The Results of the First FinTech Accelerator in Moldova

Fintech Accelerator 2021: Moldovan startups have developed innovative solutions for the financial-banking field

Financial and IT services are constantly evolving, and the country’s startup communitie and financial companies are increasingly involved in promoting and developing the fintech industry. For these reasons, Startup Moldova has launched Fintech Moldova 2021 — a program dedicated to tech startups that develops solutions in the field of financial services. It is carried out in partnership with MAIB and Mastercard and with the support of USAID and Sweden, within the Tekwill project. To improve fintech services and stimulate the development of innovative ideas, the program is carried out in 3 stages: Hackathon, Accelerator and Conference.

Fintech Accelerator — a development opportunity for startups

In the first stage, 11 teams were selected, supported to access the resources they need, to develop fintech products and move to the next level of piloting. In the second stage, for 3 months, during the accelerator, the participants were involved in mentoring and consulting sessions from mentors and experts in the field, they had access to an extensive business network in the financial-banking field. , gained new knowledge and interacted with future customers to benefit from potential investments and information on how corporations can support a local initiative.

“One of the fields with a great development potential in the Republic of Moldova is FinTech. As the IT industry propels innovation, processes and changes paradigms, the need for new products, which offer viable solutions in the process of technologicalization of services in the financial-banking sphere, also increases considerably. For a better understanding of market needs, we have identified a reliable private partner, interested in such solutions, ready to come with support, piloting and integration. Therefore, we are grateful for the involvement of MAIB and Mastercard partners in the development of the FinTech 2021 Vertical, which detects the problems faced by banking companies and provides relevant IT solutions to solve them” says Mary Nemciuc, entrepreneurial program manager, TEKWILL.

“The acceleration program aimed to help startups validate their ideas and create products, as well as to build a supportive relationship between MAIB and each of these startups. The experience was new for us as well, challenging the people in charge of the bank’s products to think differently about how to build partnerships. We count on the fact that this first experience will continue, facilitating the development of the MAIB partnership ecosystem for the benefit of our clients, but also of the fintech ecosystem in the Republic of Moldova” announces Aliona Stratan, First Vice President of MAIB

Within the accelerator, 9 solutions were developed, which could be adopted by MAIB to facilitate business processes within the bank and bring value to existing customers, but also to potential ones in the financial-banking sector.

“Startup trackers” — to guide entrepreneurs at the beginning of the path

The participants benefited daily from the support of “startup trackers” and, weekly, from online conferences with experts in the financial, IT, entrepreneurial, marketing and legal fields. Thus, topics related to customer service, marketing strategies, presentation skills, financial, technical, regulatory topics, etc. were addressed. In addition to the weekly sessions, the teams also had offline meetings with local and international mentors. Among the experts were: Doina Chiselița, Vitalie Eșanu, Sergiu Nagailîc, Alexander Țurcan, Iurii Cicibaba, Yuriy Batckhin and others. For the first time for the Republic of Moldova, at FinTech Accelerator, the teams and organizers collaborated with “startup trackers”, who offered help to the participants and made sure that the activity of the teams goes correctly. They were also the bridge between teams and mentors.

“As a senior tracker, I am proud that, based on the feedback at the end of the program, trackers have been designated as one of the main effective and valuable tools for the accelerator. It was not an easy journey, it always requires investments of emotions, time and knowledge, but it is also an extraordinary experience to support the founders in their journey to success. I am happy to announce that startup trackers are now openly operating on the Moldovan market and can help all local startups to victory! “ says Evgeny Frolov, senior startup tracker

“I had a great experience as a tracker! During this acceleration program, I worked together with a motivated team that started with just one idea and, after three months, obtained a functional product (MVP) and already the first customers. By asking the right questions and working closely with the team, the tracker helps avoid common mistakes and shortens the team’s learning time by years. With the roles of mentor and personal psychologist, my mission was to encourage and motivate the team, to educate and bring more clarity, to manage the next steps of action and to help the founders make strategic decisions that lead to the desired results.” underlines Dmitrii Albot, tracker at FinTech Accelerator.

Incomparable experiences for accelerator participants

At the end of the accelerator, two days of Demo Day took place, in which the participants presented their products, developed during the program.

“Our experience in the accelerator was exceptional. I learned many new aspects of business, especially the validation process and idea development methodologies. One of the most valuable aspects in Accelerator was the connection with the people from the financial-banking institutions, which the trackers and organizers provided us to help us validate the idea in terms of business and laws. Many thanks to the members of the Startup Moldova and MAIB teams, to the trackers Sergiu Voitovskii and Evgeny Frolov and to the MAIB representative, Ghenadie Cernei. Our team, MyID, will work hard to demonstrate that the guidance and support we have received have been very helpful and together we will digitize Moldova! “ says Sergiu Motreac, MyID team representative.

The FinTech 2021 program will end with a conference in October, attended by experts, startups and all those associated with the financial industry. The event will discuss industry challenges, consumer needs and the potential of fintech solutions to build new business models through which banks, financial services companies and other market players could provide the best services to customers and business partners.

Originally published on August 23, 2021.