FinTech Pitchfest an opportunity for five startups to impress investors

Innovation Bay and the FinTech Summit are partnering to expose five early fintech startups to investors next month.

The FinTech PitchFest competition is looking for Australia “most exciting, high-growth potential fintech startup”.

The five finalists will pitch to an expert panel including Innovation Bay co-founder Ian Gardiner, AMP Ventures’ Jonathan Deane, H2 Ventures co-founder Toby Heap, Gilbert and Tobin Laywers’ Deborah Johns, and Macquarie Bank’s Pratham Karkal.

FinTech Summit organiser Glen Frost says there’s a need in Australia’s fintech ecosystem for a pitching event specifically aimed at introducing startups in the financial services sector to investors.

“Fintech is really gaining traction this year, and I think it’s quite timely to both the fintech ecosystem more broadly as well as fintech in Sydney,” he says.

“Over the years it seems like every vertical market is being disrupted, the media sector, the healthcare sector. And now we’re starting to see a huge disruption of financial services.

“You’re looking at how people are going to borrow money, lend money, invest money. If you add up every part of a bank that has the potential to be disrupted, you end up with a huge ecosystem of (startups). The FinTech Summit is dedicated to bringing them together.”

Gardiner says with the increased interest in fintech there are more and more early-stage fintech startups out there chasing funding.

“We know there are a large number of fintech startups in the Pre-Series A category, so we are reaching out to this group, and offering them a chance to win this prestigious award, which will significantly raise the profile of the startup,” he says.

Applications for the FinTech PitchFest will be open until 5pm August 14. The five finalists will pitch at the FinTech Summit on Wednesday September 2.

“We’re after people who are serious about gaining traction, who have a team. People who understand fintech and how people engage with financial services,” Frost says.

“And people who want to go global.”

Applications for the FinTech PitchFest can be found here.

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