Galileo-sponsored inaugural hackathon fosters fintech innovation

SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 8, 2020 -- Galileo, the API standard for card issuing and digital banking, is proud to recognize the winners of the 2020 CB Insights Future of Fintech Global Innovation Challenge. More than 500 individuals participated in the three-week Galileo-sponsored hackathon, creating projects that addressed challenges around some of financial services’ most pressing issues, including embedded fintech, financial inclusion and financial literacy.

Additionally, participants competed for The Galileo Innovation Award, recognizing the project that demonstrated the best use of the Galileo Instant API to build digital banking functionality into their projects. The award was presented to EVVA Community Fund. Built by Abraham Guzman, EVVA is a community donation platform aimed at supporting small businesses in Mexico impacted by COVID-19. Through its digital banking and donation platform, customers can open a low-risk, high-yield investment account, where 25 percent of the maintenance fee is donated to EVVA’s community fund or the business of their choice.

The five finalist teams in the open competition presented their projects to industry judges-- including Galileo CEO Clay Wilkes, Bain Capital Ventures Investor Allison Xu and Managing Director of Financial Wellness Solutions Development & Integration at TIAA Chianoo Adrian--and before a live panel audience, which voted on the winners.

The winning project was awarded to ChrysCard, a streamlined credit payment platform built by two Harvard Business School students, Sylvester Wee and Akshay Amin. Addressing the problem of credit card overload, ChrysCard provides a single physical card that consolidates all your credit cards, an optimized algorithm that manages your credit spending to your specifications and a one-stop shop for both reporting and recommending credit-linked products.

The two runner-up projects were DataSpot and Savey. Built by Stefan Petzov, DataSpot is a mobile platform that keeps customers' data private through distributed computation. Savey, built by a team led by Priscilla Ma, is a platform that tells consumers what card to pay with so they can maximize credit card points and rewards.

“By naming this hackathon ‘The Global Innovation Challenge,’ we set the bar high for ingenuity, but participants didn’t shy away, and they delivered innovative products that set the stage for the future of fintech,” said Galileo CEO Clay Wilkes. “After witnessing the creativity and talent behind projects like ChrysCard, DataSpot, Savey and EVVA Community Fund, I’m more certain than ever about the potential of the next iteration of fintech innovation.”

“Being able to incorporate the Global Innovation Challenge into the programming at CB Insights Future of Fintech this year was a privilege, which we hope to continue for years to come, “ said General Manager of CB Insights Events Rebecca Sausner. “CB Insights is dedicated to helping its clients discover the new products and ideas that private companies are developing. A hackathon takes that mission even earlier into the innovation cycle by enabling our clients to pose challenges to the global fintech community and watch as innovative products are created and presented.”

The winning team, ChrysCard, received $5,000 and an opportunity for a post-event meeting with executives from the Austrian Bank Raiffeisen Bank International, which created the challenge that the ChrysCard team responded to. The winner of the Galileo Innovation Challenge, EVVA Community Fund, received $2,000 and a meeting with Galileo CTO Jeff Currier and CEO Clay Wilkes.

Click here for the news release.