https://www.wired.co.uk/event/wired-money-2016
What will be the next fintech breakthrough? On June 23, 16 startups from around the world gathered at the British Museum in London to pitch on the WIRED Money Startup Stage.
From blockchain to alternative lending and working in emerging markets, the startups had five minutes to pitch their ideas to our expert judges. On the panel, Marisol Menéndez Alvarez, open innovation manager at BBVA; Yann Kandelman, head of investment at Orange Digital Ventures and James Temperton, acting deputy editor of WIRED.co.uk.
These pitches are all focused on innovative new ways to calculate credit scores or provide insurance.
Credit Kudos
Credit scores don't work for millennials, says Freddy Kelly, CEO of Credit Kudos. By using a one-time snapshot of a user's bank account, his startup aims to provide a more accurate and easy to obtain score.
Here's how it works: when applying for a loan online, a message from Credit Kudos appears explaining that it can validate your income and expenditure to calculate an accurate credit score based on a user's bank account. This "one-time snapshot", as Kelly puts it, securely scans a user's transaction history and passes on this data to the lender.
Aire
People whoo don't fit into "buckets" can't get credit. Aneesh Varma, founder and CEO of Aire, is trying to address this mismatch. Between 20 and 25 per cent of people who apply for credit everyday are "marginalised" by the bucketing system. "So how do you understand these chaotic stories from a credit concept?" asks Varma.
Aire uses a virtual interview, which changes intelligently based on responses, to get a more accurate, nuanced picture of the person applying for credit. A score is then given on a FICO curve, helping people who don't fit into tidy buckets get credit.
Destácame
Santiago-based Destácame is a web-based platform that allows people to show financial institutions that they are creditworthy.
The focus, according to CEO and co-founder Sebastián Ugarte, is all about financial inclusion. To that end, credit score information is made available to all users for free. The system works by checking a user's track record of paying bills on time, rather than how much someone earns or where they live. It makes money by charging a small fee to financial institutions.
Destácame already has 33,000 users in its native Chile and plans to expand into Colombia and Mexico by the end of the year.
Kasko
Buying something on eBay? You might want some buyers protection. Taking a car for a test drive? Again, you might need insurance. London-based Kasko allows digital services to quickly and easily integrate insurance products into websites and apps. This in turn lets customers pick up insurance at the point of purchase. In doing this, the startup provides a "bridge" between traditional insurers and digital businesses.
According to founder and CEO Nikolaus Sühr, it's all about providing insurance in the right place, at the right time and for the right price.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
