Fintech Nation Co-Founder Vanessa Ho
Fintech Nation and its venture capital arm Fintech Nation Fund are appearing on Mediacorp’s business reality show on Channel News Asia, The Big Spark. In their appearance, which happens on March 15 to 22, the organisation will evaluate and potentially invest in startups from a pool of 24 contenders in the fintech, ESG, edutech, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and health and wellness.
Fintech Nation Co-Founder Vanessa Ho, who had previous experience in the media and entertainment industries, believes participating in the programme will give startup founders advantages.
“The experience that founders will go through of being in front of the camera and a huge audience is a good training for them,” she says in an interview with e27.
“In my experience, founders who go to the public will eventually become very media-friendly … it will benefit them in future fundraising opportunities or when speaking to clients.”
Describing itself as a not-for-profit grassroots platform, Fintech Nation was founded by Varun Mittal to bring together the fintech community, regulators, investors, startups, and corporates.
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Started in 2020 with the development of the Fintech Nation book, it supports access and scaling talent, capital, policy and venture development in Singapore. It has recognised over 250 individuals through the Fintech 65 platform and invested in multiple startups through the Fintech Nation Fund.
In supporting the fintech startup ecosystem, the organisation has worked closely with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Elevandi on various initiatives. It also has a role in events such as the Fintech Festival Investor Summit and Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) Investor Hours.
According to Ho, Fintech Nation has three pillars of activities: Investments, community, and thought leadership.
“We invest in early-stage Southeast Asian companies, usually in the pre-seed and seed stages. Our domain expertise is in fintech, but we are sector-agnostic. So we have done deals across other sectors such as health tech, gig economy, and platforms,” Ho says.
Fintech Nation looks at different factors in assessing a potential investment, including a company’s Blue Ocean strategy. “We look at companies that are not fighting incumbents to find a niche space,” Ho stresses.
The organisation’s portfolio companies included crypto company Triple A, employee wellbeing platform Choys, health screening platform Mito Health, and financial services infrastructure provider Finfra.
However, the community and thought leadership pillars are where Fintech Nations sets itself apart.
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“The part where we are different from other funds or VCs is that we spend a lot of time doing grassroots initiatives such as community events … We bring players from corporates, startups, investors, and regulators together whether it is for investment purposes, business opportunities, or knowledge sharing,” Ho explains, adding that the organisation also does nomination events and publishing books and reports with notable names such as Singapore Fintech Association.
This year, in addition to bringing back its flagship programme Fintech65, Fintech Nation wants to invest in more companies, doubling last year’s number of five.
“Many of our portfolio companies are going out to other markets; they are looking at the Middle East and Southeast Asia. So, we want to work with trade organisations such as government associations or the SG Innovate of their countries–to see how we can help market entry for our companies as well,” Ho closes.
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Image Credit: Fintech Nation
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