Aussie fintech wins Barclays' global "Open Innovation Challenge 2018"

SYDNEY, May 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Aussie trade financing deep technology startup, Trade Ledger, has finished ahead of nine other VC-backed companies from across the world to be named the winner of the Barclays UK Ventures "Open Innovation Challenge 2018" in London this week.

The ten finalists were hand-picked by Barclays due to their potential to offer game-changing business solutions across a variety of industries, however Trade Ledger came out on top because of the way it completely transforms processes in business lending, through its world-first technology platform.

"Within Barclays UK Ventures, we're looking for companies we can partner with to develop and deliver transformational products and services," said Ben Davey, CEO of Barclays UK Ventures.

"We chose Trade Ledger as they have re-imagined the lending process by improving the processes through automation and opening up lending opportunities to a larger client base, which fully aligns to our Shared Growth ambition."

The competition involved a face-to-face pitch by each of the ten finalists to Barclays' technology leadership team. Other finalists hailed from high-tech industries such as AI security, recruitment CRM and marketing automation, process mining software, application performance management, IoT, chatbots, and robotic process automation platform creation.

The event served as a means for Barclays to gain access to some of the most advanced technologies being developed from across the globe.

"These events are a great way for us to uncover solutions that will materially improve our business and the solutions we offer to customers and clients," said Sean Duffy, Managing Director of Technology Media and Telecoms in Barclays Corporate Banking Division.

"This is the first time we've hosted this event in the UK, which is a testament to the growing strength and depth of VC-backed companies in our home market."

Gaining international exposure through competitions such as this one is an important aspect of Trade Ledger's "born global" strategy, designed to tackle the GBP1.2 trillion under-supply of business credit globally.

"We are delighted that Barclays has chosen the Trade Ledger business lending platform as the winner of this global challenge," Martin McCann, CEO and founder of Trade Ledger. 

"It was an incredible opportunity to be able to present our tech and strategy for helping banks address the massive under-supply of business credit, to such a large and diverse group of the bank's technology leaders.

"We believe the platform will help Barclays accelerate their transformation into data-driven lending, and that our selection proves the unique value of the Trade Ledger platform to support the bank's innovation and growth ambitions."

Further discussions on a partnership with Barclays are ongoing, and will help Trade Ledger prove product marlet fit within tier 1 banks globally. 

For more information on Trade Ledger: www.tradeledger.io

About Barclays

Barclays is a transatlantic consumer and wholesale bank offering products and services across personal, corporate and investment banking, credit cards and wealth management, with a strong presence in our two home markets of the UK and the US. With over 325 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 40 countries and employs approximately 80,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide.

For further information about Barclays, please visit our website home.barclays.

About Trade Ledger

Trade Ledger (www.tradeledger.io) is the world's first open digital banking platform that gives banks the ability to assess business lending risk in real time. This will enable banks to address the £2.1 trillion of undersupply in trade finance lending globally, while providing high-growth companies with the working capital needed to sustain growth.