Organised by Elevandi in partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the 9th edition of the Global FinTech Hackcelerator is seeking innovative and market-ready solutions that utilise technologies such as AI, machine learning and blockchain to improve financial health.
Up to 20 finalists will be selected to pitch their solutions at the world’s gathering of policy, finance, and technology on 6th Nov 2024. The Grand Champion will be crowned at the FinTech Awards dinner on 7th Nov 2024.
For more information, refer to the FAQs below or contact gfh@elevandi.io
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Prizes
Top 3 teams will win S$50,000 each
Benefits
$20,000 cash stipend for finalists
Mentorship by industry experts
Opportunity to present solutions to a panel of judges and global audience at Demo Day at the Singapore FinTech Festival
Financial health is the extent to which a person or family can smoothly manage their current financial obligations and have confidence in their financial future. It encompasses the ability of individuals and businesses to manage daily expenses, withstand unforeseen challenges such as the loss of a family breadwinner or environmental disasters, and achieve long-term financial objectives. This includes having the right financial products and services and understanding how they work. In the face of global challenges like climate change and poverty, financial health is one of the cornerstones of economic stability, enabling individuals, businesses, and communities to plan for the future, mitigate risks, and build resilience.
Problem Statement #1 – Improving credit access with open banking
One of the key difficulties known for entrepreneurs and small businesses are their difficulty in building a credit score for credit access. Yet, credit access is crucial to help small business to grow and to promote inclusion. Open Banking can help build credit score model that leverage 3rd party data and diversify source of validation to generate alternative credit scoring for solo-entrepreneurs and that will help their access to credit. How might an open banking credit scoring model help solve this problem to empower their access to credit?
Problem Statement #2 – Accelerating financial literacy and education
Limited financial literacy and education contribute to poor financial decision-making and undermine financial health at both the individual and community levels. Currently, financial literacy programmes focuses mainly on theoretical knowledge, are short term in nature and often one-size-fits-all. How might we design financial literacy programmes and tools to be more personalised, accessible, engaging, and practical to foster long-term financial well-being?
Problem Statement #3 – Building good financial habits with data and personalisation
To meaningfully build financial well-being, healthy financial habits need to be ingrained into everyday life. Regular saving, budgeting, and mindful investing are habits that, when practiced daily, can lead to long-term financial stability and growth. Insights available on customers such as spending behaviour offers a unique opportunity to personalise financial products and services to influence behaviour change. How might we use technology to help individuals build and sustain health financial habits in their everyday lives?
Problem Statement #4 – Efficient and affordable cross-border payments for trade and global remittances
Small businesses and individuals face significant challenges with inefficient and costly cross-border payment systems. Delays, high fees and currency conversion costs negatively impact financial health. For small businesses, this strains cash flow and limits growth, while for individuals, it reduces the value of remittances. How might we leverage technology to address these pain points to enhance the financial resilience of small businesses and improve the financial stability of individuals relying on global remittances?
Problem Statement #5 – Legacy planning for financial resilience
The death of a family member, especially the sole breadwinner, can lead to financial uncertainty and disarray for the household. Legacy planning can significantly alleviate these challenges, ensuring that families are better equipped to handle financial matters during such critical times. However, many individuals fail to engage in thorough legacy planning due to a lack of accessible tools, understanding, or motivation. How might technology be used to increase awareness, accessibility and effectiveness of legacy planning to better provide financial security to a bereaved family in a time of need?
Problem Statement #6 – Affordable and personalised protection with open insurance
The insurance market is saturated with a myriad of offerings from different providers. Coupled with information asymmetry between insurers and buyers over coverage and exclusions, this often results in individuals being unable to fully comprehend premiums and coverage that they have. How might open insurance be leveraged to provide consumers with more transparent, affordable and personalised insurance options?
Who is eligible to participate in the Global FinTech Hackcelerator?
We welcome all individual and corporate participants with a market-ready solution that can address any of the published problem statements. Individual participants must be aged 18 and above; Corporate participants must be a registered company.
Are there requirements in forming a team?
Applicants participating as a team must form a team before registering for the Challenge. Each participant is limited to joining 1 team in the Challenge. It is recommended that teams should comprise no more than 10 members (2 pizza rule).
What are the benefits of participating in the Global FinTech Hackcelerator?
Finalists will each receive a S$20,000 cash stipend, mentorship by industry experts and access to potential clients. Three winners will each receive S$50,000 in prize money.
Can I submit more than 1 proposal to different problem statements?
No, you may not submit more than 1 proposal to different problem statements.
What do I need to include in my submission?
The application submission is recommended to include the following:
The case for your solution: A single PDF document of at least one page and no longer than five pages (with a minimum of 1-inch margins and an 11-point font) to make the case for why your team should be considered as a Global FinTech Hackcelerator finalist.
Pitch deck: A pitch deck providing an overview of the innovation, market opportunity, relevance to the chosen problem statement, business model, team background to help the evaluators assess the solution.
Video: A video of one or more team members providing a demonstration of the team’s proposed innovation.
Collectively, all the submitted materials should help the evaluators understand any specific problems identified, the proposed solution, and how the proposed solution works, taking into consideration the evaluation criteria. All documents must be in English. Videos must either be in English or contain English subtitles. Links to Google Docs, Google Sheets, or other online materials are not acceptable.
Teams may submit materials before 30th Aug 2024, 2359 SGT. Late submissions will not be accepted.
Who are the corporate champions?
Corporate champions are the contributors of the problem statements who will work together with you to help contextualise your solution better to the industry or their organisation.
What are the key dates for the Global FinTech Hackcelerator that I need to remember?
Registration commences on 17 Jun 2024 and participants can submit proposals up till 30 Aug 2024.
Finalists will be announced on 7 Oct 2024.
Intensive workshops will be conducted in Singapore from 29 Oct 2024 to 30 Oct 2024
Demo Day will be on 6 Nov 2024.
Do I have to be based in Singapore to participate?
No, we welcome applications from all over the world. The intensive workshops and Demo Day in Singapore are mandatory (at least one member of your team should attend) for finalists. Finalists will each receive a S$20,000 cash stipend to offset their cost of travel and accommodation.
