Ten Finalists Chosen for 2021 FinTech Frontier Pitch Competition

Ten finalists, including six from Cincinnati, have been named in the FinTech Frontier Pitch Competition, presented by Cintrifuse — Cincinnati's catalyst for startup innovation, as well as by Western & Southern Financial Group, Fifth Third Bank, and JobsOhio.

Sixty-five submissions were received from across the country, hailing from Texas, California, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Boston and more. The national pitch competition aims to showcase the most innovative, early-stage FinTech startups of tomorrow, with a focus on: Increasing Access, Data & Privacy and Supply Chain. It is offering $75,000 in cash prizes – one of the largest prize pools in the U.S.

The competition format includes a 5-minute pitch, live Q&A with industry experts, and judge and audience voting. Winners will be determined by a scoring rubric including judge scores and popular vote amongst competition viewers. This year’s judges are Maribeth Rahe, President & CEO of Fort Washington Investment Advisors; Ron Rock, Senior Director, Insurtech, JobsOhio; Mike Crawford, Vice President of Digital, Fifth Third Bank; and George Cook, Founder of Honeycomb Credit and FinTech Frontier 2020 Pitch Competition Champion.

“The 10 finalists were chosen from an incredibly competitive pool of diverse companies that are driving innovation in a number of fintech areas. The startups capture the essence of what financial technology companies can unlock for consumers in this digital world,” said Pete Blackshaw, CEO of Cintrifuse. “We were once again amazed with the response to our call for applicants. If you want an early view of some of fintech’s hottest startups, look no further: it’s right here.”

The FinTech Frontier Pitch Contest finalists for 2021 are:

- Willow Estate Planning, based in Cincinnati, simplifies the estate planning process

- PayTheory, a Cincinnati–based company that created an electronic payment solution to help unbanked families and schools manage financial payments.

- Rente, operated out of Jacksonville Beach, Florida and Cincinnati, which utilizes open banking and AI to help landlords inclusively identify and retain profitable tenants

- Sigo Seguros, a Texas-based inclusive auto insurance provider focused on serving the Spanish speaking community.

- Koinage, an Ohio-based company that developed a mobile app to help retailers and consumers manage change resulting from cash transactions.

- Tesouro - a recently launched Cincinnati fintech, is rebuilding fintech infrastructure to enable companies to seamlessly embed modern financial services into their offering.

- KiddieKredit, based in Miami, FL, is a mobile app designed to educate children on the credit system by completing chores.

- Doriot, out of Bloomington, IN, is a free, true-to-life simulation to empower you with the knowledge and confidence to become a startup investor.

- Basis Theory, based in Columbus, OH, provides the most flexible platform to protect data at rest with the same ubiquity as data in transit, touts its platform as “the tokenization API to secure anything,”

- AKRU, based in Cincinnati. AKRU’s blockchain-based platform lets you invest in quality commercial real estate for as little as $1,000.

The Fintech Frontier Pitch Competition is hosted October 28th as part of StartupCincy Week. Fintech activities kick off at 2pm EST, with the Pitch Competition launching shortly thereafter.