There is great synergy between Brazil and the United Kingdom in the area of innovation in financial services.
In addition to recent regulatory advances in both countries, there is the international presence of Brazilian companies in the European financial center and the ambition of British companies to reach the Brazilian market. Looking to this trend, Torq (the open innovation hub and corporate venture capital of the Brazilian financial software giant Sinqia) launches the Fintech Innovation Challenge Crossborder Payment, an initiative that aims to bring to Brazil technological solutions of international payments developed by startups from London and surroundings.
The program will take place in April during UK Fintech Week, an event organized by Innovate Finance, an independent industry body that represents and promotes the global fintech community in the UK. Startups interested in participating in the challenge will be able to register until March 20th at this link.
Torq will select three fintechs that will go through Rocket Week, a week of online mentoring with Sinqia professionals for project development. The startups' products will move on to the proof-of-concept phase, with real possibilities for partnership and business with clients from Sinqia's fund market portfolio. After the immersion, the solutions will be presented to a panel of invited experts who will choose the best international payment product.
The challenge will serve as a bridge for British fintechs to have strategic access to one of the main innovation initiatives for the financial market in Brazil. “The UK brings together a vibrant ecosystem of fintech talent and innovation. Within this, we detected many opportunities for innovation based on the needs of the exchange markets”, says Leo Monte, chief innovation officer at Sinqia and managing director at Torq.
The potential of the Brazilian financial market is enormous. The country's banks invest more than R$ 30 billion (approximately US$ 5.7 billion) in technology annually, according to data from the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban). In addition, the country has become a world reference in regulatory and technological advances in the sector. A great example is the payment method Pix (Instant Payment System): since its launch in 2020, more than 26 billion transactions have been carried out in the national financial system - the total movement exceeds R$ 12.9 trillion (approximately US$ 2.4 trillion).