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Six start-ups showcased their business solutions to Bahrain’s business and FinTech community at American Express Middle East (AMEX) and the Nest’s first Demo Day.
The event, which will be hosted annually, follows the eight week ACCELERATE ME programme which aims at connecting the next generation of startups and newly established SMEs from around the world with Bahrain and the Middle East region in general.
Mazin Khoury, chief executive officer of AMEX said, said: “As a founding member of Bahrain FinTech Bay, and as proud contributor to the overall FinTech ecosystem here in the region, American Express Middle East is delighted to support the solutions offered by the ACCELERATE ME participating start-ups.
“Through this initiative, we are backing new partnerships to be formed, bridging the gap between corporate organisations and the FinTech community in Bahrain and the region to enable the move to a cashless society and make a difference in community we live in.”
The start-ups focused on a range of innovative technologies in areas such as delivering differentiated service experiences, automated payment solutions, and alternative physical and digital platforms to drive the move to a cashless society even closer using secured and progressive technologies.
“We fully understand the role that new technologies is playing in businesses in the region,” added Mazin. “Our 2018 Global Business and Spending Outlook report found that, with the rise of the connected customer, executives identified new technology as their number-one spending priority; where 35 per cent of respondents across the region said that mobile technology, for the purpose of delivering new products and unique services, will be one of key areas of focus in 2019.”
The ACCELERATE ME start-ups included:
Crayon: Crayon Data’s flagship product – Maya – matches customers with personalised offerings using enterprise transactional data and external data sources. Crayon is currently working with clients in the UAE.
FOO: is a digital platform for onboarding/managing merchants, as well as handling cross border remittances & P2P transactions. The startup is introducing an alternative payment acceptance capability platform (QR code, sound-based method, Bluetooth, NFC) for merchants and a mobile wallet solution for customers.
Divido: is a point of sale finance platform that enables merchants to offer their customers the option to spread the cost of purchase. Divido aggregates available credit from various financial institutional partners.
Bloom: is a blockchain-based customer identity and credit history system where users maintain full ownership and control of their data, reducing the risks of centralised data collection, storage and transmission.
Beehive: Operates a P2P lending platform for SME’s, including term loans, short-term invoice financing etc. It also offers a digital transactional engine and proprietary credit model and is regulated by Dubai Financial Service Authority.
Payment Choice: is a POS solution programme that accepts cross-country prepaid cards and mobile wallets (including Alipay and WeChat Pay) and offers international clearing.
Lawrence Morgan, chief executive officer of Nest, a company that operates corporate accelerator programmes, invests in start-ups and runs a global entrepreneurial community called Mettā, expressed his excitement about partnering up with American Express Middle East and believes the programme provided a great platform for these start-ups.
AMEX will continue to provide support and exposure for the participating start-ups as well as helping them explore the region’s emerging FinTech and start-ups ecosystem.
