In the 4th batch of its Startup Program, OTP Group is starting a 3-month collaboration with 15 later-stage startups and scaleups. The Hungarian banking group, together with its subsidiaries, have selected innovative teams that will have the opportunity to test their products and services. The 15 startups joining the Program came from 10 countries (United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Hungary, France, United States, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Spain).
In the application period between 15 September and 23 October 2020, the number of startup applications broke a new record. 469 were submissions received from a total of 51 countries, 27% more than the applications received in the previous batch. During the pilot phase happening between 1 March and 26 May, 15 startups are collaborating with OTP subsidiaries in Serbia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Albania and Montenegro, as well as with the Hungarian headquarters.
The activities of the selected startups fit well into one of the topics of the Program. Thus, some of the solutions submitted by the startups, focus on supporting lending processes by game-changing analytical capabilities. Meanwhile, other companies offer innovative solutions in the context of personalized customer service, or the development of platforms to improve the customer experience.
“For the fourth year in a row, the Program enables the Banking Group to access best-in-class startup solutions at a global scale, and their product development and validation are now supported by banking experts from 11 countries. Our goal is to maintain the high professional standards of the Program, and I believe that the growing participation of OTP business units and the increasing interest of startups are a testimony to the success of our initiative. We are proud to say that the number of firms continuing collaboration with the Banking Group beyond the pilot is growing year after year,” said András Fischer, Head of OTP Bank’s Retail Innovation Department.
The pilot period ends on 26 May with the Demo Day event where the startups are going to present the lessons learned and the achievements of the pilot projects to the experts and the management of the Banking Group as well as to the leading international corporations supporting the Program as partners.
For more information on the OTP Startup Partner Program, please visit www.otpstartup.com or click on the link below to watch a video of the Selection Day event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKQQzElIaIY