Following “Fintech Accelerator”, the program of Raiffeisen Bank International, another financial institution launched a contest for innovative developments in the field of fintech solutions. In August, Unicredit, in partnership with the international accelerator ABC, announced the first Central and Eastern Europe hackathon for software specialists and fintech developers. Those willing to take part had to complete the participation form until August 24, and the hackathon itself will take place on September 2-3 in Ljubljana. Participants who offer the most innovative software solutions in the field of finance will receive funding of up to EUR 10 000.
Of all applications from the region, only 80 participants will get access to the hackathon – individually or with a team. On-site teams of up to 8 people will be formed to jointly seek solutions to specific case studies related to the new PSD2 payment directive which entitles EU financial institutions to provide direct access to customer accounts if they have given their preliminary consent. The experts will have to offer solutions on how to use customer account information to create value for customers and the bank. In addition to funding of up to EUR 10 000, the best ideas will also be presented to the Unicredit Management Team for Central and Eastern Europe.
Almost at the same time of the Hackathon in Ljubljana, the semi-finals for the fintech accelerator of Raiffeisen for CEE – Elevator Lab – will take place. According to the competition’s schedule, distance pitching sessions will be held between September 5-6 to identify the 15 finalists who will go on to present and develop their ideas in Vienna.
The total number of applications from around the world for this contest reached 336. A total of 13.4% of them comes from fintech startups from Austria, 27.1% from CEE countries, and the rest are from Western Europe, Asia and the United States. Most applications are submitted within the Payments and Transactions field, followed by Trade and Investment, SME Banking, Database Analysis, RegTech and Office of the Future.
The accelerator has received applications from all 14 countries in the CEE region. There are 8 companies registered for participation from Bulgaria, thus ranking the country 4th in number of projects together with Poland. Of all the 14 countries in the region, it is only Hungary with 13 projects, Romania with 11 and Slovakia with 9 applications, which stay ahead of our country. On the website of the accelerator you can track the stages of the competition and which countries and teams will successfully go to the finals.