With IBM, Microsoft, Google, Apple and many other tech giants investing in Israeli startups, the country has long established itself as the best place in the world for innovation beyond Silicon valley. And among the hottest trends that investors are rushing to Tel Aviv for right now are cyber (security) and fintech.
Last month Finance Magnates visited the launch of Rise TLV, a FinTech Innovation hub powered by Barclays in Tel Aviv, and met its organizers and participants. The program is in cooperation with Techstars and Barclays says that it's offering a wealth of money-can’t-buy knowledge and experience in the city's vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. One of the biggest names in hosting accelerator programs, TechStars contrasts with many of its other larger sized competitors such as Y Combinator and 500 Startups. Rather than opening up classes to a diverse groups of startups, TechStars partners with major corporations to host industry specific programs.
Among the speakers at the Tel Aviv event was the British Ambassador to Israel, Mr. David Quarrey, as well as many notable figures from the global management of Barclays. Troels Oerting, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Barclays and former Head of European Cybercrime Centre at EUROPOL, shared: "Criminals have the upper hand because they don't need to travel, no need to hide. The fight is up to us." He conquered the audience's heart when he declared that he thinks that Tel Aviv will be THE cyber hub "because you are better than the rest." And he concluded with the statement that the only way to innovate is to reach out to start ups.
Arian Lewis, Head of Open Innovation at Barclays, pointed out that out of the 2000 companies that applied to the Barclays Accelerator program from around the world, only 40 were accepted. In the Tel Aviv Accelerator the ten startups, created by founders from Israel and abroad, were: Bstow, Civilize, Corr.bi, CyberDriveWare, FinancialJuice, Samurai, SlidePiper, Vala, Wisor and B2B Pay.
Among the fintech focused ventures, B2B Pay offers free IBAN for international exporters to Europe and the ability to collect Payments in 34 European countries and get 80% cheaper fees. FinancialJuice is a real-time breaking financial news and content discovery platform helping traders and investors find the very best financial content. Vala offers online money transfer and remittance services by building a marketplace for remitters and local affiliates using sophisticated risk technology. Wisor lets you build your own diversified, optimized portfolio for your mortgage. And aiming to simplify the process of choosing stock options is Option Samurai which Finance Magnates has shined a spotlight on in the past.
Finance Magnates is proud to present its inaugural TLV Conference, to be held on the 29th of June. Apart from the invaluable networking opportunities, the agenda is packed with panels, masterclasses and keynote speeches geared towards the subject of fintech. Industry leaders will be discussing subjects such as marketing automation, cybersecurity, financial regulation and Cryptocurrencies , with a focus on the booming Israeli fintech scene. In keeping with this, there will also be a fintech spotlight session in which a lineup of firms will each have four minutes to pitch their exciting products, culminating in an award presented to the most promising.