A dozen national incubators have joined forces to form a new conglomerate dedicated to the innovation and development of fintech abroad.
Accelerating the development of fintech abroad
Created by 10 European gas pedals (Village by CA Paris, Innsomnia, Portugal Fintech, The LHoFT, TechQuartier, B. Hive, Copenhagen Fintech, Fintech Scotland, Holland Fintech, Fintech District), the European Fintech Discovery program aims to connect startups and major corporations. More concretely, companies will be able to choose one or two of the following themes via an online platform: neobanks, payments, Blockchain, crypto-currencies, Assurtech, cybersecurity. They will then have to select a gas pedal from their own country and three foreign gas pedals in order to meet 5 to 8 startups per gas pedal, i.e. between 20 and 30 fintechs in total.
The Village by CA Paris, one of the 10 gas pedals, is home to almost 50 fintechs, including LiquidShare, a platform that simplifies the settlement-delivery circuit for purchases of shares in listed SMEs, Loansquare, which modernizes the process of granting business loans, and Linxo, an application that lets you manage your budget, savings and accounts.
This new program is not just aimed at financial players. In fact, carmakers, retailers and cybersecurity players can also take part.
1,500 startups showcased
The European Fintech Discovery program offers many advantages to startups. It gives them the opportunity to meet qualified contacts, executives and major groups with whom they can take the time to exchange ideas. These exchanges are all the more important given that in France, only a handful of fintechs have developed their business internationally. These include: Shift Technology and its AI-based SaaS solutions, SME lending platform October, online consumer credit specialist Younited Credit, payroll and human resources management software Payfit. In all, 1,500 startups will be promoted through this new program.
"With this program, the European Fintech ecosystem is clearly moving up a gear. It's an innovative, large-scale project that aims to develop FinTech in Europe and introduce major groups to this European ecosystem," says Fabrice Marsella, Director of Village by CA Paris, in a statement published on October 8, 2019.