well as around the world, and offers expert-led Master Classes, tailored mentorships, as well as coworking space and living expense support for the duration of the program. Participants also benefit from access to corporate partners and an alumni growth program that helps startups remain networked after the program ends.
Since its launch in 2018, more than 30 fintech startups innovating in payments, lending, and Islamic digital banking count themselves as alumni of the accelerator. Startupbootcamp FinTech Dubai is part of an international network with more than 20 industry-focused programs for technology startups. The network boasts 950 startups accelerated – 41% of which were female-led – that have raised a combined $869 million (€ 727 million) in total funding.
Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Jamaica’s Minister of Finance announced plans to pilot a CBDC in December of this year.
- Stori, a credit card issuer based in Mexico, secured $32 million in Series B funding.
- Brazil-based Nubank pledged to hire 3,300 women in bid to improve gender parity in the digital bank’s leadership ranks within five years.
Asia-Pacific
- Japan-based NTT Group launches new digital banking platform.
- Singapore-based blockchain company Zilliqa Capital launches its new platform.
- South Korea’s Shinhan Bank has built a pilot program for a potential national CBDC.
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Nigerian payments company Flutterwave secured $170 million in Series C funding.
- Adumo, a South African based fintech group, announced an investment of nearly $15 million from the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation.
- Nigerian commercial bank, First Bank, launched new cross-border payments service, First Global Transfer.
Central and Eastern Europe
- Berlin, Germany-based financial crime risk quantification company, Elucidate, secured EUR 2.5 million in pre-Series A funding.
- Hellenic Bank unveiled its new mobile banking app, which was developed in partnership with Backbase.
- Mobile payments company Settle launched in Bulgaria.
Middle East and Northern Africa
- Suez Canal Bank to deploy core banking package from Temenos.
- Israel’s Tarya Fintech and Leuni announced partnership to develop and adapt Leumi’s core mortgage system.
- A platform that enables UAE investors to buy and sell listed U.S. stocks, baraka, announced plans for a launch in the second quarter of 2021.
Central and Southern Asia
- Axis Bank went live in India with its wearable contactless payment devices.
- Pakistan-based B2B and B2C payments startup PayPro won a $47,000 grant from USAID Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA).
- Kazakh fintech Kaspi.kz announced 2020 net income gains of more than 33%.
Photo by Ethan Wilkinson from Pexels