The Finovate Fall conference in New York is one of the best places to get upfront and personal with the latest fintech innovations shaping customer experience in the financial services industry. The heart of the event remains the 7-minute demos presented by fintech companies. The presenters range from early-stage startups unveiling their initial launch, to more mature tech innovators sharing their latest.
Fintech trends take shape at Finovate
Over the years at Finovate, I’ve seen the trends emerge that now define how people spend, save, invest, and protect their money. This is a window into the ecosystem of tech founders, VC, bankers, strategists, analysts, and more. And over the years, I’ve literally been in the front row for the emergence of blockchain, real-time biometric safeguards, and platforms for data-driven personalization.
There will be videos of each 7-minute demo in the coming weeks and I’ll add that link when available. Until then, take a quick peek at 2024 Finovate Fall presenters.
Notes on 2025 Finovate Fall demos
A few years back, I watched every demo and captured my notes and real-time observations. This year I didn’t come close to catching all of the sessions, but happy to share the tidbits I did capture. These are rough, but hopefully help you to narrow in on some of the videos you’ll want to view.
Anonybit
(John Wilson, Jessica Vinitsky)
Account takeover fraud may be a thing of the past with Anonybit. They have some robust capabilities in biometric authentication. Well, fraud will be with us, but Anonybit is a great way to fight it. I recall prior demos and I’m a fan of the tokenization of biometric info. This addresses one of my biggest concerns: a breach of the biometric database. In this case, it is encrypted and broken into pieces keeping it safe(r) from the bad guys. More notes from Finovate Spring.
CD Valet
(Josh Williams, Anna Larson)
Helps banks & credit unions compete for deposits with a marketplace of 5K FIs, and tens of thousands of rates. Nice visualization of CD rates across the industry, including trending (in a Daily Rate Change Report). They also provide Fis with insights into consumer behavior. That includes which products consumers are most interested in. For example, their data indicates consumers want long term rates, but Fis are not meeting those needs. There’s a lot of nuance, but I can see how this would help with pricing. They want to partner, for example with AI providers. CD Valet believes they have access to hard-to-find signals.
Sequretek
(Dwij Trivedi)
The platform is AI-powered, and offers greater visibility across attack vectors. They have a drag-drop interface to integrate security software. The platform provides a dashboard and risk scores that allow you to see how all of your software works together. And, you can see the gaps not covered by the software you have deployed. Patching, playbooks, and workflow integration are part of the platform, helping you to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities. I can appreciate the value of having all of the data from multiple applications in one place. I do wonder how this is simplified for the user? There’s just so much to cover and the detail could be overwhelming. What I do like is the prioritization, so you know where to focus. Simplifying cybersecurity. Pronounced “Secure-tech.”
Tradesk Securities
(Med Yacoub, Eric Chu)
Platform for everyday investors. Hmm, will be very interested to see how they differentiate. Prism AI agent is the “strategist in your pocket.” It offers plain language what-if scenarios. The user can analyze markets and develop a customized portfolio. For example, what are the pros/cons of adding Apple to my portfolio? Are investors ready for Generative AI analysis? Not yet clear what model(s) they are using under the hood. Tradesk has a challenge ahead. How are they different? What makes their models special? Hard to address in 7 minutes, but I think the audience will have questions…
Casap
(Shanthi Shanmugam)
K-sap,”Get your case done ASAP”. Casap is for managing credit card disputes with AI. 40 million consumers have been served. Makes it easier for legit consumers, while making it tougher for fraudsters. The app will first do research and suggest a quick resolution. AI will go through a question-answer process to resolve or file a chargeback. Behind the scenes they calculate a “win score”. How likely can we win the money back for the customer? Will issue provisional credit and facilitate the process. The app shows step-by-step resolution. If you’re in consumer lending, this is a company you’ll want to take a closer look.
Boucoup
(Alexey Krasnoriadtsev)
Family banking offered to FIs as a white-label offering. Sits on the bank core, with visibility into family member accounts (like for your children). Includes a deposit account, and you can teach kids about lending via a virtual loan. Money Shorts are tik-tok style video to educate family members. This can make it personal on behalf of the FI. Parent can set up chores, with account transfers delivering the account. No payment rails, an account-to-account transfer. Saving goals, card controls are part of the offering. Helps next generation learn & be more financially educated, “learn by doing”.
Sideko
(Elias Posen, Patrick Kelly)
“Automatically maintained integrations for any API.” Produces all of the code for API production integration. Documentation builder & developer portal. Demo showed the generation of an SDK in python, with the Sideko platform. The code is automatically tested with authentication. Code is created in 8 languages. They claim a 90% cut in time-to-revenue. They use Claude Code, but you can bring your own LLM. They have a rules-based generator. I’ll have to take a closer look. Not sure yet what the value-add is. AI can definitely help in this context, but what is Sideko contributing? They charge a flat fee, they do not bill by user.
Kaaj AI
(Shivi Sharma, Utsav Shah)
Small business lending: helps process smaller dollar loans more efficiently. There’s a document management and categorization element, with key facts being extracted. This data flows into the LOS. Allows integrated lookup of the borrower with status of incorporation, google streetview, social media. Platform analyzes document tampering. Integrated spreading capabilities, with ratios, reports, and trends. The platform can pull credit reports and do analysis. This all goes into a credit write-up. There’s a check against the credit policies of the FI. I had the opportunity to speak with founder Shivi Sharma after the demo. Came away very impressed; as you know, the strength of the team is one of the key success factors in the growth of any company.
Wrap-up of Part 1
I wanted to get these quick notes out. Coming later this week are more notes on demos, highlights of video interviews I conducted, observations on panel discussions, and more.