Congratulations to Pushpay who won both the Innovative Company and Company of the Year titles and FinTechNZ member LatiPay who won the Best Hi-Tech Start Up Company of the Year title at the recent NZ Hi-Tech Awards at the conclusion of Techweek’17.
“LatiPay’s incredible win clearly illustrates how kiwi innovators can truly make a difference globally. Congratulations to our local FinTech startup,” says FinTechNZ Core Working Group Chair, Mitchell Pham.
“The NZ Hi-Tech Awards is the pinnacle of recognition in the tech sector and as the FinTech sector continues to grow. Based on the number of FinTech businesses who entered and ended up as finalists across the majority of the award categories, we encourage the NZ Hi-Tech Trust to consider a FinTech category for next year’s awards,” says Mitchell.
Techweek’17 featured numerous FinTech events including Kea Inspire: The Future of Money where Frances Valintine, FinTechNZ members Mandy Simpson and Leigh Flounders discussed cryptocurrencies and how these technologies are changing the world of finance. There was interesting discussion on global FinTech trends and the future of transactions, ecommerce and how our relationship with money will change.
Another FinTech highlight of Techweek’17 was the thought provoking Blockchain Conference. FinTechNZ member, Steve Smith of Alchemy attended and was particularly interested in discussions on smart contracts and the ability they have to transform the way business operates.
“After covering the basics of Blockchain and how Bitcoin and smart contracts operate, some interesting case studies were presented. There was stimulating discussion about how governments and some financial institutions will respond to Blockchain and cryptocurrencies,” he said.
Of particular interest to New Zealand’s primary producers was discussion on the use of Blockchain for food provenance. As Blockchain matures, this will be a highly innovative sector that will be disruptive to the models most of us are familiar with, he explained.
However, it wasn’t all hype, says Steve. Weaknesses in the current technology such as scalability, low transaction throughput and how it is unsuited for storing large amounts of data were also discussed. Presentation slides from the conference are now available.
The focus on FinTech continues this week with the Kiwibank Fintech Accelerator Demo Day on 19 May in Wellington. This is an opportunity to hear the founders of seven ventures pitch for the first time and learn more about their three month accelerator journey.
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Image: NZ Hi-Tech Awards.
