Oct. 30, 2018 /MTLinTECH/ – One of the most awaited sessions of the 2018 FinTech Forum in Montreal this week was the startup pitch competition. More than $200,000 in prizes were up for grabs, including a $150,000 live offer to one of the lucky presenters from Luge Capital. Well surprise… the young VC was so impressed by the pitches in this truly global competition, they decided to award two prizes. So, the winner of the first $150,00 investment was Symend, a platform to engage with and retain delinquent customers, designed for financial institutions or utilities. They estimate these companies have about 10% delinquent customers each month. Less than 90 days delinquent, see a 10% reduction in bad debt and costs, whereas for those who are delinquent over 90 days, they claim an incredible 60% increase in debt recovery.
However, the surprises didn’t stop there. One company so impressed during its presentation, Steve Abrams from BDC decided to match Luge Capital’s $150,000, investing a total of $300,000 in Lendified. This is a lender that was founded about 4 years ago, they identified a need for working capital to be lent to SMEs in Canada. Through acquisition they help lenders adjudicate small business loans. (They are about to rebrand as judi.ai) They plan to use AI to help financial institutions address all their legacy systems, and offer a services that takes about 7 minutes for small business to apply for multiple financial products including leasing, term loans, lines of credit, credit cards and more.