Finnext Capital , an innovation ecosystem enabler announced a partnership with Cyberview, to develop Finnext Accelerator, which is a collaborative effort between government, corporates, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to accelerate and nurture Fintech and IoT focused tech startups.

Selected startups will work closely with the ecosystem players and leverage on technology and resources to implement their services at Cyberjaya which is poised as the leading Smart City in this nation.

Finnext Accelerator will host batches of up to ten (10) teams over ten months in Cyberjaya, Malaysia to prepare startups to be accelerated and investment ready by providing high-quality mentorship and support in leveraging their regional network of investors, mentors, and entrepreneurs.

It is a network-driven accelerator for startups that aims at transforming the conventional approach to the technology industry (Fintech and IoT) by embracing digital advancement and with a scalable business model. Finnext Accelerator aims to attract and support the growth of the highest quality FinTech and IoT startups in Malaysia, from the full spectrum of the FinTech and IoT landscape.

The majority of the management team at Finnext Accelerator are deeply involved in Malaysia’s financial sector and are leaders of a global FinTech community, Next Money. Through the local city chapter, Next Money Kuala Lumpur, the team has hosted multiple meetups, conference, and events and have established successful collaborations with regulators, government agencies, investors and FinTech firms. The remaining team comes from the Startup ecosystem with the experience of running an accelerator to investing in tech companies.

FinTech and IoT

FinTech and IoT are the results of the 4th Industrial Revolution and they are the catalysts to propel the development of the world-class smart city which will benefit people from all walks of life i.e. unbanked and underinsured segment, small-medium businesses, entrepreneurs and corporates.

According to Klaus Schwab, the Founder and Executive Chairman of World Economic Forum, we stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. We do not yet know just how it will unfold, but one thing is clear: the response to it must be integrated and comprehensive, involving all stakeholders of the global polity, from the public and private sectors to academia and civil society.

The possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited.

Smart Cities definition

A smart city is defined as an urban development vision to integrate multiple ICT solutions in a secured manner to manage a city’s assets which include local departments information systems, schools, libraries, transportation systems, hospitals, power plants, water supply networks, waste management, law enforcement, and other community services.

The goal of building a smart city is to improve the quality of life by using technology to improve the efficiency of services and meet residents’ needs.

Finnext Accelerator believes that it can play an important role in propagating technology via the advancement of tech startups and development of a sustaining tech community in assisting Cyberview to achieve its smart city vision in Cyberjaya. We believe ICT will allow city officials to interact directly with the community and the city infrastructure and to monitor what is happening in the city, how the city is evolving, and how to enable a better quality of life.

Building a Smart City through FinTech and IoT

The accelerator programme will focus on a few key areas:

1. Provide an effective platform for FinTech and IoT startups to use Cyberjaya as a testbed for their innovation solutions and enable Cyberjaya to be a leading Smart City in this region

2. Provide innovative ways for the Smart City citizens in Cyberjaya to interact with money and infrastructure in effective and efficient ways within the connected ICT network. Imagine having payments, transfers, lending done at the tip of your fingertips via connected devices

3. Provide a gateway to spearhead the nation’s agenda of having connected homes which indirectly connects Cyberjaya and Malaysia at large to the world seamlessly by having an “always connected” society by leveraging on the FinTech and IoT solutions

4. Work towards capitalising on FinTech solutions to enable a more inclusive financial community and to support the unbanked and underserved community in Malaysia and beyond

5. Strengthen and support the securitization of data within Cyberjaya which will promote trade through ICT advancement

6. Propel Cyberjaya as the Global Tech Hub within the ASEAN region and beyond

Finnext Accelerator will run as part of Cyberview’s Living Lab initiative to promote an open innovation ecosystem and provide a platform to elevate Malaysia’s vibrant entrepreneurship to the next level. Living Lab via Finnext Accelerator can be go-to platform to harness innovation via startups and enterprises focusing on FinTech and IoT to be tested and validated in Cyberjaya before launching into the real world.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg