Platform Calgary Hosts Inaugural Digital Commerce Bank Fintech Competition Awarding Two Calgary Startups Over $300,000

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45 applicants. 24 selected companies. 5 finalists. 2 fintech startups take home $300,000+

CALGARY, Alberta — Calgary based financial technology companies Fillip and Miq were announced as the winners on Friday evening at an award ceremony celebrating the inaugural Digital Commerce Bank Calgary Fintech Award. Together, the two companies take home prizes worth more than $300,000 in non-dilutive cash.

The Calgary Fintech Award champions fintech companies that demonstrate clear innovation and a strong value proposition for the Calgary region through the creation of jobs, economic growth and diversification.

“The Calgary Fintech Award helps fintech startups to accelerate their business by providing the prize winners with cash prize money that is non-dilutive capital. The award encourages them to keep growing in Calgary,” says Jeffrey Smith, President & CEO at Digital Commerce Bank (DC Bank) and founding sponsor of the Calgary Fintech Award. “We have been very pleased with the quality of the Fintech Award participants, the founders and their teams. Calgary is a fantastic city to continue to grow the Fintech market and we are pleased to give back to our industry.”

45 fintech startups from across Canada applied for the award and 24 were selected to participate in the intensive program. Over the past 3 months, the companies completed fintech-specific workshops, mentoring sessions with world-class advisors, pitch coaching, and business evaluation. In early October, the field was narrowed down to 11 finalist companies.

In Calgary on Friday, the top 5 finalists were selected to make a final pitch live at the Platform Innovation Center for a judging panel of fintech experts and entrepreneurs from across Canada. The second place prize of $60,000 went to Miq, a financial platform that enables community cooperatives to pool funds, save and build credit. The first place prize of $250,000 was awarded to Fillip, the first digital payment platform built for business fleets to empower drivers to pay for fuel and maintenance expenses with a secure digital wallet.

“For us and for Calgary, this award is an opportunity to shine – to demonstrate to the world that Calgary is the best place to start, scale, and succeed in tech and in business,” says Alice Reimer, CEO at Fillip.

The top 5 finalist companies in the Calgary Fintech Award included Credit App, Fillip, Miq, PayShepherd and The Smart Benefit by YRPlans.

The Digital Commerce Bank Calgary Fintech Award is a joint initiative of DC Bank and Platform Calgary. DC Bank has committed $1 million over four years to support fintech startups through the Calgary Fintech Award.

Platform Calgary

Platform Calgary is an impact organization whose members are tech companies large and small, united in a vision of inclusive, innovation-driven prosperity for Calgary. Platform Calgary brings together the resources of Calgary’s tech ecosystem to help startups launch and grow at every step of their journey, from ideation through to scale. The focus is making all parts of Calgary’s startup ecosystem better resourced, connected, efficient and prominent.

For more information about Platform Calgary, visit: platformcalgary.com

Digital Commerce Bank

Digital Commerce Bank (DC Bank) is a Schedule 1 Canadian Bank focused on technology and delivering robust and secure payment technologies. The Bank’s technology-driven platform provides innovative payment and banking solutions to its corporate clients, enabling businesses to offer their own financial and payment solutions. The Bank’s proprietary banking-as-a-service and payment solutions, as well as straightforward APIs, offer clients efficiency, flexibility, and convenience when it comes to integrating services directly to a business’ product. The Bank is a member of Payments Canada, and is a principal member of Interac, Visa and MasterCard. For more information about Digital Commerce Bank, please visit www.dcbank.ca

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221018005297/en/

Contacts

Delia Popa
Lead, Marketing
Platform Calgary
delia.popa@platformcalgary.com
403.615.9877

Jeffrey Smith
President & Chief Executive Officer Digital Commerce Bank
jeff@dcbank.ca

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