Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the International Financial Centre in Abu Dhabi, in collaboration with KPMG, has announced that 11 outstanding global FinTech firms have been shortlisted for the inaugural FinTech Abu Dhabi Innovation Challenge in October.
According to ADGM, the firms were shortlisted from a pool of 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 a series of problem statements to address real business challenges that the financial services industry currently faces.
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.
“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 identify those game-changing concepts that will help revolutionise the financial services industry today to help build the knowledge-based economy of tomorrow.”
Within the five-week programme, the shortlisted finalists will be tasked with developing their solutions to specific problem statements, focusing at six focus 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 over the course of the programme, including topic deep-dives on business incorporation, regulatory requirements, funding and partnerships, opportunities to enter or expand into the MEASA financial services sector and fast-tracked consideration for admission to ADGM’s Regulatory Laboratory (RegLab) programme
The successful applicants are NewBridge FinTech, Alpha FinTech, Everledger, FRS Labs, ftcash, Market IQ, Canopy, Silent Eight, Prive Financial Limited, PIVOT, and SQREEM.
The finalists will then proceed to the FinTech Demo Day taking place on 22nd October, where two eventual winners will be selected and invited to demonstrate their solution at the upcoming Global FinTech Hackcelerator in Singapore.
