Doha: The Fintech sector has had a very strong start in Qatar and has reached new levels of maturity. There is traction in the market as entrepreneurs have come up with new ideas and products, said an official during the Qatar FinTech Hub (QFTH) third Virtual Demo Day.
Qatar FinTech Hub’s demo day for wave 3 of incubator and accelerator Programs presented the ideal launchpad for 16 graduating fintechs who introduced new innovative services that will accelerate the digital transformation in local, regional and global financial markets. The event witnessed the outcomes of the third wave of the incubator and accelerator programs as these programs have become the landmark on the international fintech calendar demonstrating the success that QFTH has achieved so far.
Hasan Askari, Director at EY Qatar introduced the incubator fintechs. “In Qatar the fintech sector has had a very strong start. We have reached new levels of maturity and the ecosystem is responding well to the growing market demands for the products and services. We are seeing traction in the market where entrepreneurs are able to come up with new ideas and products. Overall, for the Middle East region 2021 was a very strong year, we saw more than 100 deals worth more than $2bn in total value,” he said.
The fintech sector is one of the fastest growing areas in the world. In the Middle East there has been great growth and opportunities for fintechs who are bringing innovative solutions and helping financial institutions.
Abdulla Al Khalifa, Co-founder of LooPay, expressed views during the webinar. LooPay is a fintech startup from Qatar specialises in the field of payments and payment facilities by providing ‘Buy now pay later’ services.
Farhan Firaq, CEO of VoicePay, a multilingual voice enabled real time payment service provider explained how VoicePay provides end to end platforms for seamless payments, services enabling non-tech savvy users to make digital transactions using voice commands. Huda Salik, CEO of S-Treasury, a financial tool that provides customised guidance and applications in investing in the Qatari stock market also shared her insights during QFTH Wave 3 Demo Day pitch.
Alwasia, a unique application which facilitates inheritance management and QatarCrowd, a Shariah compliant crowdfunding platform for SMEs, showcased their services and offerings during the incubator pitches.
The Qatar FinTech Hub Wave 3 Demo Day is one of the region's most anticipated event. Incubator and accelerator programs were received with great interest from the local and international fintechs seeing more than 1,800 fintechs interested in the program.
QFTH has started accepting applications for wave four of its programs. The fourth wave will focus on Next Generation Banking. Adding to the achievements last year, Qatar FinTech Hub revealed its first ever White Paper outlining the state of fintech ecosystem in Qatar. The report demonstrates the national effort to boost the local fintech sector with QFTH becoming the second largest fintech venture investor in Mena in Q1, 2021.
QFTH aspires to become a globally recognised hub that connects likeminded hubs, organisations and regulators from across the world and be at the forefront of the future of fintech. The hub acts as a catalyst to transform Qatar’s financial services industry to become globally competitive.
Through the use of technology fintech and financial institutions it focuses on delivering meaningful solutions to address, identify local and global challenges and aims to create a fintech friendly market in Qatar and a vibrant hub to develop local fintechs and attract global firms. The QFTH received more than 500 applications from early stage and mature fintechs in Qatar and 50 other countries to join wave 3 of the programs.
