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.

Startups can still apply up until close on 20 April, 2018 at the collab website for the opportunity to  develop solutions in areas such as customer engagement, sales, and operations, and to pilot these solutions with MetLife EMEA.

Created by LumenLab, MetLife Asia’s innovation center, collab 3.0 EMEA builds on the success of two previous collab programmes for MetLife Asia (collab 1.0) and MetLife Japan (collab 2.0), which have awarded US$600,000 in equity-free contracts to startup finalists.

Previous collab winners have focused on areas including operations optimisation, product pricing, customer engagement, digital distribution, and claims analysis.

Klaas Stijnen, CEO of Montoux, one of the collab 2.0’s winners, which has already started to pilot its solutions in product pricing optimisation with MetLife Japan, advises entrants to be transparent about the advantages and disadvantages of their solution when applying and to be prepared for high calibre engagement if they are selected for the programme.

Following a rigorous selection process, MetLife will determine eight finalists and pair them with MetLife EMEA employee champions to help finalists hone their pitch and improve problem-solution fit.

“You are building a long-term relationship, so take your time to explain and ask questions and ensure communication is clear. Have patience and ask for advice from MetLife’s employee champions and LumenLab’s collab team on your pitch. That process is a great help to get your value proposition right.”

“Winning collab was a far easier way of entering a new market than the traditional route and a key advantage was the level of support from different layers and geographies within MetLife to make innovation succeed,” Klaas Stijnen, CEO of Montoux.

The eight finalists will be invited to attend the collab Summit EMEA and Demo Day in London on 11-12 July 2018 to present their solutions where the ultimate winner will be announced.

To learn more and apply for collab 3.0 EMEA, please visit: collab.lumenlab.sg.

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.

The biometric payment card is presented by areeba & Visa in partnership with Gemalto and Zwipe, during Seamless Middle East in Dubai. The pilot aims to test the use of fingerprint recognition as a more convenient and secure alternative to PIN or signature to authenticate the cardholder during a transaction.  

Commenting on the agreement, Maher Mikati, CEO of areeba, said: “areeba is committed to investing in new capabilities that deliver better & more secure payment solutions; using fingerprint technology to authenticate a person for payments will provide cardholders a faster, easier and more secure payment process compared to the traditional use of PINs.  We are proud to partner with Visa, Gemalto and Zwipe to run this pilot program in the Middle East and make this innovative product available for financial institutions who are keen to integrate biometric technology into their payment cards to enhance convenience and reduce fraud.”

Nathan Cushnie, Visa’s Head of Digital Solutions for MENA, commented: “Just last month, we released findings from our survey[1] of UAE consumer attitudes towards biometrics which revealed that 98 per cent of consumers surveyed in the UAE are keen to use biometrics such as fingerprint recognition for payments. The pace of digital transformation in the region is opening up new opportunities for innovation, and our partnership with areeba marks another milestone in our commitment to introducing secure and convenient technology that more and more consumers across the region want.”

Commenting on this newest partnership, André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe said: “We are proud to partner with leading financial and payment technology companies like areeba who share our first mover vision when it comes to making payments more secure and convenient.” He adds: “We have seen a major surge in interest for our market leading battery-less dual interface biometric payment technology especially in the Middle East and we are confident that millions of consumers will be using their fingerprints and Zwipe technology to securely authenticate themselves and conveniently complete transactions going forward.”

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. Comprised of two distinct marketplaces, the AI Marketplace and the Data Marketplace, the Agorai platform is being built on blockchain technology and will allow users to retain ownership of their own AI tools and data assets, while enabling others to access them at scale, across the globe.

“While it may seem that we are constantly hearing about new AI advancements, the reality is that AI is today controlled by no more than five companies,” says Josh Sutton, CEO Agorai. “The underlying problem is that AI needs data to fuel its development. And if you aren’t Google, Microsoft or IBM for example, you are unlikely to have access to, or be able to afford to buy, the data you need to develop your idea and take it to market. Not only is this uncompetitive, but it deprives the world of some potentially ground-breaking advancements. We are working to make AI more accessible for all, with the added bonus that these Marketplaces will drive significant improvements in automation and efficiencies across industries.”

