The team at LendIt Fintech USA notes that if the last year has taught us anything, it’s that “innovation” in Fintech has only just started.
LendIt Fintech is now challenging early-stage company founders to “”take a chance and compete in PitchIt.”
PitchIt at LendIt Fintech USA is a startup competition in Fintech, which is currently in its 6th year “bringing together the next crop of Fintech innovators” with the leading VCs. The deadline for applications is March 31, 2021 (so it’s just a few weeks away).
Winners of PitchIt have reportedly raised over $140 million in equity capital and $210 million in debt capital. LendIt Fintech claims that this is a chance to “take your company to the next level and surpass the success of previous winners.”
As noted by LendIt Fintech, the Application Requirements & Timeline are as follows:
- It must be a “Fintech focused” product or service
- Raised “no more than $20mn in equity capital”
- Founded “no earlier than 2017”
- Application Deadline – March 31, 2021
- Sweet Sixteen Semifinal Pitches – Week of April 12
- Championship Pitches at LendIt Fintech USA – April 27 – 29
You may apply here.
In another update from December 2020, the LendIt Fintech team had pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic has “transformed business lending on both sides of the Atlantic.” For lenders – “managing their new, vast portfolios efficiently as well as minimizing defaults and fraud will be a significant challenge moving forward,” LendIt Fintech noted.
They also mentioned:
“Codat wants to give lenders the confidence to continue to lend to the small businesses that need them beyond 2020.”
Codat has leveraged its in-depth knowledge and partnerships in the industry. They’ve compiled a report outlining key areas that lenders need to address as they plan for the “new lending landscape.” The key areas include:
- Digital Transformation
- Operational Efficiency
- Credit Risk
- Portfolio Visibility
- Reducing Fraud
- Customer Engagement
- Portfolio Size
Some of the key topics covered in LendIt Fintech’s extensive whitepapers include:
- Machine learning’s “potential to improve collections touches: default prediction, borrower risk segmentation, personalized customer outreach, tailored settlement and recovery solutions, and agent skill enhancement”;
- Significant ROI is “being realized in recovery rates, decreased collection costs, and customer engagement”;
- Implementation “time-to-value can be as short as weeks to months”;
- There currently are “only several robust commercial solutions”;
- Leading solutions are “clustering according to two designs – fully-outsourced collections processes, and easy-to-integrate ‘overlays’ with existing in-house systems”
