Santander launches global fintech start-up competition

Santander InnoVentures, the $100m venture capital arm of the Santander Group, has today announced the launch of a global competition to support start-ups using distributed ledger (DL) and blockchain technologies in the financial services industry.

Launched in partnership with Onevest – which heads up CoFoundersLab and 1000 Angels – the DL Challenge hopes to identify early-stage businesses with the potential to improve the processes and operation of the banking sector in areas such as trade finance, asset leasing and mortgage processing.

The winning start-up will receive a $15,000 cash prize to fuel growth, alongside access to tech experts from Santander, mentoring from OneVest, and the opportunity to pitch to the 1000 Angels investor community for additional funding.

Mariano Belinky, Santander InnoVentures, managing partner, said of the competition: “Our aim is to inspire innovation and encourage entrepreneurship,” said

“Distributed ledger technologies will create huge value for customers, banks and entrepreneurs who create new businesses around it. The Challenge will spark and accelerate that process for financial technology (fintech) start-ups.”