11 global FinTech firms triumph as finalists at FinTech Abu Dhabi Innovation

 The Abu Dhabi Global Market, ADGM, in collaboration with KPMG, has announced that 11 outstanding global FinTech firms have been shortlisted for the inaugural FinTech Abu Dhabi Innovation Challenge to be held in October.

The selected firms managed to beat 166 applicants and are currently undergoing an intensive five-week programme, which allows them to contextualise and present market-ready solutions tailored for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, MEASA, region.

The 11 successful companies come from a number of different countries including four applicants from Singapore, two from India, one from Hong Kong, one from China, one from Canada, one from the United Kingdom, and one from the UAE. Each of the applicants put forward exceptional ideas that provided innovative and game-changing solutions to address real business challenges that the financial services industry currently faces.

During the five-week programme, the shortlisted finalists will be tasked with developing their solutions to specific problem statements, focusing on six areas: Financial and Investment Management, Financial Inclusion, RegTech, Trade Finance, InsurTech, and Private Capital Markets.

Over the course of the programme, each finalist will also benefit from the support and mentorship of an expert pool of more than 14 FinTech and financial industry leaders. All the finalists will proceed to the hotly-contested FinTech Demo Day on 22nd October, where two eventual winners will be selected and invited to demonstrate their solutions at the upcoming Global FinTech Hackcelerator in Singapore.

The successful applicants are NewBridge FinTech, Alpha FinTech, Everledger, FRS Labs, ftcash, Market IQ, Canopy, Silent Eight, Prive Financial Limited, PIVOT, and SQREEM.

Wai Lum Kwok, Executive Director of Capital Markets, Financial Services Regulatory Authority of ADGM, said, "We are delighted with the high calibre of entrants that we have received from some of the most promising FinTech practitioners in the industry. What firmly stood out was the remarkable quality of solutions presented. The panel of expert judges had a very tough time selecting the finalists from the 166 applicants. This is the first time that a challenge like this has been delivered in the region and we would like to thank each and every one of the applicants for their time in putting forward such market-ready solutions.

"The whole process so far has shone a light on the immense talent that exists in the global FinTech community. Now we look forward to harnessing and nurturing this outstanding talent even further and identifying those game-changing concepts that will help revolutionise the financial services industry today to help build the knowledge-based economy of tomorrow," he added.

Commenting on the selections, Jan Reinmueller, Head of the Digital Village at KPMG in Singapore, said, "The 11 selected finalists represent some of the brightest minds from the global start-up scene. The five-week programme will open a number of different doors for successful applicants, which will also see them benefit from access to business stakeholders looking for solutions contextualised to their specific needs. We are looking forward to seeing how these solutions develop over the coming weeks, to become market-ready innovations when they are presented during FinTech Abu Dhabi event next month."

The FinTech Abu Dhabi Innovation Challenge is part of the first FinTech Summit in the region, which will be held on 22nd and 23rd October, 2017.