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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 digital-only banks and new ways to pay.
Modern Lend
WIRED Money 2016 Startup Stage winner
If you're coming to the US to work or study, getting credit and loans can be tricky. Kobina Ansah and Shuo Zhang, co-founders of ModernLend, are trying to change that. Their startup uses alternative data metrics to provide credit cards and loans to creditworthy international citizens shut out of the US system.
Traditional banks may decline borrowers who lack a US credit history, says Ansah. These people, hugely creditworthy in their home countries, are unable to borrow in the US as they lack a credit history or social security number. The startup is already working with the international student offices at the University of Pennsylvania and NYU and will launch its first card for international citizens this autumn.
Oval Money
Saving is a $35 trillion global market, but only 18 per cent of young adults save with a major financial institution. Benedetta Arese Lucini, co-founder and CEO of Oval Money, wants to make it more fun. The savings app uses MangoPay to create a digital wallet that lives on a user's smartphone.
Oval Money gamifies saving using an 'If This Then That' model to tap into pretty much any API: run five miles? Save £1. Buy something from Amazon? Save five per cent of the total purchase. Oval Money can also use micro-transactions, making it easy to save tiny amounts regularly to build up a large pot.
PayKey
Herzliya, Israel-based PayKey wants to make it easy to pay for goods within any app. The idea is simple, Dario Mutabdzija, president and head of business development: a white-label keyboard for iOS that lets anyone transfer money to anyone else in an app. According to Mutabdzija, incumbent banking and payment apps aren't contextual or "integrated into the daily lives of consumers".
As PayKey is totally service agnostic, it can work anywhere, so users can pay within Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp - wherever.
Robin
If you've got kids, there's a chance you already provide them with financial services – but you probably call it pocket money. Robin aims to "connect kids to the financial world through their parents in a safe way," says Robin CEO Rogelio Valdés Garcia. The app, which links a wallet with a parent's bank account, uses gamification to encourage responsible saving and money management.
When it launches Robin will charge £2 per month to use the service and hopes to partner with banks to move children onto real accounts when they are old enough.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
