With the FinTech partnership program “Elevator Lab”, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is pursuing the goal of intensifying its cooperation with FinTechs in Central and Eastern Europe. Yesterday, Thursday, a Demo Day took place in Vienna, where a total of eight FinTechs presented their technologies.
In 2017, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) launched the FinTech partnership program Elevator Lab to work more closely with FinTechs. RBI’s goal with the program is to work with FinTech to develop innovative banking solutions, including investing, corporate banking and trading.
Customer Experience
As Johann Strobl, CEO of RBI, explains in the brutkasten interview, RBI also wants to use technical solutions to make the customer experience of its customers more attractive. “FinTechs have a lot of innovative solutions to offer in the field of customer experience,” says Strobl. “Over the past few months, we have seen how the exchange and cooperation with FinTechs has led to intensive learning from each other.”
Eight FinTechs selected from 400 applicants
The accelerator program of the RBI took place for the second time. According to RBI, there would have been around 400 applicants for the program. In October 2018, a total of eight FinTechs were selected from this pool. As part of a demo day, which took place on Thursday, they were able to present their technologies and proof of concept to a jury, mentors and 250 guests.
RBI Elevator Lab: New startup search fields in the second batch
The participating FinTechs of the second round of the Elevator Labs come from a total of six different countries. In addition to the Austrian startup Finabro, which has developed a platform for asset management, FinTechs from Great Britain, France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Israel also participated in the Elevator Lab (for the full list of startups, see below).
Sandboxes with test customers
According to RBI, the technical solutions of the FinTechs were validated in so-called sandboxes, ie with test customers and real data. In a next phase, they should switch to a rollout plan. In addition, FinTech’s Elevator Ventures provides a vehicle for strengthening strategic partnerships.
Start of the third round in April
RBI has announced that it intends to launch a third round of its FinTech partnership program starting in April. “Of course there will be a third round. Our local Elevator Lab Challenges give us even greater access to the know-how of the FinTech ecosystems in our markets, “says Strobl.
The participating startups of the second round of the Elevator Labs:
CopSonic (France)
CopSonic has developed a communication technology that enables its users to integrate and transfer data between electronic devices via ultrasound. CopSonic’s patented technology is distributed as a software development kit so that B2B partners can integrate the solutions into their existing environment as an alternative or in addition to NFC, Bluetooth or QR.
Cambrist (Ireland)
Cambrist works with banks that want to change the customer experience in cross-border card payments. Cambrists Service helps banks to increase the transparency and control of cross-border payments through improved digital offerings.
CityFALCON (United Kingdom)
CityFALCON uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to turn financial news into structured data and make it personalized to users. In addition to RBI, its customers include BNP Paribas and numerous banks in Asia.
Finabro (Austria)
Finabro has set up an asset management platform with a license from the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA). The offer includes bank products including and excluding life insurance (pensions). The main sales channels of the startup are cooperation with financial institutions as well as direct sales to employers.
Limitless (Netherlands)
Limitless offers a White Label mobile savings and micro investment app that turns savers into investors. Your app is designed to help customers invest money easily and get them to better connect with their bank.
PayKey (Israel)
PayKey is developing a social banking solution that allows users to access key financial services directly from their keyboard via chat in any social messaging app, such as P2P transfers, balance checks, credit recharge and chatbot services ,
Pisano (United Kingdom)
Pisano is a platform that manages the customer experience across all channels. It allows companies to collect customer feedback online and offline at all points of contact. The platform provides solutions to collect feedback from customers, to connect with them while using a service.
SESAMm (France)
SESAMm provides asset management tools based on technologies such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Natural Language Processing. It analyzes millions of web messages, articles, and postings in real time to build analytics for financial products.