MAS Hackcelerator at Global Fintech Festival
2018 Global Fintech Hackcelerator winners
Congratulations to the winning tech companies of the Global Fintech Hackcelerator 2018 challenge, announced this November by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) at the third annual Singapore FinTech Festival. The three winning companies are BetterTradeOff Pte. Ltd., Billion Group Ltd. and Mosabi.
The winners were selected from a group of 20 finalists who presented their solutions at the Global Fintech Hackcelerator programme’s Demo Day on the first day of the Singapore Fintech Festival. The challenge, powered by KPMG Digital Village, was a 12-week programme that matched innovative market-ready solutions from around the world with problem statements from the financial industry. KPMG Matchi provided the challenge application system for Hackcelerator applicants to enter.
MAS had published 80 problem statements under four categories (InsurTech, Financial Inclusion, RegTech & SupTech and General), and received 304 applications from over 40 countries. The 20 finalists were shortlisted by a panel of industry judges to work with corporates, investors, partners and regulators from the Singapore FinTech ecosystem to contextualise and refine their existing solutions to the ASEAN market.
On Demo Day, each team gave a five-minute pitch on stage to an audience of 1000 people including the judging panel, which was followed by a closed-door question-and-answer session. BetterTradeOff Pte. Ltd., Billon Group Ltd and Mosabi were selected based on the relevance of their solution in addressing the chosen problem statement, their business potential, innovativeness of their idea, and the team’s profile and ability to execute the idea. Each winner received a cash prize of S$50,000.
Beyond Demo Day, the 20 finalist teams will continue to work with the corporate champions and industry mentors to plan for actual adoption and integration of their solutions into a real client context. Mr Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer, MAS, said, “The Global Fintech Hackcelerator is a great platform for fintechs not only to showcase but also to contextualise their innovative solutions for the industry. Many of the finalists from the past two years have gone on to receive funding and to contribute their solutions to the industry. We wish our third batch of winners similar success. MAS thanks KPMG Digital Village for supporting the Global FinTech Hackcelerator.”
About the winners
BetterTradeOff’s one-of-a-kind holistic life-planning solution, ‘Aardviser,’ uses advanced statistical models and AI to empower people to make optimum decisions when financing their dreams.
“It’s been an incredible opportunity for us at BetterTradeOff to share our solution and to work with our mentors: AIA, PropertyGuru and KPMG Digital Village during the Global Fintech Hackcelerator sponsored by MAS,” said Robert Lonsdorfer, CEO and founder or BetterTradeOff.
“We’re delighted to have the panel of experts recognise the innovation behind our life planning solution. Our co-creation platform augments advisers to move beyond products and engage clients in exciting lifestyle-centric discussions. Product recommendations now have context, their impact visible at a glance. Dreams and life events can be explored and planned out by the users in the intimacy of their own homes.
This award as well as the valuable feedback we’ve received from our mentors will help us to bring our solution to the next level.”
Billon’s technology encodes national currencies via blockchain to allow for zero cost payment transactions. The system is composed of blockchain nodes, where each node is essentially an application installed on an end-user device (smartphone, tablet, computer, server) and each new user brings its own device (typically a smartphone), which adds processing power to the system as a whole. “We are thrilled that our zero-cost transaction DLT platform was recognised with this fantastic award. By creating that solution Billon unleashed the power of blockchain, delivering all the benefits of distributed ledger technology to financial institutions without the cryptocoin downsides. With payments of any value in national currencies, processed instantly, and at zero cost, FIs and their clients can build the whole new business models,” said Michal Pakula, MD, Business Delivery & Financial Infrastructure of Billon Group. “My big thanks to our engineers and all Billon employees for creating that solution, our clients and investors for being early adopters and believers, and last but not least to MAS, KPMG and HSBC for helping us introduce Billon’s civilised blockchain to ASEAN.”
Mesabi's solution addresses the lack of financial training and financial access through a narrative mobile learning linked to financial inclusion, financial literacy, and digital financial services (DFS). It works with financial institutes to empower low-income entrepreneurs who have little or no knowledge about basic business management skills to deliver relevant curriculum and campaigns via modular learning.
“The Mosabi team is overjoyed to be recognised as a winner for this competition,” said John Roberts, Co-Founder & CEO of Mosabi. “We extend congratulations as well to all the other winners and finalists of the year’s Global Fintech Hackcelerator competition. We see this as tremendous validation of our vision: Mosabi envisions a world where everyone has the tools and skills to improve their livelihoods, and where education and access to financial products are available to all. Our platform empowers underserved populations with compelling mobile learning linked to financial inclusion. The “MBA” for the rising billions has core financial literacy and entrepreneurship training; data analytics and alternative credit scoring allow banks to onboard learners to digital financial services and qualify them for loans based on their journeys. Our team extends our sincere gratitude to this week’s sponsor stakeholders and to the Hackcelerator organizers. Through the mentorship, guidance and support from MAS, KPMG, and HSBC, we can build on our momentum and drive inclusion and empowerment for emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.”
