Powered by Lightning Lab, KFA collaborated with some of the brightest and freshest talent to accelerate innovation and growth in the fintech space. The accelerator programme encourages innovative thinking and invites participants to demonstrate how their creative idea can help solve a real-world challenge.

As a Partner to KFA, NCR worked closely with nine start-ups to provide mentoring support and guidance on how to bring a concept from ideation into commercialisation, and managing hurdles along the way. These innovative teams, chosen from 66 start-up companies, have a unique concept and reached different stages of maturity in their journeys. All teams will leave the programme with a clear action plan of where to take their project next.

Simon Archer, Australasia Payments & FinTech Leader, NCR Corporation, commented on the initiative: “Our partnership with Lightning Lab and the Kiwibank FinTech Accelerator has provided us with an opportunity to work alongside some of the best talent in New Zealand. We’ve had the pleasure of mentoring and watching home grown innovators pitch their ideas, and learn and grow. With a strong calibre of solutions, we believe these bright minds have the potential to solve some of biggest challenges for consumers and businesses in fintech.”

Solutions out of KFA all share a common goal of making life easier for anyone interacting with their finances in the digital economy. Some of these include:

Decrease merchant transaction fees and redistributing half to socially impactful causes
Streamline common transactions for consumers and business owners
Predict opportunity within the local housing market through new technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence
Help first-time cryptocurrency investors dabble in the cryptocurrency with confidence
Create a digital catalogue of valued items, using photos, receipts and warranties to craft a fully customisable insurance policy
Transform the often-isolated entrepreneurial journey into a supported, innovative community

KFA is also designed to drive international commercialisation opportunities for intellectual property and innovation developed in New Zealand.

Laura Reitel from Lightning Lab, commented on the initiative: “It’s been an incredibly valuable partnership for Kiwibank FinTech Accelerator and Lightning Lab. The support of established leaders like NCR have given our innovators the boosts of confidence they need, along with guidance and real-world business advice to help bring their ideas to life. We believe NCR’s contribution and desire to engage with our future leaders will create a positive impact on the fintech industry.”

In addition to NCR and Kiwibank, the KFA program has also received the support of Callaghan Innovation, Ando Insurance Group, Deloitte Private, MasterCard, Simmonds Stewart and Creative HQ.