Boosting scope for Asean tech startups

03 Aug 2015 / 11:29 H.
    Boosting scope for Asean tech startups
    Foong (far right) hands over the BootCamper certificates to participants Mohd Firdaus Mahamad (middle) and Mohd Nur Aizad Aziddin.
    Boosting scope for Asean tech startups
    MaybankFintech 2015 participants with Foong (in jacket).

THE MaybankFintech 2015 programme is the first of its kind by a bank in Southeast Asia. It is aimed at seeking to support startups to generate ideas in the financial technology sphere.
THE PROGRAMME
A total of 115 applicants participated this year, with 109 from the Asean region. Submissions were also received from as far as Tunisia, Ukraine, Chile and even the United States. Ideas pitched revolved around seven main areas such as Channel, Digital & Mobile, Payments, Operational Excellence, Business &OperatingModel, Responsible Banking and Sales Effectiveness.
The programme comprised preliminary sessions in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila and Jakarta where Maybank met potential participants personally to discuss their ideas and share with them detailed insights about the programme.
This led to the selection of 21 finalists which included:
► four from Malaysia;
► two from Indonesia;
► four from Singapore;
► four from Thailand;
► five from the Philippines;
► one from Vietnam; and
► one from Japan.
TECHNICALITIES AND DETAILS
The finalists were put through a three-day Alpha Startup pre-accelerator programme which was facilitated by Maybank, along with 1,337 Ventures, a company which assists startups by providing advice and proper guidance, especially in developing their ideas in the areas of customer, product and go-to market strategies.
After the three-day programme, the finalists participated in a Demo Day where they were each given seven minutes to pitch their ideas to Maybank’s leadership team and potential venture capitalists.
Maybank Group chief strategy officer Michael Foong said one of the major challenges in the past for tech startups has been to navigate through the various financial institutions in order to pitch their ideas.
“Our MaybankFintech programme is a unique platform for aspiring innovators to showcase their ideas. We want to be a central member of the Fintech community in the region, to help grow and support entrepreneurs, by providing them with an avenue to connect directly with the financial industry,” said Foong.
“Our long-term aim is to support the growth of Asean not only in terms of financial services and economic progress, but also in the area of technology where we feel there is tremendous untapped potential,” he added. It looks like Maybank is determined to make Asean the hub for tech startups.

sentifi.com

thesundaily_my Sentifi Top 10 talked about stocks