MANAMA: Six start-ups showcased innovative digital solutions ranging from differentiated service experiences, automated payment solutions, and alternative physical and digital platforms during a demo day organised by American Express Middle East in partnership with corporate innovation specialist Nest.
The demo day followed the eight-week Accelerate ME programme, which aims at connecting the next generation of start-ups and newly established small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from around the world with Bahrain and the Middle East region in general.
Accelerate ME start-ups focused on a range of innovative technologies in areas such as delivering differentiated service experiences, automated payment solutions and alternative physical and digital platforms to drive the move to a cashless society using secured and progressive technologies.
Speaking on the occasion, American Express Middle East chief executive Mazin Khoury said: “Through this initiative, we are backing new partnerships to be formed, bridging the gap between corporate organisations and the fintech community in Bahrain and the region to enable the move to a cashless society and make a difference to the community.
“At American Express Middle East, we will always bring our powerful backing to new business solutions and ideas for the future – Accelerate ME is simply an extension of this philosophy.”
Nest chief executive Lawrence Morgan commented: “The Accelerate ME programme has provided a great platform for the participating start-ups. “Drawing on our Asia roots, Nest is focused on connecting the fast-growing markets of Asia, the Middle East and Africa by helping companies scale and corporates adopt new technologies. This is the start-up frontier and we are excited to partner with American Express Middle East on innovation and digital transformation.”
The start-ups that presented were:
- Crayon Data’s flagship product – Maya – matches customers with personalised offerings using enterprise transactional data and external data sources. Crayon is currently working with clients in the UAE.
- FOO is a digital platform for onboarding/managing merchants, as well as handling cross-border remittances and P2P transactions. The start-up is introducing an alternative payment acceptance capability platform (QR code, sound-based method, Bluetooth, NFC) for merchants and a mobile wallet solution for customers.
- Divido is a point of sale finance platform that enables merchants to offer their customers the option to spread the cost of purchase. Divido aggregates available credit from various financial institutional partners.
- Bloom is a blockchain-based customer identity and credit history system where users maintain full ownership and control of their data, reducing the risks of centralised data collection, storage and transmission.
- Beehive operates a P2P lending platform for SMEs, including term loans, short-term invoice financing, etc. It also offers a digital transactional engine and proprietary credit model and is regulated by Dubai Financial Service Authority.
- Payment Choice is a point of sale solution that accepts cross-country prepaid cards and mobile wallets (including Alipay and WeChat Pay) and offers international clearing.
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