NXTSTAGE Pilot Competition Crowns 2021 Financial Technology Winner
Finalists’ Tech Tools Available to Area Banks, Credit Unions, Financial Services Firms
Jason Beckmann, Executive Vice President, Innovation and Strategy, Emprise Bank; Adam Finke, Founder and CEO of Cedar; Matt Michaelis, Chairman, CEO and President of Emprise Bank.
In partnership with Emprise Bank and Fidelity Bank, NXTUS, Inc.’s NXTSTAGE Financial Technology Pilot Competition announced its winner during the 2021 FinTech Innovation Showcase, streamed Wednesday from a pop-up filming studio at the Ice House.
Cedar Credit Builder (Sioux Falls, S.D.), which allows consumers with little or no credit history to strengthen their credit score using automated borrowing and repayment on a small-scale line of credit, will do a pilot implementation with Emprise Bank.
Matt Michaelis, Chairman, President and CEO of Emprise Bank said, “We are thrilled to move forward with Cedar Credit Builder, as their innovative yet simple solution to a critical consumer obstacle really stood out to our team. It aligns perfectly with our mission of empowering people to thrive and accelerates our ability to deliver a more personalized and relevant experience to our customers.”
The finalists – selected from 107 global competitors – visited Wichita to get to know the community and are offering their next-generation technology solutions to help regional banks, credit unions and financial services companies with these challenges:
· Better serve ‘credit invisible’ and underbanked community segments
· Promote financial literacy, debt repayment and home-lending equity
· Enhance security and prevent fraud with modern identity verification tools
· Link smoothly with small-business customers’ financial information
· Boost sales with improved internal tools and hyper-targeted offers
Area companies can watch the finalists’ three-minute pitches in the Showcase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4CPBvZI0fI or connect with them through NXTUS.
Emprise, Fidelity and INTRUST banks helped select the finalists, met with their founders during their Wichita visit, and reported they are exploring additional collaborations with these leading entrepreneurs, even as the startups are now making their technology tools available to other local firms.
“It’s an exciting time to be in banking and experience how technology is driving business performance and improving the customer experience. We’re eager to explore partnerships with this year’s NXTSTAGE finalists, an impressive group that exemplifies the types of innovation that are pushing our industry forward,” said Aaron Bastian, Fidelity Bank President and CEO.
“Thanks to NXTSTAGE, over the last two years Emprise Bank has had the opportunity to engage with FinTech startups from around the world, with each bringing an innovative solution and diverse perspectives. Ultimately this has been a huge help in fueling our innovation to deliver enhanced experiences to our customers and continuing to develop our region’s startup ecosystem,” Michaelis added.