Startup Accelerator’s Finance Focus at Cambridge Judge: MBA News | TopMBA.com

Startup Accelerator’s Finance Focus at Cambridge Judge: MBA News

By Tim Dhoul

Updated Updated

The University of Cambridge Judge Business School is holding a three-day event dedicated to the pursuit of innovation in finance, at its in-house startup accelerator.

The FinTech weekend, to be held at Cambridge Judge between November 21 and 23, aims to reach out to those looking to instigate change in the finance industry by challenging convention and drawing on emerging technology.

The idea is that, in 54 hours over the course of three days, attendees will get to develop their ideas, join forces with like-minded souls and then put their concepts to the test by pitching before a panel of judges hand-picked by Accelerate Cambridge, Cambridge Judge’s startup accelerator. 

“For this FinTech weekend the goal is to bring together people who want to make a difference to the financial sector. We hope participating entrepreneurs will create something brilliant and will bring positive changes into the finance sector,” said Hanadi Jabado, Accelerate Cambridge’s director.

Cambridge Judge’s startup accelerator was formed in 2012 with the ambition of using the business school and wider university’s resources to offer advice, training and work space to locally-based entrepreneurs. Three-month programs are on offer at the startup accelerator to teams that include either a resident of the town or someone with connections to the university – as a student or alumnus, for instance.    

FinTech asserting itself as influential sector

The FinTech sector is largely consumer-facing and encompasses any venture that applies technology or innovative methods to financial services. Common examples of FinTech therefore include mobile payments, banking apps and crowdfunding platforms, as well as new approaches to asset management.

Almost US$3 billion was invested in FinTech in 2013, according to an estimate by Accenture and, in the UK alone, the value of mobile and internet transactions being processed each day is close to £1 billion (c.US$1.5 billion), according to a blog post penned by one the organizers of the Cambridge Judge event.

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