Insurtech start-ups competing to win a US$100,000 contract to develop and pilot solutions with MetLife EMEA can look forward to “building a long-term relationship” focused on helping innovation to succeed, previous winners of the insurance giant’s collab programmes say.

A large number of insurtechs and entrepreneurs have already applied for “collab 3.0 EMEA”, a global open innovation platform inviting participants to scale their business with MetLife while solving some of the insurer’s biggest challenges across its business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Digital security world leader Gemalto and biometric technology company Zwipe have partnered with areeba, a financial and payment technology company in the Middle East and Africa, with the support of Unilux Cards, to pilot Visa’s first battery-less dual interface biometric payment card(chip- and contactless-enabled) in the Middle East.

Agorai, the only integrated marketplaces for Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and the data assets that fuel them, today announced the AgoraiMarketplaces. Designed to remove market inefficiencies, reward data creators and drive measurable value, Agorai brings together data owners and AI companies to create AI-driven solutions that solve real business problems.

As brick-and-mortar retailers look to enhance the in-store experience to compete with the ecommerce giants, they must contend with the unprecedented challenges posed by decreasing revenues and escalating costs.

But for those who invest smartly in the right digital initiatives, there are huge opportunities. For this reason, transformative technologies such as mobile scan-and-go solutions are gaining momentum across the world.

Generally the most laborious part of a customer’s relationship with their bank is the application and onboarding process. Filling out countless forms, searching for long-lost documents, and signing each piece of paper multiple times can lead to terrible experiences and high application attrition rates. Avoka are focused on streamlining banking customer experience so that banks and their customers can focus on the transaction rather than the application.

tappit, a leading international provider of cashless experiences to sports events, festivals and other global entertainment venues, has appointed Jason Thomas as its new Chief Executive Officer.

The Blockchain London Conference will arrive in Olympia London next week for the first leg of the 2018 World Series. The world’s largest blockchain event will be co-located with the AI and IoT Tech expo and is set to have 14,000 attendees, 500+ speakers and 250+ exhibitors. Registration will open at 8am on Wednesday 18^th April, Olympia London.

Vaultbank (www.vaultbank.io), the cryptocurre

Kestra Private Wealth Services, LLC (Kestra PWS), a registered investment adviser subsidiary of Kestra Financial, Inc. supporting independent advisor teams nationwide, today welcomed True Alpha Wealth Management (True Alpha) to its platform.

Based in Sandusky, Ohio, True Alpha Wealth Management is operated by Brian C. Duttera, President; Elizabeth Skrinak, CFP®, Vice President; and Pat Glasgow, Wealth Management Associate. Collectively, the team has more than 75 years of financial services experience.