Through surveys and interviews with FinTech startups and experts, we collected information that tells the story of the FinTech ecosystem and the 2018 Female Founders in FinTech innovation competition. On June 6, we will host a webinar to highlight key findings from the report. The 60-minute webinar will cover data and findings of diversity & inclusion, partnerships with startups, funding and mentorship challenges for women-led startups, and future FinTech trends.
Overview of Startups
It has been reported many times that women founders often struggle to access the funding and mentorship needed for their businesses to succeed. To address this, support women-led startups, and drive more innovation and diversity & inclusion in financial services, Quesnay launched Female Founders in FinTech. In its second year, the 2018 FinTech competition saw a 76% increase in applicants from 2017--a promising sign of growth for the industry.
76 applicants representing a wide range of geographies, solutions, technologies, and experiences qualified to be considered for the top prize and were included in this overview. This year’s applicants used technologies like advanced analytics and AI, cloud computing, and automation and robotics to solve problems related to digital user experience and cost efficiency for B2B and B2C markets. In another good sign of growth and innovation in the industry, 45% of the applicants had 0-2 years of experience in financial services.
In the upcoming webinar, we will dig deeper into the applicants’ solutions and how they match up to current and predicted future FinTech trends.
Partnerships Between Corporates and Startups
We discovered that the majority of applicants applied to the competition in hopes of getting access to partnership opportunities. In order to find out more, we asked them why this was so important. The top answer was rapid growth and scale which is no surprise when we consider the size and funding of these startups—the majority have less than 100 customers and less than $1,000 in funding. Because of this, they have a lot to gain by partnering with institutions like those that sponsor the program.
When the group of industry experts was asked about their purpose for wanting to partner with startups, they identified improved customer experience and access to new technologies as the top benefits. In the upcoming webinar, we will hear from some of these individuals on why these aspects of partnerships are important to them as well as some of the challenges that are involved including legal implications and cultural differences.
In addition to applicant data and the benefits and challenges of partnerships, the webinar will feature additional data and insights from industry experts on:
FinTech trends to watch in 2019
Funding and mentorship challenges faced by women-led startups
Women as consumers