Our students win at a fintech competition
July 14, 2020
Four HEC Montréal students were among the winners of the Innovate Financial Health award at the Fintech Cadence Formathon on June 17.
They are:
- Akankhya Mohapatra – MSc – Data Science and Business Analytics
- Ahmadreza Tavassoli – PhD – Financial Engineering
- Samuel Tremblay – M. Sc. – intelligence d’affaires and
- Jingjing Zhang – MSc – Financial Engineering
They teamed up with Dinith Karunanayake, of Concordia University.
The Fintech Cadence Formathon is a competition in which participants build a fintech startup in three weeks, to solve a pressing challenge provided by the industry partners of Fintech Cadence. They receive coaching and mentorship from experts, and workshops to help them. This year, the nine competing teams were given the challenge, “How can we support Canadians in rebuilding their savings?”
The winning team came up with the “Stella” mobile app, a solution for people looking to save while investing. Their online pitch lasting about five minutes convinced the jury. How the app works:
- Users make up their regular weekly shopping list.
- The app builds them a personalized, optimized shopping route.
- Every penny saved is then invested in high-quality financial products, saving them both time and money.
“In addition to representing the culmination of three weeks of hard work, debates and reflection, for us this award is a sort of validation of the industry,” says Samuel Tremblay. “It also means a boost in terms of networking, since it gives us access to talented advisors.”
About Fintech Cadence
The mission of Fintech Cadence is to develop future fintech leaders by focusing on three pillars:
- Educate fintech talent.
- Support early-stage fintech startups.
- Collaborate with financial institutions to help solve industry challenges.