Recap

FDCRecap

With funding from BMGF, Karandaaz runs an annual FinTech Disrupt Challenge (FDC or Challenge) in Pakistan. The primary thrust of the Challenge is to work with technology driven start-ups to introduce enhancements and innovations in financial products and services (payments, credit, savings, and insurance), infrastructure, and process support for the financial technology space. The overarching aim of the FDC is not only to identify partners who can leverage technology to rapidly narrow the financial inclusion gap in Pakistan but also to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country and create valuable linkages between innovators and the financial eco-system.

Fintech Disrupt Challenge 2016

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Fintech Disrupt Challenge 2017

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Testimonials

  • The Karandaaz FDC program provided a platform for homegrown solutions to take root and thrive in Pakistan. We are a technology startup in the digital financial services domain with a key focus on research and development. This grant is helping us take our research project to the masses, that is, providing secure and friction­less biometric identity verification in the digital payments and mobile money space, using a smartphone camera.

    It was great to see such a huge turnout, with more than sixty innovative ideas, in the digital
    payments technology space, competing with one another. The creative and entrepreneurial
    spirit of everyone involved was certainly inspiring.

    Saqib Bashir, Paysys Labs

  • The Karandaaz FDC grant was a life saver to PublishEX. Not only did the grant allow us to cover our operating and capital costs in order to make our business model a reality but the recognition we received from the fintech challenge gave us the added credibility we needed when approaching our clients.

    FDC 2016 was the first event that we attended. Every start up entrepreneur will tell you that you go through stages of uninformed optimism to informed pessimism then to informed optimism and hopefully through to completion. FDC gave us the psychological push we needed to further believe in our idea. More than that it was exciting to see how high the standards are here in Pakistan of young entrepreneurs looking to make a difference. It gave us the opportunity to meet very exciting people we could bounce ideas off. It didn’t feel like a competition but rather a forum where everyone was there to help each other out. We couldn’t be more glad having to enter the challenge.

    Salim Karim, PublishEX

  • As a start­up you always need some sort of support and in our case FDC has really been helpful towards achieving our objectives. Karandaaz has not only been a financial support for us but they also provided us a platform through which we got a chance to connect with key players of the industry. Overall, our association with Karandaaz has really been amazing and we shall keep on benefiting from this wonderful organization.

    FDC 2016 was a wonderful opportunity for fintech start­ups to showcase the work which they are doing and also to connect with all the experienced and emerging players of the industry. It was really amazing to see the kind of work which startups are doing in fintech industry. Since we were one of the winners of the competition, it gave us strong recognition of our idea and the objective which we are trying to achieve.

    Humayun Dar, Ricult Pakistan

Grantees

A

judge A

B

Judge B

C

Judge C

D

Judge D

E

Judge E