SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator kick starts second cohort with 8 startups

Hong Kong’s SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator, a 12-week Accelerator Program for fintech companies, has successfully kick-started its second fintech cohort on 9th January at its newly opened Cyberport FinTech Smart Space. The accelerator welcomed 8 fintech start-ups and scale-ups for the program, Finextra reported.

Fintech firms Bambu, Clare.ai, Entersoft, FinChat, Foris, KYC Chain, Squirro, and Xnotes Alliance will be collaborating with leading fintech experts and professionals in the space for the next three months. The launch day of SuperCharger 2.0 saw more than 200 people from the Hong Kong fintech community and the launch saw Veronika Kuznetsova, Managing Director at SuperCharger, who announced the reformulated program and reinforced the goals of the finalists leading up to the Public Demo Day on April 11 at HKEx Trading Floor.

Representatives from the main partners of SuperCharger: Standard Chartered Bank and Fidelity International, delivered speeches on the fintech drive in Hong Kong in relation to the city’s already existing role as Asia’s financial hub.

“Standard Chartered is proud to be the main partner of SuperCharger for the second consecutive year. We believe that innovative ideas brought by the 8 fintech finalists will help bring technological advancements to the Bank’s products and services. With the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s FinTech Supervisory Sandbox up and running, Standard Chartered is committed to supporting Hong Kong’s fintech ecosystem and leveraging these cutting-edge technologies to improve our customers’ experience,” Paul Wan, Standard Chartered’s Interim Chief Information Officer for Hong Kong, said.

One of the sponsors of SuperCharger includes Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK), a government department that aims to attract foreign direct investment into Hong Kong. Also, there will be StartmeupHK Festival 2017, an initiative by InvestHK that showcases the city’s start-up scene and technological innovations, from 16 to 20 January. This event will bring together global and local founders, innovators and investors to hold interactive discussions, panel sessions, and competitions on a wide range of topics. As the highlight of the festival, the FinTech Finals 2017 will be hosted that will see global companies compete for the prize of US$10,000. Three SuperCharger companies Bambu, Clare.ai and KYC Chain have been selected to pitch in the finals.

“FinTech in Hong Kong is maturing and this year we can expect a focus on Human Capital Development. A number of initiatives to develop talent have been announced, and SuperCharger is fully involved in that respect. This year, in collaboration with Austern Company and Standard Chartered Bank, we plan to train over 40 students throughout the 3 months of the accelerator by directly placing them with our 8 companies,” Janos Barberis, Founder of SuperCharger said.

The mentors of the accelerator will include Leonhard Weese, fintech consultant at myBlockchain; Adam Garrett, Market Development Manager at Thomson Reuters; Cedric Teissier, CEO of Finexkap; Marc Entwistle, Asia-Pacific FinTech Advisory at EY; Sue Britton, CEO & Founder of FinTech Growth Syndicate Inc; among others.