Quick Facts For The Media:

• 11 startups will embark on an 8–week long accelerator programme to build the new wave of Open Finance products for the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
• Brankas and Kaya Founders, along with local partners, will support the startups through mentorship, networking, product development, and eventually sponsor 3 winners to attend the Singapore Fintech Festival on 2-4 November where they will present at the main stage.
• In addition, they would also be eligible for USD 100K in investment and much more.

SINGAPORE, Aug. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Brankas, the leading open finance technology company in Southeast Asia, alongside Kaya Founders,  an early-stage investment firm that backs visionary entrepreneurs in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, jointly launched the inaugural Open PHinance Challenge earlier this week.

The Open PHinance ("Finance" + "Philippines") Challenge is an 8-week accelerator programme to generate innovative, high-value open finance products for early-stage startups in the Philippines to creatively solve for their audience or operational needs.

During the opening address, Todd Schweitzer, Founder and CEO of Brankas, shared the following: "We are now at the very beginning of banking 3.0 in the Philippines, where we're unbundling and embedding financial services, and reducing reliance on the financial institutions ("FIs") to build financial products on their own. More and more FIs are seeing a business value in partnering with startups like the accelerator participants where they can do distribution, monetization, and data sharing on behalf of the FIs. This is what we hope to enable with the Open PHinance Challenge, and hope that it benefits the users of the participants as well."

Out of 30 teams and startups which applied for the Challenge, 11 were selected for their problem identification, product relevance, innovativeness, and team dynamism. Despite Open Finance is a relatively new concept in the Philippines, the participating teams have already proposed novel use-cases for their respective industries. Representing 7 different sectors and 4 Southeast Asian countries, the teams bring to the table a wide range of industry expertise and start-up experience. The Start-ups are as follows :

1.        AltSwitch

AltSwitch is a blockchain-based company building products for the ecosystem of decentralized apps and services. They aim to develop a state-of-the-art hardware and software wallet, to provide digital asset security to the growing class of more than 300 million wallet users.

2.        Betterteem

Betterteem is a cloud-based HR integration app, which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enable businesses to predict employee churn, provide on-demand mental health support, and a digital employee community platform to positively influence employee experience.

3.        Cropital

Cropital is an agriculture crowdfunding platform providing farmers access to scalable and sustainable financing. Having successfully raised ₱100 million to support farmers across 10 provinces, they are now intent on building a credit scoring and reporting service for rural banks to manage risks in extending loans to small farmers.

4.        Datacultr Fintech Limited

Datacultr is a digital debt collections and risk management startup which digitalizes collection processes, automates customer engagement, and provides lifecycle management. Having raised a US$1M seed round in early 2022, they are looking to disrupt the lending segment in the Philippines by unlocking credit access for the 67 million unbanked and under-banked population.

5.        Dyippay

Dyippay is a Fintech startup servicing the public utility vehicle sector. They are building an automated fare collection system for cashless and cardless transactions via a mobile app. Ultimately, they aim to reduce the costs borne by transport cooperatives , and eventually expand into a suite of services which harmonizes public transportation in the Philippines.

6.        KoleK

KoleK is an enterprise SaaS which orchestrates receivables processes for companies, by providing a complete solution which tracks receivables, increases payment conversion rate, and provides data for better financial decisions. Their software is a bank-agnostic solution which leverages on open banking infrastructure for finance teams to have the flexibility in products for their operations.

7.        Mochi

Mochi is a B2B BNPL startup that aims to help MSME merchants purchase supplies without worrying about cash on hand. They do this by working with platforms, funders, and other technology solution providers who share their mission of building a more inclusive and integrated B2B e-commerce market in Asia.

8.        Rambooor

Rambooor is a Web3 startup which aims to make decentralized finance (DeFi) accessible, safe, and profitable for ordinary users via a secure non-custodial wallet. By making it a seamless process, their solution intends to enable end users to derive passive income from DeFi activities such as staking and liquidity farming.

9.        Sonicboom Solutions

Sonicboom Solutions is a Fintech company based in Malaysia, which focuses on making payment efficient for building owners and drivers in the mobility and parking industry. During the Challenge, they will be developing an all-in-one payment reading solution, and license plate recognition technology.

10.      Spiro Carbon Group

Spiro Carbon Group enables smallholder farms to transition to climate-friendly farming methods, subsequently generating and selling high quality, transparent, and socially conscious carbon offsets to SMEs globally. Their solution aims to create an open, secondary source of income for small farmers, and open a pathway to net-zero for business via a broad grassroots network.

11.       Taikee

Taikee is a personal finance platform that uses AI to create a unique financial management plan and setup for its users. By analyzing a user's demographics, goals, and spending habits through transactional data, Taikee aims to create a personalized experience for Filipinos to get started with managing and handling their finances.

Over the next few weeks, participating teams will undergo week-long intensives centered around product ideation, business development, user validation, regulatory compliance, pitching and fundraising, amongst others. Under the guidance of subject matter experts pooled together by Brankas, Kaya Founders, and local partners (see list below), participating teams will develop a unique product and pitch, which they will deliver at Demo Day.

We also want to thank all our partners for their support to elevate the next generation of open finance innovation in the Philippines as their forthcoming support!

Teams will be fully evaluated based on their product and pitch at the Demo Day in Manila on October 14, 2022. They will be judged by a panel of investors, leading startup founders, and Open Finance experts on various metrics, including their product and business viability, investability, and quality of the pitch.

To find out more about how you can be part of the program in the future or as a partner, reach out to us at support@brankas.com

About Brankas

Brankas is the leading Open Finance technology provider in Southeast Asia. We provide API-based solutions, data and payments solutions for financial service providers (like banks, lenders and e-wallets) and online businesses. Brankas partners with banks to build and manage their Open Finance infrastructure, producing APIs for real-time payments, identity and data, new account opening, remittances, and more. With Brankas' secure Open Banking technology, online businesses, fintech companies and digital banks can use Brankas APIs to create new digital experiences for their users.