Entrepreneurs Redefine FinTech with AI, Blockchain and More

Held at the Clinton Presidential Library, Demo Day was the culmination of The Venture Center's 12-week accelerator program for early stage businesses poised to disrupt the financial services industry. During the program, the 10 companies received in-depth mentoring and training from FIS and The Venture Center, as well as the opportunity to engage with more than 20 financial institutions.

This year's portfolio companies included:

• Alpharank, San Francisco, Calif., helps banks monetize their historical transaction data using social graphing via an advanced analytics engine.
• Alto IRA, Nashville, Tenn., a fast and easy way to invest in alternative assets like real estate and private equity with a self-directed IRA account.
• Bond.AI, New York City, N.Y., an omnichannel conversational intelligence platform for banks that analyzes bank data in context to various needs and enables interaction between banks and their consumers through voice (Alexa, Siri, Onstar) & text (SMS, messenger) channels.
• eGiftify, London, England, provides banks and businesses with innovative gifting, payment and client marketing solutions that can be sent via email, SMS, social media or print.
• Hedgehog, Detroit, Mich., a crowdsourced solution for the retail investor that helps mitigate/hedge investment risk.
• Omnetrium, Chicago, Ill., enables financial institutions to combine savings and gaming to drive new account growth by leveraging recent regulatory changes that permit prize linked savings.
• Plinqit, Ann Arbor, Mich., helps community banks build lasting and profitable relationships with millennials.
• Quotanda, Mexico City, Mexico, is a lending-as-a-service (LaaS) platform that enables lenders and schools to efficiently launch and manage student financing programs (loans and scholarships) to make education more affordable.
• WalletFi, Chapel Hill, NC, reduces customer churn for banks and financial institutions by allowing users to easily identify and move recurring charges, subscriptions, and card-on-file payments across cards in their digital wallet.
• Xplanr Analytics, New York City, N.Y., provides computational analytics for IFRS9, CECL and other regulatory requirements that require advanced predictive modeling.

"These companies have demonstrated their capacity to bring world class solutions to solving problems and challenges in the FinTech space," said Wayne Miller, managing director of The Venture Center's VC FinTech Accelerator. "Each of them has made tremendous progress toward proving that their team can execute while clearly validating their value proposition to enable banks to better serve their customers in a changing digital world."

Each company selected a member of the community to introduce them. Governor Asa Hutchinson and FIS President and CEO Gary Norcross also provided remarks.

"We were pleased with the level of interest and participation we saw from clients, investors and community leaders, which speaks to the innovation and ingenuity shown by all of the participating companies," Norcross said.

The 2017 program received 295 applications from startup financial technology firms across the U.S. and 39 other countries. Applications for the Summer 2018 program open on September 20, 2017. Visit www.vcfintech.co to learn more or to apply for next year's program.

ABOUT THE VENTURE CENTER
The Venture Center is a Little Rock, Ark.-based entrepreneur support organization that helps startups become viable, high-growth businesses. With the expertise of a world class team of mentors, intensive programming and connections to the investor community, The Venture Center serves as an engine for economic growth in Central Arkansas and around the globe. In the first three years, The Venture Center's member companies have created more than 445 jobs, generated $28 million in revenue and have raised a combined $39 million in capital. For more information, visit http://www.venturecenter.co.

SOURCE The Venture Center

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