Agorai is creating a user-friendly one-stop shop, via which AI companies can cost effectively access the massive data assets they need to create world class AI tools. At the same time, it is delivering a previously unavailable path for them to take these tools to market. Built on blockchain technology, every transaction that takes place on the AgoraiMarketplaces will be fully transparent, completely distributed and securely validated.

The Agorai AI Marketplace enables people building AI tools and applications to access and share assets otherwise unavailable to them and provides a distribution channel for AI companies to put AI in the hands of those who need it. Agorai’s Data Marketplace keeps data ownership in the hands of those who create it and has developed a way for data owners, individuals or companies, to securely monetize their data assets. The Agorai Marketplaces match data owners with companies developing AI tools, so they can create more intelligent AI. For advertisers, for example, this means access to data-at-scale, delivering a much more accurate view of the customer. It also provides access to AI tools that deliver the next generation of advertising targeting. 

The Agorai Marketplaces are currently being piloted and are scheduled for launch in late-2018. To participate in the pilot or for more information visit www.agorai.ai.

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.

Jason brings a proven track record of leading international teams in countries across Europe, Asia and North America, working for companies such as Sony, Virgin, HMV and Universal. He takes the helm from Rob Groombridge, who has moved into his new role as Managing Director of joint venture company tappit Africa (PTY) Ltd., in South Africa.

Jason was previously Chief Commercial Officer at the Sappaya payments group, and part of the executive team at Ticketscript that brokered a multi-million dollar trade sale to San Francisco based ticketing company Eventbrite. He was also Head of Ticketing at HMV, leading the department to annual turnover of over £10 million. Jason specialises in business transformation and strategy implementation in disruptive technology, ecommerce, business intelligence and data driven industries.

Speaking about his new position at tappit, Jason explained: “As a huge music and sports fan, I’m thrilled to bring my technology and ticketing experience to tappit as we embark on a period of significant growth in international markets. Every sports game I go to I despair at the customer experience we still put up with – constantly queuing and searching for money for the car park, club shop, programmes, food and drink.

“There is a better way today: tappit provides simple, secure technology via cards and wristbands, that easily avoids these fan pain-points, enabling event operators to focus on providing the best possible fan experience, and enjoy the rewards that come with it.”

Cashless payment experiences, already common in the German Bundesliga and Rugby 7s events, are fast becoming an integral feature of events around the world. tappit makes fans’ payments as convenient as possible, improving the visitor experience, increasing revenue and improving loyalty. Operators benefit from improved cash management and optimised reconciliation, while receiving a wealth of payment information on fans’ spending habits, enabling them to improve future events and experiences.

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.

Event attendees can expect to meet with like-minded individuals and exhibitors such as IBM, BrandShield, Bitfury, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, Stratis and XcelTrip in a series of networking opportunities,  that are included in a paid pass. The first evening of the show will host a networking party at Under The Bridge, starting at 6.30pm. Alongside a VIP lounge to connect with other attendees, there is also an event app where you are able to contact all attendees at the expo and plan meetings. 

The Blockchain Expo will also allow you to ask questions to the events 200+ thought leading speakers in Q&A sessions. These speakers include:

• Neil Marshall, Global Director at Coca Cola
• Jeremy Millar, Founding board member at Enterprise Ethereum Alliance
• Vincent Doumeizel, Vice President Food and Sustainability at Lloyd’s Register
• Richard Kastelein, Founder and Publisher at Blockchain News
• Nicola McCheyne, Head of Ideas Lab at Centrica
• Jo-Jo Hubbard, COO and Co-founder at Electron
• Roberto Garcia, Head of Blockchain IT at Santander
• Mark Simpson, Distinguished Engineer, Innovation Engineering at RBS
• Nigel Collett, Director IT Strategy at BC Ferries
• Julian Gray, Technology Director and BP
• Boris Spremo, Blockchain Innovation at BNY Mellon

There is under a week left to register for the event, so make sure you don’t miss out.

