Malaysian fintech, Finology has been crowned as Seedstars World 2020/2021 Competition winner. Representing Asia, the company was up against the top companies from 4 other regions – Africa, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Latin America (LATAM). The contestants were judged based on their products’ traction, scalability, profitability, and defensibility.
Jared Lim, Co-founder of Finology shared, “It feels good to have been recognised for the work we do. Our team has been working tirelessly the last few years to pioneer seamless access to financial products. As pioneers in our region, our work is not very visible to people outside the industry and can feel thankless at times.
“We are humbled to have shared the stage with some of the most promising companies in the world. This validates our belief that we are providing a valuable service to society, and are on the right path towards building a great company.”
Finology views this as a boost to visibility in its work to enable better delivery of financial services to people via means of technology. It provides a welcome lift in its mission to drive financial inclusion of the underbanked and under-insured segments.
According to the Center for Financial Inclusion, in 2012, 7 of the Top 10 countries with the largest financially excluded populations were in Asia i.e. China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Philippines and Vietnam.
That said, high mobile penetration rates and the rise of challenger digital neo-banks/insurers have rapidly improved the situation since then. For example, e-Wallets have seen tremendous growth in emerging Asia, serving as a path to wider financial inclusion.
Additionally, the ongoing pandemic has accelerated consumer digital adoption. The incumbent financial services industry is facing a host of challenges adapting their existing technology and processes to capitalise on these new trends. For this reason, Finology strives to assist businesses to tackle this matter via its instant underwriting technology and digital distribution channels.
Seedstars is a Swiss-based investment holding with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets, annually holds the Seedstars World Competition to scout for the most promising startups around Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Latin America (LATAM) regions.
After a 9-month journey that included classroom sessions, mentoring sessions, and multiple rounds of pitching before a diverse panel of judges, the competition has finally ended.
One of the judges, who is also the co-founder of Seedstars, Alisee de Tonnac commented, “Finology showed us a lot of promise in their mission to bridge together financial institutions and individuals by making financial products accessible for everyone. The Seedstars team believes that they will effectively help lead the way forward in the ever-increasing digitisation of the financial sector. A big congratulations from Seedstars to the Finology team!”
Moving forward, Lim is enthused about the upcoming collaboration with the industry players to amplify the efforts of making banking/insurance more accessible and affordable. He shared: “As for the future, we love working with forward-looking banks and insurers. We’re all about using technology to deliver financial services to people in ways that are more meaningful to their lives. We look forward to rolling out more product offerings in emerging Asia that have been designed around a seamless delivery experience.”
