Inclusive Fintech 50 elevates Promising Early-Stage Fintechs Driving Financial Inclusion & Resilience around the Globe

Deadline: 10-Jul-20

The Inclusive Fintech 50 initiative leverages a competitive process led by an independent judging panel of experts to identify 50 early-stage fintechs driving financial inclusion and resilience.

They are looking for early-stage fintechs in advanced or emerging markets that offer a solution among credit, insurance, payments & remittances, savings & personal financial management, or infrastructure addressing special challenges of underserved customer segments.

Goals

The Inclusive Fintech 50 aims to make early-stage fintechs more visible to investors and others who can help them grow and have a noticeable impact on the more than 3 billion financially underserved people.
Additionally, the initiative supports the broader inclusive fintech ecosystem through actionable market-level insights generated from aggregated and anonymized applicant data.

Why Apply?

Major Visibility
- Build a global profile in front of leading investors.
- The competition is supported by global leaders in financial services, venture capital, and asset management, and inclusive financial services.
Simple Process
- The application can be completed in an hour and doesn’t require multiple rounds of phone calls or interviews
- They like to think of the selection criteria as ‘sensibly rigorous’
Gain Credibility
- They worked with investors to create questions that get beyond the fluff to identify startups poised for success
- A panel of industry experts – including founders and investors – will select the winners

Prize Information

Two fintechs will be selected for a USD 25,000 cash prize based on their contribution to the financial resilience of low-income households and businesses.

Eligibility Criteria

Fintechs applying to the Inclusive Fintech 50 should be early-stage companies focused on underserved segments. Fintechs that are self-funded, seed-stage, Series A, or Series B are welcome to apply.
Applicants can be B2C, B2B, or B2B2C with a solution among credit, insurance, payments & remittances, savings & personal financial management, or infrastructure addressing challenges of underserved segments.
Applications will be accepted in English, French, and Spanish.

Selection Criteria

Eligible applicants will be scored against the following criteria:

Inclusiveness
- Investors are increasingly interested in finding fintechs that are filling market gaps and contributing to inclusion. Applicants will be assessed on the degree to which their target market includes underserved people and the problem that the startup is aiming to solve.
Innovation
- Innovation is more than disruption, it’s about offering a new value proposition. Applicants will be assessed on whether their business model reduces costs, improves a product experience and opens up financial services to previously underserved people.
Scale Potential
- Investors are also looking for solutions that can have a noticeable impact on the more than three billion financially underserved people. Judges will review applicants’ growth model, internal capacity, unit economics, growth strategy, and total addressable market.
Traction
- It’s important that a product or service be able to show some indication of traction. Judges will review the product or solution’s stage of development, the startup’s funding and/or revenue, existing customer base, and other indicators that show early-stage traction.