FinovateFall: The Startup Demos
The Future of Fintech is Now?
I had the chance last week to finally attend the annual FinovateFall conference in NYC. For the uninitiated, Finovate is a series of fintech conferences run by Informa, a large UK-based publisher, business intelligence, and events company. Not a household name to most Americans, but to those in the work in speciality vertical channels, they know their media outlets (e.g. the Industry Dive publications).
While the conference featured many panels/fireside chats/keynotes about prevalent topics in finance right now (cough AI cough), what the conference is famous for is a live stage for fintechs to present their technology in a seven minute demo format. This is kinda’ cool when normally startups presentations are talking heads + PPT decks.
And they are not messing around when it comes to SEVEN MINUTES ONLY. When a demo went over the time limit, the conference played a loud bell-type noise that could wake the dead. And in some cases it woke me up from the slumber that some of the demos put me in, so thanks for that Finovate!
The conference also doesn’t play around with sheer number of startups demos — over 65 of them in two days.
So it was no easy task to determine which company demos I found the most interesting. This does not mean they were all the best presented demos, as Finovate deems several of the companies as “Best of Show” winners based on attendee voting tallies at the end of each day. Instead, I am talking about the ones I thought presented the most fascinating solutions for tough, ignored, or less sexy problems in the banking industry.
With that, here are my Top 3 Demos of Finovate!
(Note: I saw a majority of the demos, but due to scheduling issues, not all 60+. For those I missed, it is what it is. )
Credit Mountain
A demo that offered both a compelling product and great presentation…as fellow attendees agreed when it was voted a Best in Show winner. The platform helps banks streamline the load declination experience by digitally communicating to customers when and why they got declined for a loan. That’s a good start, but what I found fascinating was how the platform lets a bank bring that customer on a “path to yes” by offering solutions/recos to help that person build their credit score — so that eventually they can get accepted for the loan they got negged on.
Yes it’s a marketing cross-sell tactic but for a motivated customer, a lender can use this to make an emotional connection by trying to help them achieve their credit/loan goals. Plus anything is better than when consumers feel like losers when they get a rejection form letter in the mail that at best offers an obtuse explanation. I can also see this working for credit card rejection letters - those are the coldest!
finli
Created by a former Certified Treasury Professional, finli is a billing, inventory, and spend management platform, which in itself is not earth shattering as spend management has been a hot fintech sub-sector for some time. But what caught my attention is that this is a) truly SMB focused and b) designed for banks to implement as a white label solution to its business customers who already bank with them.
Personal bias alert: Until I found my one-stop-shop for invoicing, bookkeeping, proposal development, etc. (Hi Bonsai!), I did a lot of research trying to reduce my SaaS spend for individual solutions for these needs. If my bank had offered something liked finli, I would’ve seriously considered it - especially since I’ve been a loyal customer for over two decades. And the bank would have access to my cash flow, inventory and such, thus able to see how my business is doing — which leads to potential marketing opportunities for them. This is no-brainer territory.
It also is a tool for banks to compete with the likes of Brex and Ramp, especially if it means providing a spend management platform for SMBs who are not startups seeking VC funding. We are not always the hottest, but we are large.
Css Impact
I found this one interesting not because of the demo of their platform (there were more polished dashboards demoed), nor because of their unmemorable name but because of the focus of the software: debt collection. Not the first category most fintechs seem interested in tackling, but one I can safely assume is in need of modern solutions.
The company demoed its platform which presented a dashboard that a customer rep at a collection agency would see (e.g. a dial pad for calling people, space for notes, info on the debtor), but also a chatbox where an agent can ask for AI-assisted guidance for live conversations, real-time debtor sentiment analysis, and compliance checks. What was also interesting was that the application was already being used beyond debt collecting companies, namely by municipalities like San Francisco,Miami-Dade, and the State of Utah.
Say what you will about the world of debt collection and the many times it runs afoul (like this example), but AI may actually help issues on both side of the debt equation (e.g. virtual payment negotiation, better compliance with the CFPB). Of course like anything else AI, it is something that companies need to monitor and not set the algorithm to “set it and forget it” mode.
Honorable Mention #1: CardLift
This one raised my eyebrow immediately and not because of the well executed presentation (another Best in Show winner), but because it sounded so familiar. CardLift is a BtoBtoC startup whose tech is deployed through banks and card issuers that helps customers switch their preferred payment methods (for bills and subscriptions) to a new preferred credit/debit card AKA top-of-wallet.
I said to myself, “Wait a sec, this sounds like Knot!” which is exactly what I said to the founder Rithwik Pattikonda when I met him at CardLift’s booth afterward (Disclosure - Knot is a former client of mine).
Like Knot, their solution is designed to help card issuers drive extra revenue by keeping their cards top-of-wallet while making card switching seamless for consumers, but Ritwik said that the biggest difference is that card issuers use it to white label a browser extension that is directly downloaded by their users, as opposed to Knot which is an API code deployed in the back end. He also felt that they are more eCommerce oriented, as the extension offers one-tap checkout and cashback offer options through their affiliate partners.
Fair enough, but best of luck. Knot is a beast in this sector!
Honorable Mention #2: Conference sponsor Mosaicx
For providing a coffee station with talented baristas making espresso drinks on the expo floor. The coffee from the Marriot was just trash and this made a lot of people happy in the a.m.
Do you think all of these startups were paying to get the 7-minute demo or was it free/application and more of a benefit to the paying attendees?