Startupbootcamp has just announced the first cohort of ten startups that will participate in the 2014 program of its London-based fintech accelerator. The startups that have made the cut for the inaugural three-month mentoring program include teams from Europe, Africa and the US (see below for the full list of selected teams).
Together the ten teams have already raised a combined €6 million in investment, according to Startupbootcamp, with 70% of the selected startups already generating revenue.
Startupbootcamp’s fintech accelerator was announced back in February, supported by multiple big brand backing — including financial services groups Lloyds and Rabobank, payment giant MasterCard and SBT Venture Capital.
Given its historical focus on financial services, it’s no surprise that London has become a hub for fintech startups. Which means Startupbootcamp’s incubator is by no means the only fintech startup hot-house in town. For instance there’s also a Techstars-Barclays tie-up, and London’s FinTech Innovation Lab, to name two others.
Startupbootcamp argues that having multiple big brand backers gives its accelerator an edge, though. Those big brands will be providing the selected startups with access to pilot customers, industry data, APIs and — of course — capital.
Each team will receive €15,000 in funding, in exchange for 8% equity, plus free office space at the Rainmaking Loft startup hub (based in St. Katharine Docks, next to London’s Tower Bridge). The program kicks off in August, and will culminate in a demo day later this year where the teams will pitch to some 200+ investors.
Nektarios Liolios, MD at Startupbootcamp FinTech, said the selection process for the first intake lasted some five months, with the team pressing the flesh of more than 435 startups, visiting financial hubs in four continents and holding 18 events to whittle down to their starter for ten.
Their full list of teams follows below.
Startupbootcamp Fintech 2014 teams
Creditable
South Africa
Creditable enables credit unions, lenders, businesses and individuals to give loans to their customers, employees, suppliers and family professionally in just five minutes. It aims to make credit more affordable, accessible, transparent and inclusive, and to re-imagine and re-engineer societal behaviour around credit. The team is led by Sechaba Ngwenya, a former banker turned developer and advocate for fair credit.
Epiphyte
United States
Epiphyte is deploying enterprise software that allows the pre-installed systems of financial institutions to “talk” to crypto-financial networks, while operating within existing regulatory frameworks. Epiphyte provides banks and financial institutions with the expertise and tools to increase margins and provide new services, by taking advantage of cryptocurrency and blockchain innovation.
FriendlyScore
Poland
FriendlyScore creates credit scorecards based on big data from Facebook. Using the Facebook API, it aims to become the ‘Klout’ for creditworthiness. The team is made up of Maciej Dolinski and Krzysztof Sornat, who previously ran payday loan company Kasomat.pl. and Emilian Siemsia, a JAVA/PHP developer.
Insly
Estonia
Insly is a beautifully designed cloud-based tool for insurance salespeople, enabling them to manage sales from start to finish. There is no upfront investment and the web-based service needs no installation. Insly is already used by more than 60 insurance market leaders across six different countries, handling millions of transactions.
InvoiceSharing
The Netherlands
InvoiceSharing is a financial services marketplace which enables 100% free electronic invoicing. It delivers higher revenues, lower costs and better cash flow for its customers by combining user-friendly, innovative and smart financial services into one place where everybody can participate and benefit.
Liquity
United Kingdom
Liquity is an online marketplace matching buyers and sellers of private company shares. It provides private company directors with a comprehensive suite of shareholder and equity management services and matches investors with private company shareholders who want to sell some or all of their equity. It facilitates complete deals, from introduction to transaction completion including escrow and custodial services.
M-Changa
Kenya
M-Changa’s proprietary technology enables anyone to quickly and inexpensively manage a remote fundraiser. Registration of a fundraiser via mobile phone or online takes only a few seconds. Immediately, users receive a personalised M-Changa account number and can start accepting mobile money and credit card donations to their fundraiser.
milliPay Systems
Switzerland
milliPay is a Swiss micropayment startup, that makes online payments as simple as browsing. It allows users to pay with a single click, across the web and on any device, whatever the amount. milliPay’s innovative cryptographic protocol helps processing payment transactions extremely secure and efficient.
Tab
United States
Founded in 2012, Tab integrates with existing bank systems to enable real-time social payment networking. Friends can connect payment cards together to share purchases on a single card. Tab stores payment card tokens on file, splitting the total when any merchant charges a tab-enabled card, and charging everyone their respective portions dynamically, automatically, and instantly.
Up Investments
United Kingdom
Up Investments enables people to find, manage and grow all of their P2P and equity crowdfunded investments, all through one free and simple platform. It’s the world’s first crowdfunding supermarket where shoppers can browse, buy and manage investments from all the leading crowdfunding brands.
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