Karandaaz had invited FinTech to design and present solutions in nine thematic areas including payments, interoperability, consumer/retail banking, regtech, insurtech, mobile wallets, loyalty programmes, lending, and savings.
The three startups from this round, selected after a close competition among 16 FinTech startups are 'Matilda Solutions,' 'Love for Data,' and 'AgriMart.' Matilda Solutions is working on developing a biometric verification authentication suite which will include fingerprint verification, liveness detection, and facial recognition. Love for Data is developing a credit scoring algorithm based on data analytics which will predict fraud detection and credit profile of a consumer.
AgriMart is a one window platform that is easily accessible to the agri community and can be used for complete agri-ecosystem and sustainable agriculture. Under this grant cycle, the three successful startups will each receive a funding of Rs 10 million from Karandaaz to implement their ideas.
During previous rounds Karandaaz provided grants worth up to Rs 500 million to Ricult Pakistan, Publishex Solution, Paysys Labs, Credit Fix, Unikrew Solution, Agri-Gate, and Invoice Waqalah.
Karandaaz Pakistan CEO Ali Sarfraz while speaking at the event said that they are confident that the grants agreements signed will help the three startups play an effective role in changing Pakistan's financial services landscape for the better.
"Over the years, Karandaaz FinTech Disrupt Challenge has emerged as a leading platform through which we give emerging and aspiring innovators an opportunity to materialise their groundbreaking ideas. We have established a model of supporting innovation in the FinTech domain for other players from public and private sector to emulate. Financial technology is now a viable new field for innovators in Pakistan and new funding avenues are becoming available for them," Sarfraz added.
Chief Digital Officer Karandaaz Pakistan, Rehan Akhtar emphasised the use of financial technology solutions for increasing the nationwide financial inclusion. He said globally, digital technology is dramatically expanding the scope of financial services beyond traditional banking.