A total of RM54,000 in API credits and cash was awarded to winners of the Digital Penang FinTech Hackathon.
It was a collaborative initiative of Digital Penang with its partners Finexus and Touch ‘n Go Digital.
The hackathon was held virtually for two months from November to December 2021 with 35 teams across Malaysia creating a FinTech digital product on the Finexus’ MyXaaS Innovation Platform. It was the first Hackathon event for Digital Penang, a government agency in Penang which aims to accelerate efforts to spur the digital economy and open up more opportunities by connecting tech talents to industry leaders.
Winners were judged on Innovation, Business Viability and Integration Completeness of their FinTech products.
“The FinTech Hackathon aims to encourage and motivate tech talents through the enabling of their creation in a real-world setting. While major banking institutions and financial services are based in the Klang Valley, we hope to spur fintech innovations through hackathons that will disrupt the industry. We will be organising more hackathons to encourage and attract talents in our efforts of building the digital ecosystem”, said Tony Yeoh, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Penang.
The winning team is 404 Not Found for its Charity Cloud E-wallet, which turns savings’ interest into donations, taking home RM20,000 API Credits and RM10,000 cash. The second and third place winners are MinersTech with its easy Fundraising-packaged Crowdfunding App, and Canada Hippo with its one-stop Subscription Management App.
Clement Loh, Finexus Group MD and CEO said, “We are delighted to partner with Digital Penang in this hackathon with a common goal to help these organisations realise their opportunities. Finexus’ MyXaaS Innovation Platform is a Foundry for Builders offering Software as a Service (aaS), Financial aaS, Capital Lending and Infrastructure aaS.
“Technopreneurs, Academia and Socialpreneurs can build their digital products and services faster by leveraging our proven solutions and approved financial licenses. We invite all techno builders to our collaborative workspaces at our MyXaaS Innovation Centres, Penang and Cyberjaya where work, dine and a little play happens. At Finexus, we would like to work with and lend them a hand to go-to-market sooner comprehensively,” he said.
Going forward, Digital Penang and Finexus will also be working closely to drive the digital ecosystem for the Creative Digital District @ George Town (CD 2 @ George Town). Finexus will invest RM10 million to build the MyXaaS Innovation Centre in Penang over the next five years to collaborate with local academia and tech communities.