Oz Forensics from Russia bags the prestigious Fintech Startup of the Year trophy at India FinTech Awards (IFTA) 2018

30 Nov 2018

India FinTech Forum organized India FinTech Awards (IFTA) 2018, the most prestigious fintech awards in India, on 30th November, 2018 at Mumbai.

After 20 innovative fintech product demos, Oz Forensics from Russia won the prestigious Fintech Startup of the Year trophy and a cash prize of INR 1 lac sponsored by Perfios. As part of the award, Oz Forensics will get an opportunity to showcase their product at LendIt Fintech USA 2019 in SanFrancisco, which is one of the world’s leading events in Financial Services Innovation.

Government of Maharashtra was the Chief Strategic Partner, and the event was hosted at the iconic Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). IFTA 2018 saw the participation of startups and delegates from over 10 countries. Medici was the Strategic Partner and helped in selecting the top 20 fintech startups from over 250 applicants. These finalists showcased their product in front of the panel of judges and industry leaders to compete for the IFTA Startup of the Year 2018 award. Knowledge Partner Ernst & Young managed the entire evaluation process to arrive at the IFTA 2018 winners.

Shri J A Chowdary, Special Chief Secretary & IT Advisor to the Chief Minister, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh,India said, “We have not even scratched the surface of the ocean in fintech. There are lot ofopportunities in financial inclusion, fintech in healthcare, in education, in agriculture, fintech in government. There is so much to do in fintech here. I think it is a great time for the entrepreneurs, forstartup companies, even for multinational fintech companies for the Indian market.”

Mr. Mahesh Makhija, Partner and Leader, Digital and FinTech, EY said, “I’m very happy to be here atIFTA today. We’re launching a couple of things at IFTA. The first is the EY India Fintech Compendiumwhich has all the top use cases that fintechs are working on today. The second is the EY India Fintech Hub, an online collaboration portal where fintechs can lay out their solution, see what EY India has tooffer and we’re building a community around that so banks can also be a part of that portal.”

Ms. Louise Smith, Head of Design and Transformation, RBS said, “India FinTech Forum engages thefintech community really well, and actually facilitates collaboration. Therefore, each year this community is growing. I am excited about India to actually see more people talking about building a business, notjust building tech or building proposition.”

SP Jain School of Global Management, in association with other eminent industry members, is establishing Association for Emerging Technologies in India (AETI). Mr. Vikram Pandya, Director – Fintech, SP Jain School of Global Management spoke about AETI at IFTA 2018.

Winners at IFTA 2018

IFTA Fintech Rising Stars:

The following three startups won the Fintech Rising Star trophies:

Appnomic Systems, India
Hydrogen, USA
Ezetap, India

Category Awards at IFTA 2018:Sucharita Mukherjee Co-founder & CEO, Kaleidofin Private Limited received the award in the Woman Leader in Fintech category, while Dilip Asbe, MD & CEO, NPCI was recognized as the Fintech Leader of the Year. PolicyBazaar won the Best Fintech Marketing Campaign and Royal Bank of Scotland bagged the Most Innovative Bank of the Year award.

Most Innovative Fintech Product award was bagged by vPhrase, and Value3 Advisory in the lending category. The Financial Inclusion Initiative of the Year was awarded to PayJoy, and Eduvanz in the lending category.

Mr. Manav Jeet, MD & CEO, Rubique and member of the Strategy Policy Committee of India FinTechForum said, “The essence of fintech is how you are going to use technology, whether it is machinelearning, AI or blockchain, to ease out end consumer’s pain.” He also said, “Fintech is evolving in India. This is a great platform to exchange ideas, understand each other’s pain areas, and how we can collaborate with each other, because that is the need of the hour.”