Elevator Lab: Pilot Projects present Progress

Eight fintechs from the second round of the fintech partnership program Elevator Lab of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) had the opportunity for a presentation on yesterday’s Demo Day. They were selected in October 2018 from more than 400 applicants. Now, they presented the results of the proof-of-concept phase to the jury, their mentors and more than 250 other interested persons. The fintechs cover the areas Advanced Analytics (CityFALCON from UK and SESAMm from France), Investing & TradingTech (FINABRO from Austria and Limitless from the Netherlands), New Branch Experience (CopSonic from France, PayKey from Israel, and Pisano from UK), and Open Banking (Cambrist from Ireland).

“My jury colleagues and I are truly impressed by the progress of the pilot projects. We see potential for cooperations that may generate significant added value for both fintechs and above all our customers,” commented RBI CEO Johann Strobl on the results of the four-month pilot phase. “At RBI, we value expertise. In the past months, we had the chance to observe how exchange and cooperation with fintechs has led to intensive learning from each other,” Strobl continued.

The solutions were validated in so-called sandboxes, i.e. with test customers and real data, and can, as a next step, move on to the roll-out planning phase. In addition, Elevator Ventures, RBI’s venture capital vehicle, is available for potential investments to strengthen strategic partnerships.

The fact that RBI’s accelerator program is bearing fruit not only in terms of learning progress is evidenced by the cooperation with kompany, a fintech in the RegTech area (improvement of regulatory efficiency) from the first round of Elevator Lab. In June 2018, RBI and kompany signed a contract for the creation of a Know-Your-Customer solution (KYC). Further collaborations with fintechs of the first round exist – contract signings are currently being considered.

In view of this success, it is not surprising that RBI announced the start of a third round of its fintech partnership program as of the end of April this year. “There will be a third round, of course. Through our local Elevator Lab Challenges, we have even better access to the know-how of the fintech ecosystems in our markets,” said Strobl.