The Futures Industry Association has announced it will host a pavilion for selected startups at its November meeting in Chicago. It will show new companies providing forward-thinking solutions for the futures, options and cleared swaps industry.
The annual Futures and Options Expo, now in its 31st year, draws more than 5,000 participants to Chicago each November. Startup companies that are selected to take part in Innovators Pavilion will be given a TechPod on the Expo show floor to display their services as well as a featured presentation slot to share their vision and direction with Expo attendees.
“This is an exciting time in our industry because there are so many pioneering companies creating value through financial technology services,” said Rob Creamer, FIA board member and chairman of the FIA Principal Traders Group. “By creating a space at Expo to showcase innovation, FIA is encouraging this entrepreneurship and helping to forge connections between startups and companies that can benefit from their services. Our goal is to foster innovators that help make markets more transparent, accessible, and efficient.”
The FIA has selected eight firms and is reviewing several more; it hopes to have about 15 in the pavilion. Interested startups can sign up at https://expo2015.fia.org/Innovation.
Meanwhile the granddaddy of fintech startup program Innotribe, is ready for the finals at the annual SWIFT Sibos conference in Singapore next month. The Innotribe Startup Challenge Finale will take place on 14 October.
Over 370 companies applied to the Startup Challenge this year, with 60 companies selected to enter the program. Innotribe held four regional showcases in London, Cape Town, Singapore and New York, where companies presented their business ideas to an audience of more than 800 industry experts, VCs, representatives from leading financial institutions, and bank decision-makers. They selected the 20 finalists – 12 early-stage and 8 growth-stage companies – who have advanced to the Finale at Sibos.
The 12 early-stage finalists will pitch and showcase their business ideas to Sibos delegates who will select this year’s winner. A cash prize of $50,000 will be awarded to the winning early-stage finalist.
For the first time this year, the remaining eight growth-stage finalists will host individual exhibition booths on the Innotribe stand at Sibos and have the opportunity to give live product demos to Sibos delegates throughout the week.
Fabian Vandenreydt, head of markets management, Innotribe and the SWIFT Institute said that since 2011, Innotribe has brought the SWIFT Community in direct contact with more than 650 FinTech startups from around the world.
“This program not only supports community engagement, but also enables SWIFT and its member institutions to stay abreast of current innovation activity in today’s fast changing landscape,” he added. “Innotribe was one of the initial facilitators to help accelerate and spread the first wave of FinTech innovation across the industry, and we will continue to play an important role in this process.”
The Innotribe Startup Finale is open to all Sibos participants and is sponsored by
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Ynext, the unit of Yodlee, Inc. that incubates new business opportunities for the company, is accepting applicants for its latest class. The Ynext Incubator provides a select group of startups with the tools they to take their ideas to market - including technical support, mentorship and free access to the company’s APIs which are used by financial technology industry leaders like Dwolla, LearnVest, and Xero to securely access transactional data.
Startups interested in joining the new class of Ynext superstars should apply here before September 15.
“The Ynext Incubator was created to help early startups take their ideas to market and be more successful faster,” said Joe Polverari, general manager of Ynext and chief strategy and development officer of Yodlee.
This class will be directed by Jeff Cain, who previously served as vice president of Rutberg & Co.
