Startupbootcamp FinTech, a global accelerator focusing on financial innovation, hosted its first Demo Day in Singapore on 29 July for the top 11 FinTech teams selected out of 300 applications earlier this year.
“Startupbootcamp FinTech is the first FinTech accelerator in Singapore and the only truly global FinTech program connecting Asia, Europe and America. The international teams also received significant feedback on regulatory issues from MAS. Singapore is really shaping up into a Smart Financial Centre, ” explained Steven Tong, Managing Director of Startupbootcamp FinTech. “Our partners DBS Bank, MasterCard, Intesa SanPaolo and PwC have provided valuable access to senior leaders and advice to the founders while Infocomm Investments, Jungle Ventures, PixVine and Route66 Ventures have been extremely active in coaching the teams.They have been instrumental to the success of the startups so far.”
For these 11 teams, Demo Day marked the completion of a three-month acceleration program in which they collaborated with over 300 mentors, partners and investors and signed more than 15 partnerships with financial institutions, including DBS Bank and PhillipCapital. The startups received training in fundraising, regulatory frameworks and expanding in APAC and are now seeking a combined US$10M investment to scale their businesses and enter new markets.
Welcoming more than 450 guests from the financial industries, including leading investors from Southeast Asia, Startupbootcamp FinTech held the world’s first live FinTech survey on the blockchain (a public ledger of all Bitcoin transactions that have ever been executed) on Demo Day. The results showed that blockchain and wealth management are the FinTech trends most investors and financial institutions wish to see while cultural change in large institutions to allow for innovation and improved regulatory frameworks came out on top as what is needed to strengthen the existing FinTech ecosystem in Southeast Asia. Out of the 11 startups in the program, 6 tackle FinTech areas, existing trends within the cohort are noted in financial inclusion, peer to peer payments, security and trade finance. This Demo Day’s theme ‘Discovering New Grounds’ reflects Startupbootcamp FinTech’s expansion to Asia, having first launched in London last year.
“The overwhelming response to Demo Day shows that the 11 teams are leading the game in FinTech in Southeast Asia,” Markus Gnirck, co-founder of Startupbootcamp FinTech commented. “They are part of the change that is happening in this industry, and are in the sweet spot of the trends predicted by the crowd [today]. Thanks to an extremely supportive FinTech ecosystem and community in Singapore, I am sure we will see many FinTech success stories in this region.”
The 11 FinTech teams involved in Demo Day include:
Bankguard: Bankguard provides a revolutionary 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) solution which addresses weaknesses in current technologies that are vulnerable to Man In The Middle (MITM) attacks.
Creditseva: Creditseva’s algorithm and online integrated platform with banks, help users instantly analyze credit reports & track credit scores, obtain discounted offers to close bad loans and get customized offers for new loans.
Dragon Wealth: Dragon Wealth offers the world’s fastest way for financial advisors in South East Asia to increase sales and acquire more investors through two easy-to-use mobile apps, and Upefy; an automated suite of marketing tools connecting financial advisors with new investors.
Kashmi: Kashmi is a mobile application that allows you to make real-time payments while you socialize and communicate with friends.
KyePot: KyePot is a mobile centric community savings and lending platform that brings individuals together to achieve their financial goals using the collective power of the individual, group and the community.
OnePay: Global payment and loyalty platform on blockchains. Bring the power of digital currencies to use at any retail store already accepting credit card via NFC.
Open Trade Docs: OTDocs certifies online identities and documents. Allowing trusted collaboration, OTDocs increases workflow efficiency for businesses involved in international trade.
Otonomos: Otonomos brings your company on the blockchain. You incorporate by simply creating a digital share wallet, transfer shares peer-to-peer, and automate your governance using smart shares.
ShereIt: ShereIt makes share trading easy. It is a Social Trading platform that helps non-professional investors identify expert traders, follow them and copy their trades/actions.
SkolaFund: Skolafund is a web platform that enables university students to crowdfund their scholarship from the public & corporates. More products will be rolled out as SkolaFund aims to be the biggest higher education financing platform in Asia.
Toast: TOAST allows unbanked Filipino workers in Singapore to send cash back to the Philippines without having to spend hours queuing at Western Union.
“Creating a successful startup isn’t just about coming up with a brilliant, ground-breaking idea; it’s about executing this vision effectively and turning it into a scalable reality,” Tobias Puehse, Senior Business Leader, Innovation Management, MasterCard Labs, Asia Pacific, summarized. “This is where the Startupbootcamp accelerator provides crucial support and MasterCard is delighted to be a partner. The energy of the 11 FinTech startups presenting at the Demo Day is contagious and reflects Singapore’s focus on driving FinTech innovation and entrepreneurialism in Asia for Asia & beyond.”
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