Meet the 18 fintech startups selected for IFTA 2019 finale

Fintech advocacy group, India FinTech Forum, has announced the names of the 18 startups selected to compete for the Fintech Startup of the Year award at India Fintech Awards or IFTA 2019 in November.

The “high potential” fintech startups were chosen from a pool of over 400 applications received from across the globe, a statement from the advocacy group said. Startups from the United States, France, Hungary, Israel and India had applied for the programme.

The winning startup, which will be declared on 29 November in Mumbai, will get an opportunity to be a part of Paris Fintech Forum 2020.

This is the fourth edition of the awards. Winners of the earlier editions include the likes of Bengaluru-based Capital Float and ZestMoney as well as San Francisco Bay Area-based Oz Forensics.

Former IFTA winners have cumulatively raised over $1 billion in funding from venture capital pools till date, the announcement added.

The top 18 will be giving live demos to a jury panel next month. Identities of the panel members were not disclosed in the statement.

“The depth and width of fintechs in India have improved exponentially in the last couple of years. We can see a new trend emerging wherein Indian fintechs are now getting ready for entering international markets as well as foreign startups are now making inroads into India,” Sameer Singh Jaini, chief executive at fintech consulting firm The Digital Fifth. Jaini is also the convener at IFTA 2019.

The shortlisted 18 fintech startups for 2019 are:

1. Active.Ai (Singapore) - a conversational artificial intelligence platform built specifically for BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) with deep capabilities of enabling transactions, service requests, enquiries and FAQs.
2. Bon Credit (India) - a digital lending start-up that provides micro-credit for the gig economy that tends towards temporary contractors and freelancers instead of full-time employees.
3. CreditMate (India) - it provides 100% data-secured, real-time collections performance for lenders and our Machine Learning algorithm improves collection resolution rates at all stages of delinquency.
4. CreditOn (India) - a startup enabling large entrenched lenders to transform themselves into nimble digital lenders at scale consistent while preserving portfolio quality.
5. CredoLab (Singapore) - it uses smartphone device data to generate a behavioural score for the customer that predicts her probability of defaulting.
6. Fintuple Technologies (India) - the startup claims to be India’s fastest growing investor portfolio management platform.
7. Jai Kisan (India) - a fintech platform catering to rural emerging markets.
8. Lokyata (USA) - the platform provides AI-driven customer analytics to social impact lenders.
9. Neener Analytics (France) -  a computational social science platform and social media analytics technology that delivers specific, individual, risk outcomes.
10. Partnerhub Ltd (Hungary) – a startup providing customers own branded invoice – related services for their SME customers which enables them to issue, process and pay their e-invoices.
11. Rewire (Israel) – an international remittance platform for migrant workers, who usually transfer most of their income to their countries of origin.
12. Riskcovry InsurTech Platform (India) - an AI enabled health insurance claim application programming interface, which can be integrated into a natural messaging experience like WhatsApp.
13. Think Anlaytics  (India) - an advanced analytics and technology start up with experience in building AI & ML frameworks and solutions. Their product Algo360 is comprehensive data underwriting solution for ‘new to credit’ segment.
14. Valocity Global (Australia) -  a startup claiming to transform end-to-end valuation process for banks. The platform connects the entire valuation ecosystem through a smart cloud based platform that digitises the workflow for seamless automation while capturing data from end to end to enable address validation (including a Valuers’ App), valuation benchmarking and analytics.
15. Vested Finance (USA) - it simplifies US stock investing for investors based in India. Users can now invest in companies they know and use, such as Amazon, Google, Starbucks and more in a commission-free and in an end-to-end online process via this platform.
16. Vymo (USA) -  an intelligent personal sales assistant; it captures sales activities automatically and predicts ‘next best actions’ intelligently.
17. Xtracap Fintech India (India) - a product built on the principle of reverse Factor; provides funds to small businesses for the purchase of their bills from GST (Goods and Services Tax) registered suppliers.
18. Yobee Research (India) – a startup using AI and data science to generate high probability and actionable trading signals. Signals are generated by multiple neural network for top 500 traded companies. These signals are combined to produce one signal per company. Signals that qualify by having a minimum probability threshold will be delivered to customers for his final action.