LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A web-based program for real-time geopolitical risk assessment, solutions that help small business owners manage their finances and faster data exchange and reconciliation technologies are among the innovations from the seven financial technology entrepreneurs selected to participate in this year’s FinTech Innovation Lab London.
The Lab, which was launched in London by Accenture (NYSE:ACN) in 2012, is a collaboration between Accenture and leading financial institutions, supported by the Mayor of London, the City of London Corporation and Innovate UK. It is designed to nurture early-stage companies from the UK, Europe and elsewhere that are developing new technologies for the financial services sector. Accenture is hosting the FinTech Innovation Lab London for the third consecutive year, at Level39, Europe’s largest financial technology accelerator space, based in Canary Wharf.
The seven startups were chosen from a wide range of applicants and will be mentored for 12 weeks by leading executives from financial services, venture capital and angel investment firms through a series of panel discussions, workshops, leadership coaching and networking opportunities. At the end of the program, the entrepreneurs will be given an opportunity to present their concepts to potential investors and participating industry executives at an Investor Day, hosted at Royal Bank of Scotland’s offices on March 26, 2015.
The companies taking part in this year’s program are: Atsora, Cytora, Duco, PontusVision, Ripjar, Torusware and xWare42. Their innovations include a social media monitoring and analysis platform, cloud-based data management systems and technology to improve the performance of latency-sensitive applications.
Richard Lumb, group chief executive, Financial Services, at Accenture, said: “Commercializing innovations is often the toughest challenge for entrepreneurs and that’s why it is so valuable to bring these early-stage companies together with their potential customers. The Innovation Lab program also gives banks new exposure to the technologies they need to stay ahead. Since we launched the London Lab three years ago, the 14 companies that have passed through the program have raised more than $25 million in new investment and signed nearly 50 contracts to do business with banks.”
“Being at the cutting edge of technology innovation is crucial to strengthening London’s position as the leading global financial center said Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London. “Programs such as the FinTech Innovation Lab are an essential part of the fintech infrastructure and play an important role in ensuring we continue to generate jobs and attract leading financial businesses to London.”
Simon McNamara, chief administrative officer, Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “RBS is delighted to be involved in the FinTech Innovation Lab and is proud to host the Investor Day with Accenture in March. Advances in technology and shifts in customer expectations bring both disruption and opportunity, and we need to recognize that banking is now a digital business. Our work with fintech startups can help us to respond to this challenge and help them achieve their business goals.”
Financial institutions supporting FinTech Innovation Lab London include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds Banking Group, Morgan Stanley, RBS and UBS. This year, Intesa Sanpaolo, Nationwide and Santander have also joined in support of the Lab.
The 2015 FinTech Innovation Lab London participants are:
Atsora provides financial institutions with innovative tools for small business owners. The core product, Momentum, is an integrated online and mobile application used for business planning, monitoring cash-flow and growth forecasting.
Cytora uses web-based data to provide real-time geopolitical risk assessments to organizations that operate in volatile, emerging or complex markets. The solution allows users to customize their risk assessment to capture information relevant to their businesses and includes alerts for immediate updates when conditions suddenly change.
Duco is a technology company that helps financial services firms control and manage complex data. Its web-based reconciliation service, Duco Cube, enables non-technical staff to identify discrepancies in trades, transactions or reference data across different data sets, within minutes.
Pontus Networks helps businesses increase the performance of their computer systems. Its flagship product, PontusVision Threat Manager, enables different types of business software to run more efficiently and nearly three times faster.
Ripjar’s platform provides real-time social media monitoring and data analysis. Using proprietary natural language processing, deep learning algorithms and visualizations, Ripjar’s platform allows organizations to make sense of the growing number of external data sources.
Torusware enables businesses to increase the processing speed of their IT systems, whether these systems are hosted on the cloud or implemented on premise. For instance, trading systems, which need to exchange information in nanoseconds, can experience unpredictable high-load at specific times, such as when exchanges open or close, and Torusware ensures low latency responsive times during these critical periods.
xWare42 is a software developer whose core product, xPay, allows banks to give customers additional information about their purchases. For instance, payment details on a bank statement can be enriched by adding information such as receipts, addresses, opening hours, service numbers and other details about the retailers. This gives customers a more helpful picture of their purchases while allowing banks and partner retailers to offer personalized discounts and encourage further transactions.
The FinTech Innovation Lab London is modeled on a similar program that was co-founded by Accenture and the Partnership Fund for New York City in 2010. The Partnership Fund for New York City is the $110 million investment arm of the Partnership for New York City (www.pfnyc.org). In 2014, Accenture also launched the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong and the FinTech Innovation Lab Dublin in Ireland.
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 319,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com.