Singapore’s Startupbootcamp FinTech shows Fintech thrives in Asia

Blockchain solutions in Asia are being adopted at a fast pace. Eleven fintech startups were selected out of 300 applicants to participate in the Singapore’s Startupbootcamp FinTech Demo Day. The accelerator focusing on financial innovation featured blockchain and wealth management solutions. The selected teams, not only familiarized themselves with the blockchain regulatory framework, but they also signed 15 agreements with financial institutions.

Demo Day Startups

The concepts presented were representative of the latest Fintech trends. Wealth management, fundraising, crowdfunding, P2P payments, security and blockchain technology in Asia were featured as key solutions for business expansion in the region. The startups are now looking for total investment of US$10 million to leverage their businesses and expand to new markets.

Some of the most prominent participating startups were the following:

Dragon Wealth

With Upefy, its web-based automated suite of investor communication and marketing tools, Dragon Wealth enables fund managers and financial advisors to exchange investment information with their clients and launch preset email marketing campaigns with the aim to facilitate new client acquisition. Considering that during the beta version release, 133 financial advisors improved their conversion rate by 54% and their top line by 10%, Upefy is expected, not only to improve the quality of services provided, but most importantly the speed of conversion rate. So far, Dragon Wealth has managed nearly 50% of about their Pre-Series A funding of US$1.2 million.

Skola Fund

By offering a range of funding sources to underprivileged undergraduate students, Skola Fund aims to become the leading education financing platform in Asia using blockchain technology. Scholarships, student loans, crowdfunded donations, and bursaries are available to eligible beneficiaries who have a direct contact with their sponsors in order to justify further sponsoring. Currently, Skola Fund has 1,300 registered users in Malaysia and is looking for US$250,000 to make education affordable to Indonesia and Singapore by the end of 2015. The startups has already raised RM15,000 in sponsorships.

Toast

With the use of blockchain technology, Filipino workers in Singapore are able to transfer money to 7,000 cash-out locations in the Philippines via their smartphones. Filipino workers load their Toast e-wallet with the funds they want to remit or connect their Toast e-wallet with eligible MasterCard debit cards. So far, nearly US$300,000 is secured in seed funding and Toast is seeking to raise another US$325,000.

The startups that joined the Demo Day are “part of the change that is happening in the finance industry” said co-founder of Startupbootcamp FinTech, Markus Gnirck. Capitalizing on the supportive community in Singapore, the participants are becoming part of an ongoing push to the development of Fintech in Asia.