Meet The Warriors Of Fintech

The third annual Fintech Awards Luxembourg (powered by the LHoFT and KPMG) take place tomorrow! Fourteen molten hot companies will pitch in front of a panel of experts and hope to win one of the top prizes, which include €50k in startup money, membership in accelerator hubs, and advertising campaigns.

But what do this year's contestants say about the maturing field of fintech? In a phrase: elegant combinations of technology.

We increasingly see young companies that are wielding several technologies—artificial intelligence combined with blockchain, for example—to meet their goals. Rather than building a single blockchain for a single purpose, startups are thinking in bigger terms, for example creating entire payment ecosystems or producing platforms that cut through silos of operation.

But this is merely the observation of a trend. Tomorrow we shall see how the judges find the companies' ideas, their teams, their products and services, and their future plans.

Let's meet our 14 semi-finalists:

2Spark

The Paris-based 2Spark offers a platform—driven by artificial intelligence, of course—on which a company's entire staff can jointly participate in change, one minute per day. It seeks to enable deep company transformations across the organisation with gamification and great user experience.

AgroCenta

From Ghana comes AgroCenta, a payments platform focused on trading African agricultural commodities. Businesses can buy directly from smallholder farmers at fair market prices, which is a win-win: buyers save time and hassle while farmers get customers—and also, via the platform, market trends and info.

Algoreg

One of the hometown teams is Algoreg, whose chatbot can onboard customers in compliance with laws and regulations. Based in the heart of Luxembourg City, the B2B fintech has built a product that uses video and photo platforms to ensure a smooth and secure user experience.

Apentis

Also from the Grand Duchy is Apentis, a risk management "boutique" whose product suits asset managers, ManCos, and private banks. The fintech can generate reports and other materials in the name of enabling companies to monitor their assets while remaining compliant with regulations.

Apiax

The Swiss regtech Apiax is in the business of building resilient, digital tools for mastering complex financial regulations. With their products, regulations can be transformed into sets of digital rules that can be managed easily in contexts like robo-advisors, digital wealth...