Startupbootcamp FinTech, the leading accelerator focusing on financial innovation, hosted its first Demo Day in Singapore yesterday for the top 11 FinTech teams selected out of 300 applications earlier this year.

For these 11 teams, Demo Day marked the completion of an intense three-month acceleration program in which they collaborated with over 300 mentors, partners and investors and signed more than 15 partnerships with financial institutions, including DBS Bank and PhillipCapital. They received training in fundraising, regulatory frameworks and expanding in APAC and are now seeking a combined US$10M investment to scale their businesses and enter new markets.

Welcoming more than 450 guests from the financial industries, including leading investors from Southeast Asia, Startupbootcamp FinTech held the world’s first live FinTech survey on the blockchain on Demo Day. The results showed that blockchain and wealth management are the FinTech trends most investors and financial institutions wish to see more of while cultural change in large institutions to allow for innovation and improved regulatory frameworks came out top as what is needed to strengthen the existing FinTech ecosystem in Southeast Asia.

Out of the 11 startups in the program, 6 are already tackling these FinTech areas while we also see the existing trends of financial inclusion, peer to peer payments, security and trade finance in the cohort.

This Demo Day's theme 'Discovering New Grounds' reflects Startupbootcamp FinTech's expansion to Asia, having first launched in London last year. Markus Gnirck, co-founder of Startupbootcamp FinTech says that “the overwhelming response to Demo Day shows that the 11 teams are leading the game in FinTech in Southeast Asia. They are part of the change that is happening in this industry, and are in the sweet spot of the trends predicted by the crowd [today]. Thanks to an extremely supportive FinTech ecosystem and community in Singapore, I am sure we will see many FinTech success stories in this region.”

Steven Tong, Managing Director of Startupbootcamp FinTech said “Startupbootcamp FinTech is the first FinTech accelerator in Singapore and the only truly global FinTech program connecting Asia, Europe and America. The international teams also received significant feedback on regulatory issues from MAS. Singapore is really shaping up into a Smart Financial Centre."

“Our partners DBS Bank, MasterCard, Intesa SanPaolo and PwC have provided valuable access to senior leaders and advice to the founders while Infocomm Investments, Jungle Ventures, PixVine and Route66 Ventures have been extremely active in coaching the teams.They have been instrumental to the success of the startups so far.”

“The financial industry has always been a big user of technology, in part due to the pressure of customers’ requirements for new services. It’s easy to forget that ATMs were a breakthrough tech when they were first put into use,” said Steve Leonard, Executive Deputy Chairman of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and Chairman of Infocomm Investments. “Because of its respected regulatory and innovation-oriented environment, Singapore is a great place for FinTech startups to imagine and build the next generation of capabilities for the financial industry.”

Neal Cross, Chief Innovation Officer, DBS Bank said “DBS’ innovation strategy relies heavily on building and maintaining ecosystems that enable us to engage with and co-invent with new partners. The Startupbootcamp accelerator is a way that we can bring the Asian startup eco-system and the bank’s staff into one facility that enables the interchange of ideas and culture. DBS’ startup mentors have found this a valuable and rewarding experience and we are very excited about the Demo Day and the continued partnership with the startups.”

Antony Eldridge, Financial Services Leader for PwC Singapore said: “The whole global financial services landscape is being disrupted, and it augurs well for Singapore that many steps are already being taken in the right direction to move it from a traditional financial hub to a Smart Financial Centre.”