SuperCharger HK 2018 raises US$14.4mil, seals 47 commercial deals

By Digital News Asia June 11, 2018

This year, Standard Chartered first defined a set of real problems to solve
Bank launched a proof-of-concept with vPhrase, a finalist in the current cohort

SuperCharger HK 2018 raises US$14.4mil, seals 47 commercial deals

SUPERCHARGER Fintech Accelerator and Standard Chartered demonstrated the success of its programme for a third year running. Through the 12-week programme, the cohort companies have achieved 47 commercial deals, US$14.4 million (RM57.38 million) funds raised, received 17 awards and formed a network of 372 mentors, partners, regulators and business stakeholders.

Standard Chartered has newly-launched a proof-of-concept with vPhrase, one of the finalists of the current cohort, whose artificial intelligence technology can help the compliance function automate the generation of insights and commentary, and make the report writing process more efficient.

The analysis and commentary will include trends on regions, business and functions to help inform the senior management and assist them in making better business decisions using data.

This year’s programme has been taken one step further to guide SuperCharger’s search for the best fintechs, with Standard Chartered first defining a set of real problems to solve. This process helped increase the value of this collaboration to both the fintechs, as well as the bank.

Since 2015, SuperCharger has led the growth of the local and regional fintech ecosystem. Janos Barberis, founder of SuperCharger said: “Reflecting on what was achieved in the last three years is humbling. We can now confidently say that being a SuperCharger alumnus is a sign of quality for clients and investors, as confirmed by the number of deals closed and the amount raised to date.

"In addition, we were able to give back to our community with the launch of Asia’s first Fintech Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with the University of Hong Kong, which enrolled over 20,000 students to date, including the employees of Standard Chartered.”

Carol Hung, chief information officer of Standard Chartered Hong Kong, said: “We are looking for greater collaboration with fintechs to help us solve real business problems and improve the client experience. Supercharger is one of our key initiatives to source the most innovative solutions across the fintech ecosystem and to nurture the next generation of FinTech entrepreneurs that could potentially shape banking trends.”

In April, Standard Chartered officially opened its Hong Kong innovation lab, the eXellerator. This will further accelerate co-creation opportunities for businesses, clients, technology companies and industry partners in Hong Kong and the region, to come together and explore new ways to solve business problems and create new value propositions.

The bank also launched SC Ventures this year. This is a new business unit set up with the vision to “rewire the DNA in banking”.

It aims to build on the eXellerator success, and create a platform to identify and develop multiple innovative ideas across the bank, supported by a bank-wide intrapreneurship programme to embed innovation into the way the bank works. SC ventures will also make strategic investments in promising fintech startups which the bank is working with, and set up new ventures to explore new business models.