Submissions for 2018 Global Fintech Hackcelerator opened at S’pore Fintech Festival

Selected start-ups will receive
guidance and mentoring for product development, proof-of-concept,
commercialisation, and even subsequent fundraising from KPMG in Singapore’s
Digital Village to help address some of the most pressing fintech challenges
and foster greater financial inclusion

SINGAPORE,
2 May 2018 – Applications open today for the Global Fintech Hackcelerator
programme, powered by KPMG in Singapore’s Digital Village and KPMG’s Matchi
fintech matchmaking platform. Finals of the programme (“Demo Day’’) will be
held at the Singapore Fintech Festival taking place
from 12–16 November 2018. 

Visit here to apply for the 2018 Global
Fintech Hackcelerator – deadline for applications
is 15 June 2018.

Start-ups from all over the world
entering the Global Fintech Hackcelerator will demonstrate how they can innovate
to address problem statements collected from the financial industry in areas
including financial inclusion, insurtech and reg tech/sup tech. 

Up to 20 start-ups will be
shortlisted and matched with industry champions and business sponsors for mentoring
and guidance, with 12 weeks to refine and tailor their market-ready solutions
into customised use cases, in time for the Singapore Fintech Festival. KPMG in
Singapore’s Digital Village as well as other subject-matter experts will help
these start-ups in product development, proof-of-concept, commercialisation and
even subsequent fundraising if needed. As these start-ups build relationships
with a community of passionate game changers in the fintech eco-system though
the hackcelerator, they will also benefit from Digital Village’s collaborative
ecosystem comprising corporates, investors and government bodies to drive the
adoption and integration of innovative solutions. The shortlisted start-ups
will also each receive a cash stipend of up to SGD 20,000.  

Shortlisted start-ups will pitch
their solutions on the “Demo Day” of the Singapore Fintech Festival to a
judging panel representing a cross-section of the financial industry. Solutions
will be judged on their relevance to the problem statement, innovativeness,
business potential, and the team’s ability to execute.

The top three start-ups that
emerge from Demo Day will each receive additional cash prize of SGD $50,000.

The Singapore Fintech Festival,
organised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), is a platform for key
stakeholders of the global and regional fintech community to connect, learn from one another and
co-create new solutions to real problems. It is the largest fintech event and
fintech platform in the world, attracting more than 30,000 participants,
decision makers and investors from 109 countries in 2017. 

Mr.
Jan Reinmueller, Head of Digital Village, KPMG in Singapore says, “We are
delighted to partner with the MAS for the second consecutive year to launch the
Global Fintech Hackcelerator as one of the highlights of the Singapore Fintech
Festival. The hackcelerator enables innovative start-ups to showcase their
solution for significant fintech challenges in one of the top industry forums.
It is also an opportunity for start-ups to tap into the global expertise of
KPMG fintech professionals to super-charge their growth trajectory, and to use
Singapore, a global fintech capital, as their launch pad to marketvalidate
their ideas and gain market entry into Asia Pacific.”

Mr.
David Milligan, CEO of Matchi – part of
KPMG International adds, “KPMG in Singapore, through its Digital Village
and KPMG’s global Matchi platform, will offer the selected start-ups a range of
potential support that can include product development, proof-of-concept and
commercialisation as well as potential fund raising after the competition. We
are committed to help start-ups and financial institutions find and deploy
fintech solutions that are most relevant to their business needs. This means
helping to empower promising start-ups and enabling greater financial inclusion
which ultimately benefits all consumers and businesses globally.”

Quotes from finalists of the Global Fintech Hackcelerator
2017

Balasubramanyam Mohan, General Manager of Products &
Operations, Moxtra says,

“We are honoured to be awarded as
one of the winners in last year’s programme.

Participating in the Global
Fintech Hackcelerator has helped us build a foothold in Asia Pacific and
establish greater credibility and brand recognition as an innovative fintech
solutions provider to our prospective customers. The hackcelerator also helped
us sharpen our value proposition and pitch in a very short period of time. It
is definitely a great enabler to start-ups like us to fast-track our
proof-of-concept and market traction.”

Ian
Chapman-Banks, CEO, Sqreem Technologies says, “Sqreem was excited to be a
finalist at the Global Fintech Hackcelerator, and proud to be one of the
winners. The mentorship from MAS, KPMG and the financial services industry was
instrumental in Sqreem being able to productise our artificial intelligence
platform in an accelerated fashion. Having so much expertise at hand allowed us
to be very precise with our offering, increasing our chances of customer
acquisition and revenue generation. Since participating in the programme, we
have been signing on new clients and have now expanded our platform into
Pharmatech, Adtech and the small and medium enterprise space.”