Singapore-based The FinLab to support fintech startups in India

Monday February 06, 2017 , 4 min Read

This announcement is sponsored by The FinLab.

Over the past decade, the fintech industry has had a significant impact on global markets. The last two years have seen vigorous activity in this space in India, with substantial growth from home-grown fintech startups. From payments to wealth management, many financial functions are slowly being disrupted by these startups.

2016: The rise of fintech in India

The interest in the industry has translated into some exciting developments. According to YourStory Research, over 47 deals amounting to $954 million were made in the fintech space in India in 2015. The first half of 2016 alone saw the culmination of 46 deals amounting to $285 million. Research has also indicated that over 500 fintech startups in India have collectively attracted over $1.4 billion in funding since 2012.

The three key factors that led to a growth in fintech startups in India are: 1) Increased need for connectivity and usage of mobile devices; 2) Increased awareness about the sector and; 3) An untapped potential in the form of unbanked population. What’s more, recent moves by the government such as demonetisation and the setting up of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have only accelerated interest in the fintech ecosystem.

All these aspects combined contribute to the future of the Indian financial landscape, and we play a part of this transition – as customers, service providers, or entrepreneurs. In our respective roles, we will be pivotal in shaping the growth of the sector, either through spotting new opportunities or filling the void.

Got an amazing fintech idea? Attend the FinLab event in Bengaluru, and get a chance to share it with experts.

The FinLab Launchpad is a meetup being held on February 16 in Bengaluru. This is an excellent opportunity to meet the team behind Singapore's first corporate fintech accelerator, The FinLab. This event will see discussions about the fintech scene in India, and offer startups in this space an opportunity for collaboration in a bustling startup ecosystem like Singapore. If you are an innovative emerging fintech startup, come and find out more about how you can benefit from The FinLab's acceleration programme!

Find out more about The FinLab accelerator here. or apply right away.

Meet The FinLab, get a chance to pitch your idea to them in Bengaluru.

The FinLab is a joint venture between United Overseas Bank (UOB) and SGInnovate. UOB is a leading bank in Asia with a global network of more than 500 offices in 19 countries. It is rated among the world’s top banks by Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch Ratings. SGInnovate, a government-backed Venture Capital fund under the purview of the National Research Foundation of Singapore, connects aspiring entrepreneurs with support for business plan development, sources of funding, and go-to-market efforts.

As an incumbent in the financial industry, UOB has strong business and customer networks in ASEAN and Greater China, while SGInnovate has strong VC networks in Asia, Europe, and USA. In other words, startups that are part of the accelerator programme have access to most of the world’s markets. The FinLab programme is designed to help early stage fintech startups validate their business assumptions and product-market fit, improve their business and revenue models and, at the same time, get access to investor and resource networks.

Watch the video to get a glimpse of what FinLab’s first cohort have to say.