Sixteen fintech startups pitch at USF • St Pete Catalyst

From helping students climb out of debt to empowering women in e-commerce, startups are part of the fintech accelerator that helps promote St. Petersburg’s reputation as a fintech hub.

On Wednesday night, 16 startup entrepreneurs presented their products to a variety of investors, venture capitalists and other fintech industry leaders during Tampa Bay Wave and the University of South Florida’s first Fintech | X Accelerator program.

The startups selected for the 2022 cohort are geographically diverse, with 15 companies headquartered outside Florida, including five from Israel, England, Saudi Arabia and Germany. Diversity also extends beyond geography as three of the start-ups are led by women, and the founders include military veterans, minorities and members of the LBGTQ community.

This year’s 90-day accelerator, which began Monday, represents a multi-year partnership between Tampa Bay Wave, the USF Muma College of Business and the St. Petersburg Area Economic Development Corporation.

One of the startups that received great applause was Paperstack, which developed a platform to help salespeople receive on-demand financing, monthly coaching and a personal dashboard. The Toronto-based startup graduated from the Techstars and Google Accelerator programs. The startup supports e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, Amazon, Etsy and WooCommerce; However, what got the positive reaction from the crowd was how the start-up has a real focus on closing the funding gap for women, which makes up 60% of the e-commerce area.

“Less than 3% of funding went to women last year, but e-commerce is dominated by women,” said CEO and co-founder Assel Beglinova.

Paperstack earns its income by charging a set-up fee of 1% for each loan they refer financial institutions to without having to bear a balance sheet or interest rate risk.

Since its launch this year, they have added more than 150 e-commerce members.

Another startup that received praise and started the Demo Day event was College Cash, a Fort Worth, Texas-based debt reduction platform. The startup engages with brands through user-generated content and creates a cashback program with financial institutions – so that someone makes money through their daily debit card transactions.

“We start with high school students, so it changes your daily behavior to compensate for these large debt collections,” said founder and CEO Demetrius Curry, adding that the money raised can also go to compensate for other bills such as housing. – or car loan.

The company is on track to have approximately $ 950,000 in revenue by the end of the year based on user and brand acquisition strategies, and expects to reach $ 16.3 million in revenue by 2024, according to the slides.

Meet the other fintech startups that participated in the accelerator:

Cash Q: This company is based in Miami and is a solution for international cross-border payments. The platform is linked to institutions, unions and large card companies. Funds can be sent to 80 countries.

Finboa: Based in Houston, Texas, this start-up company provides SaaS-based process automation software to digitize regulatory compliance for banks and credit unions. It is in over 100 institutions.

Aquablocks: The Israel-based startup has a platform for banks to secure and manage digital assets with state-of-the-art security.

DUKAPAQ: The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based startup has a digital marketing platform system designed for retailers across Africa. They are in a beta test phase in 12 stores.

ElementFi: The Cary, North Carolina-based startup claims to be the first multi-dimensional all-in-one coin center for decentralized finance. To date, it has raised over $ 1 million.

Homely: The England-based start-up designed a digital platform that enables easier communication of the stressful home buying process. The company is currently raising a $ 3 million seed round.

inbanx: The Austin, Texas-based startup has a platform that enables small and medium-sized businesses to maintain budgets, expand corporate credit cards with spending controls, and automate expense reporting.

my ego: The Germany-based startup designed a platform to store and share credentials with various partners. The platform aims to help banks make money on digital assets and have a real digital identity.

Online application: A business-to-business platform that specializes in accelerated mobile loans and life insurance.

Rabeh: The Saudi Arabia-based startup has a crowdfunding platform and virtual accelerator with built-in features.

RiskSmith: The Tampa-based company offers design tools to retail investors to invest in stocks and make lower-risk market decisions.

SueApp: This Israel-based company is a legal technical solution for filing small claims. The company said it expects to launch in Florida sometime this year.

SoleCapital: The Raleigh, North Carolina-based startup describes itself as a sneaker hedge fund. It gives liquidity to the culture of shoe brands and fashion.

VIVA Finance: The Atlanta-based startup created a mobile financing platform that lends based on employment information and enables payment directly through salary. VIVA has its products in 18 states with the intention of operating in all 50 states before the end of 2022.