Nine leading fintech companies have been selected to participate in the 2024 FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific program.
The 2024 program, under the theme of “Accelerating FinTech Excellence”, will help explore new growth in the finance sector as fintech companies continue to innovate for better navigating disruptions led by technology and reinventing themselves. accelerating innovation in the region. The applicants focused on some of the industry’s most important areas from generative AI, client experience, wealthtech, insurtech, green fintech to Web3.
A global accelerator program founded by Accenture, in collaboration with Hong Kong Cyberport, the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific helps growth-stage enterprise technology companies accelerate product and business development by providing them with mentorship and unparalleled access to senior executives at the world’s leading financial institutions and technology companies.
Since its inception in Hong Kong 10 years ago, the Asia-Pacific Lab has received more than 1600 applications from over 35 countries, accelerating fintech adoption with a robust ecosystem in Hong Kong and beyond. The program’s 80 alumni companies have raised over US$ 1 billion, generated 407 proofs of concepts, and completed more than 332 pilot programs, 13 of them have been acquired.
Selected from more than 100 applicants over 35 countries, the nine startups for this year are:
Alt/Finance (United States) – a data science company that provides AI & ML-powered market data solutions tracking alternative real assets. It helps financial institutions drive revenue with the impactful insights to deliver comprehensive wealth products & services.
Bilby (Hong Kong) – an AI/ML company that uses all government statements and documents to predict regulatory and policy change algorithmically. Countries covered include China, US, UK, the EU, India, and others. Bilby’s solutions include API predictions-as-a-service, full AI analyst platform solutions, and white-label OEM software.
BlueOnion (Hong Kong) – It creats an innovative tool to drive responsible investing and sustainability through research, screening, regulatory compliance, and portfolio construction. BlueOnion enhances transparency, promotes best practices, mitigates risks, and drives both financial and social responsibility for positive investment impact.
EVIDENT (Hong Kong) – a licensed investment platform for alternative assets with impact. Leveraging blockchain-powered asset tokenization, EVIDENT provides investors with access to alternative assets and enables asset managers to efficiently place investment opportunities with private wealth clients.
Libertify (France) – a production-grade AI solution designed to back attention and engagement on every type of documents. Its SaaS platform, AI Ready Media, transforms complex documents and information into engaging video storytelling to broaden reach, boosts revenue and increase customer intelligence.
Otonomi (US) – Through its AI-assisted algorithm, Otonomi delivers instant delay quotes to time-critical cargo owners to mitigate financial risks arising from various delay scenarios. The solutions also simplify the claim process by using a proprietary parametric mechanism which brings transparency and speed to an industry always in motion.
Oxford Risk (UK) – a B2B behavioural finance software for financial institutions, wealth managers, and digital advisers. It provides robust assessment on investor’s risk, ESG preferences and financial personality. It aims to help investors make better financial decisions over their lifetimes and grow assets under management, reduce attrition and drive investor engagement.
Planto (Hong Kong) – it provides solutions for retail, SME banks, and fintech companies in the open banking era. Planto uses AI to help banks build customer intelligence and offer personalized data-driven banking and lending services. Planto has collaborated with more than 15 institutions and serves over 500,000 users monthly.
zkMe (Hong Kong) – a decentralized identity platform that uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify KYC/AML information without revealing any personal details. The solution enables customers to comply with regulations while keeping their data private. zkMe empowers mass adoption of DeFi and RWA without compromising on the decentralization & privacy ethos of web3.
“The level of disruption has dramatically increased over the last few years, and it requires a structural change in how businesses operate in the financial services sector with the evolution of technologies driven by generative AI, Web 3 among others. Throughout the years we are delighted to see more more financial institutions in the region start harnessing the power of technology to make this structural change for clients and themselves. Accenture will continue to help companies embrace a strategy of reinventing every part of their business using technology, data and AI, nurturing a thriving ecosystem for startups and financial institutions, and unlocking new value for the industry and customers,” said Marco Tsui, Managing Director and Hong Kong Financial Services Lead, Accenture Greater China.
Ir Eric Chan, Chief Public Mission Officer of Hong Kong Cyberport, said “As Hong Kong’s leading FinTech hub, Cyberport is delighted to partner with Accenture for years to nurture high-potential start-ups. By leveraging Accenture’s deep domain and technical expertise, along with Cyberport’s vibrant ecosystem, we have successfully fostered fintech solutions to propel innovation and growth in Hong Kong’s financial services industry. Hong Kong’s unique position is the perfect testing bed and launch pad to entering mainland market; coupled with the Government’s dedication to and robust advancement of Web3.0 and AI and the of green finance ecosystem, I am confident that Hong Kong will continue to attract overseas fintech talents and enterprises, fuelling the development of a sustainable financial and innovation ecosystem and accelerating Hong Kong’s growth as an international green finance hub.”
The FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific is a collaboration between Accenture, Cyberport, and leading financial institutions, which this year include AXA; Bank of America; China Construction Bank (Asia); Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank; HSBC; J.P. Morgan; Manulife; Morgan Stanley; Prudential; SC Ventures by Standard Chartered; Sun Life; UBS and Zurich Insurance Group.