Startupbootcamp names fintech accelerator startup finalists

The 10 finalists - picked by a panel that included programme backers Lloyds, MasterCard, Rabobank and SBT Venture Capital - come from Europe, Africa and America, and cover ares such as credit scores, crypto-currencies, social payments and crowdfunding. Between them, they already have EUR6 million in funding, while seven are revenue generating.

Nektarios Liolios, MD, Startupbootcamp FinTech, says: "Over the last five months we've scoured the planet for the most interesting, innovative and promising FinTech startups. We've met over 436 startups, visited financial hubs across four continents and held 18 different events. We're confident that the 10 teams selected represent the very best that the financial services and technology industries have to offer."

Kicking off in August, the three month programme will see the startups get a EUR15,000 award and over three months' free office space in London's Rainmaking Loft, a 10,000 square foot start-up hub in the iconic St. Katharine Docks, next to Tower Bridge.

Here the companies will benefit from mentorship from more than 100 entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate partners, helping guide them through each of the 'shape', 'build', and 'sell' stages of their development. Startupbootcamp FinTech's partnership with Lloyds, Rabobank, SBT Venture Capital and MasterCard will also provide firms with access to pilot customers, industry data, APIs and capital.

At the end of the three months, the teams will be invited to present their companies to more than 200 investors, mentors, and partners during a demo day.

Alessandro Hatami, director, digital payments and innovation, Lloyds, says: "We've met an impressive group of exciting early-stage firms that are not only passionate about changing the world of financial services for the better, but have a genuine focus on delivering real value to customers. We look forward to working with the 10 selected firms soon."

The 10 finalists are:

• South Africa's Creditable, which enables credit unions, lenders, businesses and individuals to give loans to their customers, employees, suppliers and family professionally in five minutes
• America's Epiphyte, which is deploying enterprise software that allows the pre-installed systems of financial institutions to "talk" to crypto-financial networks
• Poland's FriendlyScore, which creates credit scorecards based on big data from Facebook
• Estonia's Insly, a cloud-based tool for insurance salespeople
• InvoiceSharing, from the Netherlands, a financial services marketplace which enables 100% free electronic invoicing
• The UK's Liquity, an online marketplace matching buyers and sellers of private company shares
• Kenya's M-Change, whose technology enables anyone to quickly and inexpensively manage a remote fundraiser
• Switzerland's milliPay Systems, a micropayment startup that makes online payments as simple as browsing
• America's Tab, which integrates with existing bank systems to enable real-time social payment networking
• The UK's Up Investments, which enables people to find, manage and grow all of their P2P and equity crowdfunded investments through one free and simple platform