Toronto-based financial services technology company, Dream Payments takes first-place $1.5 million investment award
ROCKY HILL, Conn., October 24, 2016 – Connecticut Innovations (CI), the leading source of financing and ongoing support for Connecticut’s innovative, growing companies, today announced the winners of VentureClash, a $5 million global investment challenge for early-stage digital health and financial technology (fintech) companies.
Of the 11 finalists from eight different countries, VentureClash awarded six companies with investments, mentoring, customer introductions, grants and services to help them grow and succeed. As part of each deal, the winners are required to establish a presence in Connecticut.
Awards
Dream Payments, a Canada-based fintech cloud powering payments across mobile devices and the Internet of Things in partnership with financial institutions, received the top investment award of $1.5 million. Brent Ho-Young is the CEO of Dream Payments and presented on behalf of the company on October 20.
The second-place winner, which received a $1 million investment is Hubbub, a United Kingdom–based company providing digital fundraising solutions for the education and nonprofit sectors. Jonathan May is the CEO of Hubbub and accepted the award on behalf of his team.
Four companies received a $500,000 investment award. They included:
AMP Credit Technologies, a Hong Kong–based fintech company solving the $3 trillion demand for credit by small businesses around the world.
BondIT, an Israel-based company driving sales by empowering advisers with data-driven, personalized, optimal investment recommendations increasing trades and revenues.
LindaCare, a Belgium-based digital health company offering software solutions for healthcare providers to facilitate patient remote monitoring.
Streamdata.io, a France-based company developing software and infrastructures that help developers turn content into streams that easily integrate into front-end and back-end systems.
“This competition showcased an incredible display of talent from companies around the world,” said Matt McCooe, CEO of Connecticut Innovations. “We have now completed the first step in the process with the awards. The next and more vital piece of this challenge will be getting the deals completed, and setting up a soft landing for the companies in the challenge who decide to open operations in Connecticut. We look forward to expediting that process and helping these companies gain traction in the U.S. market.”
The winners along with the five other finalists presented their business ideas in front of a live audience and a panel of judges on Thursday, October 20, at the Yale School of Management. The judges included subject matter and investor experts from athenahealth, Canaan Partners, Oak HC/FT, Kepha Partners, Magellan Health, and Point72 Ventures.
The top two investment awards also receive up to $100,000 each in grants for assistance with relocation and other expenses, and each runner-up investment award includes a $50,000 grant. All six winners will also receive $120,000 worth of IBM Cloud Credits, sponsored by IBM.
In addition to the company pitches, the VentureClash program also included two panel discussions, which included experts from companies like Yale New Haven Health System, Aetna, Medtronic and Flare Capital that focused on digital health; and experts from The Hartford, Webster Financial Corporation, AXA Strategic Ventures, Synchrony Financial and the Yale School of Management that spoke on trends in financial technology.
For more information on qualifications, requirements, guidelines and application, visit www.ventureclash.com.
About VentureClash
VentureClash is Connecticut Innovations’ global investment challenge focused on early-stage companies. The challenge identifies high-potential companies in digital health and fintech that will receive investments from a $5 million award pool and the support of resources around Connecticut.
About Connecticut Innovations Inc.
Connecticut Innovations (CI) is the leading source of financing and ongoing support for Connecticut’s innovative, growing companies. To maximize the growth potential of each business, CI tailors its solutions and often combines its funds with resources from other financial leaders to provide venture capital and strategic support for early-stage technology companies; flexible loans for established companies with new innovations; grants that support innovation and collaboration; and connections to its well-established network of partners and professionals. For more information on CI, please visit www.ctinnovations.com.