Amsterdam Blockchain Conference will also take place at RAI, Amsterdam on 27-28 June 2018, alongside the exciting announcement of the Blockchain Awards, taking place during the first evening of Amsterdam. San Francisco Blockchain Conference will take place at the Santa Clara Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley on 28-29 November 2018.

https://blockchain-expo.com/global/

For further information contact:

Blockchain Expo

Emma Clapp

Marketing Manager

enquiries@blockchain-expo.com / +44 (0)117 980 9023

www.blockchain-expo.com

Vaultbank (www.vaultbank.io), the cryptocurrency exchange platform for buying, selling, and trading asset-backed tokens, today announced it has raised over $3 million in funding, reaching the soft cap for its VB token sale. VB tokens are currently being distributed to Vaultbank token sale backers. The company also announced the launch of the Vaultbank Fund, which provides the main asset-backing of each VB token and intends to pay quarterly dividends in Ethereum (ETH). Of the $3 million raised in the VB token sale, $1.3 million has been allocated to the Vaultbank Fund, providing the main yields to be used for potential dividends which are expected to be distributed at the end of Q2, 2018.

“At Vaultbank, we’re building a suite of financial services to support the evolution of cryptocurrency trading and investing, and the Vaultbank Fund is a major feature of this effort,” said Christopher Cummock, Co-Founder and Chief Compliance Officer. “We are pleased by the support from our backers in the VB token sale, and look forward to continuing to build out our platform and fund offerings.”

Vaultbank is a global investment firm that provides a comprehensive suite of financial solutions including a secured asset fund, its proprietary Vaultbank Exchange, and traditional investments securities that include Mutual Funds and Hedge Funds.  The Vaultbank Exchange will offer a fully securities-compliant platform supporting KYC, AML, FATCA, and Accreditation.

Vault bank has also partnered with Gordian Compliance Solutions, LLC, a compliance consulting firm, headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Vaultbank and Gordian Compliance Solutions are in the process of registering with the SEC as an Alternative Trading System (ATS) and with FINRA as a registered broker-dealer for the issuance of security tokens and the trading of security and utility tokens on the Vaultbank Exchange.

Built on the Stellar platform, Vaultbank Exchange offers lightning-fast transaction times at a fraction of the cost of other exchanges. While many exchanges have come under scrutiny for providing insufficient security protocols, Vaultbank has been engineered to provide enhanced security via compulsory triple-factor authentication. Vaultbank further mitigates security risks inherent in other centralised exchanges by providing traders total control over their private keys.

Vaultbank board of directors includes former BlackRock CIO Ken Kroner, former Third Point Capital partner Keri Findley, former MasterCard Head of Digital Commerce (MEA) Aaron Oliver, Gyft co-founder CJ MacDonald, and former Bank of America Managing Director Mike Gay.

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.

“We chose Kestra PWS because of its easily adaptable platform, cutting-edge technological capabilities, integrated CRM tools and most importantly – the team’s commitment to helping us serve our clients and grow our business,” said Duttera. “We’re thrilled, energized, and very happy with the support we received thus far.”

The advisors at True Alpha offer holistic financial planning services and customized wealth management solutions to individuals, families, entrepreneurs, C-level executives, retirement plans, and foundations, with a focus on serving families with special needs as well as nontraditional families.

“True professionals want personal and professional satisfaction and Brian and Liz deserve both. These are people who are excited about making the business vibrant again, putting their clients first and putting their names on the door,” said Rob Bartenstein, Senior Management Director and CEO of Kestra PWS. “We’re in business to help set talented advisors – just like the True Alpha team – free. Our passion for that has resulted in a platform that reduces the risks and knowledge gaps that hold too many good advisors back. We couldn’t be prouder to partner with Brian and Liz on their journey.”

Kestra PWS was founded by wirehouse veterans and offers full-service independence via the firm’s premier turnkey model.