Who impressed the crowds in the Middle East and Asia?
The final two Finovate events of the year gave us four Best of Show winners to talk about. As always, it’s worth remembering that our events are about much more than the handful of companies that win Best of Show. There are a variety of demos covering a lot of different aspects of the fintech spectrum, and it’s worth looking at all of the demo videos from a given event to really get a feel for the type of innovations that are top of mind for innovators and bankers. That said, our BoS winners do give you a strong idea of where the industry is. The voting is done completely by the audience in attendance, so the companies that resonated with them are the companies who take home the trophies.
Here are the winners from our two final shows of 2019:
Of these four, only Efigence had won a Best of Show award previously, and that was all the way back in 2013, when they partnered with mBank at FinovateEurope. The other three are all newcomers to Finovate, and it’s great to see their technology already being recognized by our audience. Here’s a little more on each of them.
Bereev continues the trend that we’ve seen in 2019 where innovators have been zeroing on the financial issues that can arise during life’s painful moments. Bereev is an end-of-life planning tool that’s designed to help guide users through the confusing and emotionally difficult process of sorting out the finances of a loved one who’s passed on. We’ve noticed that PFM style solutions are starting to tackle these type of situations the world over, and it’s obviously a trend that has made its way to Asia as well.
The WAAY demoed their Lifestyle Assistant technology, which help banks understand their customers, and helps customers stay connected to their bank. Deep analytics are making it possible for financial institutions to truly understand their users as individuals, which makes it easier for them to suggest relevant products or offer advice in a timely manner. From a customer standpoint, it creates a banking experience that is truly unique and personal. It’s not hard to see why this combination was so alluring for our voters in Singapore.
Shifting to FinovateMiddleEast, our first winner there was Amber Labs, demoing a Bitcoin bank, which allows people from anywhere in the world to engage with Bitcoin. Customers can get all the benefits of a robust, global financial network, without the technical and jurisdictional restrictions, nor the inherent asymmetries, associated with the modern banking system. Anytime a company is working with Bitcoin there’s going to be at least an element of holding it and investing it, and Amber is no exception, but it’s really interesting to see them moving beyond that and also bringing Bitcoin into a more traditional banking environment.
Finally, Efigence returned to the winners’ podium with a digital banking platform that provides a seamless digital experience for customers. This a continuation of the strong work that Efigence has been doing for some time, and their attention to detail and high standards helped them stand out among the crowd. It certainly doesn’t hurt that they have substantially more experience in designing and delivering these types of solutions than many of the other, younger companies on display. Delivering a smooth, simple digital experience is something that takes practice, and Efigence proved in Dubai why they’ve been so successful in other regions of the world.
One interesting takeaway from this group of winners is that only one (Amber) had a direct-to-consumer play. The other three all had products that were obviously designed with the end-user in mind, but they also had a very clear value proposition for banks. This is very much in line with what we’ve seen at our other shows in 2019, where Blytzpay was the only other B2C winner. There is undoubtedly still room for challengers to come into the financial ecosystem, but it’s a road that’s seeing significantly less traffic than it used to.
Will we see any straight B2C companies win a Best of Show trophy in 2020? Only time will tell, but I certainly hope so. The industry is better when there are genuine challenges coming from outside the industry, no matter where in the world you are.
Watch all the demos from 2019 >>