New Zealand firms came out as top dogs with a quinella result at an Australasian fintech industry awards event last week.
Wellington-headquartered online financial education start-up, Banqer, secured ‘best in show’ at the Afiniation fintech innovation awards in Sydney. Fellow NZ capital-dweller, data migration specialist Eight Wire, was named runner-up in the best-of category at the inaugural Afiniation awards, which attracted over 30 entries.
In a statement, Afiniation co-founder and head judge, Marc Evans, said Banqer helps children develop “a rich understanding of what it means to be in charge of your own personal finances”.
“As a result the judges felt that Banqer was the most innovative and interesting presenter at the Showcase as they showed that society and FinTech can work together,” Evans said.
Banqer co-founder, Kendall Flutey, said in the release the Afiniation event marked the group’s “first introduction to the Australian FinTech community”.
“… and we couldn’t have asked for a better entry point,” Flutey said.
Another Wellington-based operation, online portfolio management firm ShareSight, took out the best-of-breed Technology prize, with compatriot company (albeit headquartered in Auckland), SuiteBox, coming in second.
The Technology award recognises “the best advances in technology that will influence FinTech in the future”, Afiniation said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Australian firms Ignition Wealth and Big Future secured first and second place respectively in the Robo-Advice category. Ignition Wealth enables consumers to “easily and seamlessly execute automatically on the decision made around their plan”, the Afiniation statement says.
Property investment platform, DomaCom, created by Arthur Naoumidis (also responsible for launching ASX-listed wrap business Praemium), took out the Disruptor award. Australian start-ups CapitalPitch and Simply Wall Street finished one-two in the Best New Entrant category.
Afiniation is a “virtual network” of Australasian fintech firms, according to the group’s website, charged with nurturing and promoting the fledging industry in the region.