Dubai’s Fintech Hive accelerator begins second edition

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Accenture’s Fintech Hive accelerator has announced the beginning of its the 2018 edition.

A total of 22 finalists were selected from 300 applications to take part in the 12-week programme and will be assessed based on business proposition, viability and regional applicability by 21 partners.

The second edition covers fintech, insurtech, regtech and Islamic fintech firms and features double the finalists seen in 2017, with the majority (50 per cent) still in the first category.

Read: Dubai FinTech Hive accelerator selects first 11 finalists

“As the region’s FinTech industry continues to provide unique solutions that address the evolving needs, we are committed to providing the FinTech space with invaluable access to, and feedback from, an international network of strategic partners and well-established financial institutions looking for innovative solutions to their everyday challenges,” said Fintech Hive EVP Raja Al Mazrouei.

The first phase of the programme will see the finalists present their ideas to partners including Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Emirates Islamic, Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, Noor Bank, Riyad Bank, Standard Chartered, UAE Exchange and Visa and discuss mentorship opportunities.

They will then prepare for an investor day event at the end of November where the concepts will be presented to investors, bankers, government officials and members of the media.

The finalists are:
(descriptions provided by Fintech Hive)

bankbuddy.ai (India)
Pre-built artificial Intelligence solutions for financial institutions with customer experience management, hyper-personalisation and operations automation

Game Change Solutions (United Arab Emirates)
Enterprise solutions for social banking, chat commerce and frontline productivity, enabling “Social banking” and “Social Selling” to allow banks to embed their brand and services such as payments, e-commerce into any social and messaging applications

Amplified Payment System Ltd (Nigeria)
Connects banks, telecommunication companies and businesses to their customers to drive adoption of digital financial services through messaging

Verify Payments (Bahrain)
Instant, low-cost bank transfers across the GCC

PaySky (Egypt)
Next-generation, multi-channel payment solutions empowering consumers and businesses to pay and get paid

Jaib (Jordan)
Card-less and bank-less payment method that incorporates machine learning and consumer lending to provide the most seamless and secure means of transaction between retailers and emerging market customers

Spare (Kuwait)
Micro-savings application to improve customers’ spending habits and help them grow their savings

iWealth (United Arab Emirates)
Education platform integrated with a mobile app, digital wallet, and bank cards, focusing on increasing Finance Intelligence for teens and parents at home by teaching healthy money habits

Limitless (United Kingdom)
A mobile application targeting millennials to help them start investing

Verismart (USA)
Identity blockchain platform using artificial intelligence to automate KYC processes across digital platforms

Money Mall (United Arab Emirates)
Financial coaching & personalised product recommendations, based on credit score, for everyone to achieve their financial goals and happiness

ebooc (United Arab Emirates)
A multi-participant loyalty program operating on blockchain & NFC technology

bondsmart (United Kingdom)
Co-ownership bond platforms, helping financial institutions present fixed income in a simpler manner and their clients to invest bite-size amounts in institutional bonds

Jibrel (Switzerland)
Smart contract development company on blockchain technology, leveraging the latest innovations in cryptography, distributed ledger and smart contract technology to build the financial networks of the future

Haseed (Saudi Arabia)
Robo-advisor that combines proven wealth management advancements with the crucial infrastructure to enable Islamic investments and address the underserved GCC region

Blinking.id (Serbia)
Blockchain-based digital identity and KYC solution offering GDPR compliance to business

Amani Technologies Ltd (United Arab Emirates)
Fully-automated KYC and on-boarding tool that will transform the on-boarding processes, eliminate noncompliance and create a KYC audit and reporting trail, whilst improving customer experience and reducing costs

Addenda (United Arab Emirates)
End-to-end insurance settlement layer built on the blockchain using Hyperledger Fabric, allowing insurers to automate claims, cut overheads and identify fraud

BetterTradeOff FinTech Solutions Ltd (United Arab Emirates)
Life-planning solution powered by advanced statistical models and artificial intelligence to empower people to make optimum decisions when financing their dreams

InsureVite (Singapore)
Artificial Intelligence and blockchain-powered platform that merges multiple touchpoints into a single contact point and combines multiple administrative processes into sets of algorithmic modules embedded into a chatbot

Turnkey IS Technologies LTD (United Arab Emirates)
Specialised insurance consultancy services company, providing the insurance industry with innovative “IT as a service” products and solutions for the underwriting cycle

Virtual i Technologies LLC (United Arab Emirates)
Enables the insurance industry to move from good faith-based underwriting to data-based dynamic decision making

Firms will also have the potential of establishing operations in DIFC after the programme under the regulator’s innovation testing licence.

Read: Dubai, Singapore regulators sign fintech deal