The Fintech Innovation Lab Asia Pacific program is returning for its eighth edition this year with more opportunities for young and promising start-ups.
Founding partner Hong Kong Cyberport will be giving the finalists from the 2021 cohort the opportunity to participate in the 24-month Cyberport Incubation Program (CIP) and gain access to Cyberport's Marco Fund.
“Accenture and Cyberport have a common goal of driving digital adoption in the Asia Pacific (APAC) financial services ecosystem,” Fergus Gordon, managing director and banking industry lead for growth markets at Accenture, told Fintech News Hong Kong. “Digital innovation within financial services skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic as banks look to ways to increase efficiency and engage customers amidst an increasingly digital landscape. Asia remains a hotbed for innovation among both established players and start-ups, and consequently interest is surging among investors.”
Innovative ideas spark at Cyberport
Over the past few years, many leading FinTech entrepreneurs were inspired by joining training workshops and key networking events on the Cyberport Campus under Fintech Innovation Lab Asia Pacific. Despite current travel restrictions, the event will continue this year, albeit in “hybrid” mode. Local teams will be able to meet some mentors from leading industry players in person at Cyberport while the overseas teams will participate through online platform.
“The highly competitive 12-week program has nurtured leading start-ups across various FinTech segments including WeCash, LeapXpert, TNG Wallet and Fano Labs. All of them have experienced great training sessions and face-to-face interaction in Cyberport campus. Cyberport also offers flexi workspace to our cohort during the program, a bonus for those non-HK based start-ups,” said Gordon.
“We appreciate the great support from the Cyberport management in making this Lab an annual ritual for the APAC FinTech community and the Financial Service Industry.”
Alumni have mentioned how the program has helped them take their businesses to the next level, accelerating their growth and connecting them with the right partners.
“Our participation in the FinTech Innovation Lab gave us access to a network and a relationship that led to one of our first big contract deals, a deployment of our solution to tens of thousands of seats globally,” said Dima Gutzeit, Co-founder and CEO of LeapXpert.
“This is in addition to a number of other proofs-of-concept (POCs) that have matured into commercial contracts over time.”
Solving real-world business problems
59 companies have so far graduated from the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia Pacific and raised a combined US$716 million.
Eric Chan, Chief Public Mission Officer of Cyberport, said that this year’s program will put a particular focus on addressing real market needs and pairing start-ups with the right partners.
“Twenty world-renowned financial institutions will share their operational pain points during this year’s program, allowing participating start-ups to contribute innovative solutions that cater to market needs,” Chan told FinTech News Hong Kong.
“This collaboration will expand opportunities for technology adoption and will help to pair start-ups with investors.”
The 2021 program will introduce a new challenge-based element in the form of six problem statements from financial institution partners. These problem statements include for example using Regtech to improve compliance efficiency, enabling growth in management in the Greater Bay Area, and solving workforce enablement in a post-COVID-19 world.
The start-ups that submit the most innovative propositions will receive mentoring from executives from 20 financial institutions and leading fintech companies. The 2021 program is open for applications until May 17, 2021.
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