BBVA Open Talent Reveals European Finalists To Participate In Next Bank Europe - Top 20 Startups Have Been Selected To Pitch Their Business Ideas At The Next Bank Europe Conference In Barcelona

BBVA, the Spanish financial services group has named the 20 finalists for the European leg of the global startup competition, BBVA Open Talent. The finalists will present their startup projects to an audience of business executives, entrepreneurs and investors at the Next Bank Europe conference in Barcelona on 18^th-19^th September 2014.

There were 402 entries from Europe out of a total 870 worldwide. The 20 finalists were chosen by a pool of 140 judges globally, with expertise in innovation, financial services, technology, entrepreneurship and business, for the chance to showcase their projects in front of an audience of innovators and entrepreneurs from the financial services industry. The two winners – one from the New Banking category and a second from Digital Life – will win €30,000 each to develop their project with the support of BBVA and the opportunity to take part in the NYC Crash Acceleration programme.

The European finalists from the New Banking category of BBVA Open Talent are:

Cashboard.io – The whole investment world with tailored, diversified and automated portfolios in one free account
Ininial – The preferred banking and payment platform for the large unbanked – underbanked population in Turkey and the surrounding region
FinGenius – A global supplier of artificial intelligence to the finance industry
Aire – An alternative credit score, for all consumers, no matter what your background
Lendstar – Borrow, collect, prepay, split, send & spend money within one app!
TransferGo – The leading remittance service for Southern/Central/Eastern European migrant workers to send money home from Western Europe
Bewa7er – Platform for buying/selling share rights to non-exchange listed companies in Spain
ClauseMatch – A cloud platform for negotiating trading agreements for derivatives and commodities saving costs and increasing market liquidity
Pollen – The world’s first digital receivables financing platform
ETFmatic – A simple and cost effective way to put our savings to work through low cost index funds that are highly diversified

The European finalists from the Digital Life category of BBVA Open Talent are:

HeyPlease – A mobile app facilitating order, payment and promotions at bars and restaurants
Counterest – A platform measuring physical, in-store traffic and behaviour that brings web metrics to brick and mortar stores
Hand-in-Scan – Reducing hospital infections and associated costs with technology-aided education and objective verification
Wazoku Ltd – Helps businesses to harness the power of the crowd, providing process and structure to capture, evaluate, and select the best ideas.
Watcherenterprises – A smart watch for children, connecting them to their parents from anywhere at any time
Smarp – The ultimate employee advocacy platform that allows all employees to participate in communication efforts
AudioSnaps – Takes pictures with sound and embeds it in a standard JPEG file viewable in all browsers and devices
CloudDock – CloudDock is the universal adaptor for cloud storage that makes cloud services compatible
Sedicii – Used to identify people without exposing their private information
Hooptap – Web-based gamification platform that helps engage audience and advertisers

Fermin Bueno, partner at finnovista, organisers of Next Bank Europe, said: “Through events like Next Bank Europe, we enable these 20 startups to connect with traditional and alternative players of the financial services industry, offering them the opportunity to showcase their innovative products and technologies to the audience and engage in business with venture capital investors, technology buyers and bank partners.”

Reyes Bolumar from BBVA Open Talent added: “We had a staggering range of applications from very diverse disciplines. These included inventive ways to measure credit scores using the power of the crowd, to engage in domestic and cross-border payments using digital technologies and to take control of your investment portfolio online. I look forward to seeing what all the finalists bring to the table in Barcelona!”

Next Bank Europe is the second of three regional events to be held in 2014, where a winner and runner-up will be selected in each category for each regional edition of BBVA Open Talent. Next Bank Bogota and Next Bank Americas will be held on 4-5^th September and 15-16^th October, respectively.

For further information on BBVA Open Talent please visit: https://www.centrodeinnovacionbbva.com/en/opentalent

For further information on Next Bank Europe please visit:

http://www.nextbankeurope.com/