Payments Canada welcomes ten start-ups to its Dragons’ Den
Forsooth! Ten shall enter the Dragons’ Den!
Payments Canada has revealed the ten paytech, artificial intelligence (AI) and regtech start-ups who will compete at its “Dragons’ Den-style competition” in Toronto.
Called the FinTech Cup, a collaboration between Payments Canada, 500 Startups, and the Digital Finance Institute, it wants to help innovation, find talent, and drive funding for the finalists.
Money on offer includes the FinTech Cup Grand Prize of $20,000, and the People’s Choice Award – where first place bags $10,000, second place gets $5,000 and third place receives $2,500.
From more than 40 submissions, the following ten start-ups were selected to pitch at Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle, 24-26 May 2017:
- Finn.ai: White-label virtual banking assistant;
- Payment Rails: Assists with business payouts to individuals or companies;
- Zighra: Protects mobile user interaction and data against remote and automated attacks;
- Nuco: Software company building blockchain networks;
- Senso.ai: Support for mortgage lenders;
- Lending Arch: Online POS lender for healthcare and home improvement purchases;
- Branche: Decentralised micro-credit and financial services platform;
- POPcodes: Helps merchants in retail payments space;
- MindBridge AI: Detects anomalous transactions;
- Cerebri AI: Processing of internal and external customer data.
The judging panel includes representatives from 500 Startups, Omers Ventures, Information Venture Partners, CIBC, Paysafe, Payments Canada, as well as Joi Ito (venture capitalist and director of the MIT Media Lab).
Each of the ten will pitch on 25 May. Four companies will advance to the finals on 26 May – with winners announced on that day.
