Selection Process

2016 European FinTech Awards – Selection Process & Criteria

 What did the selection process look like?
The first round. FinTech companies were nominated by experts, stakeholders and investors all over Europe. FinTechs could also nominate themself. Entries were submitted by filling out a form and after approval FinTech company profiles were published. FinTechs had to make sure their company profile is perfectly fine as their company was judged based on that by both the judges and the public! 

The European FinTech Top 100 were determined in two ways. On the 15th of February the online voting started. The voting ended the 15th of March 2016.  
  1. Each approved European FinTech company has a company profile on this website so that everyone (e.g. friends, stakeholders, customers) could vote for their favorite European FinTech company. Every vote helped their favorite FinTech company in becoming selected in the European FinTech Top 100. These votes constituted 25% of the weight in determining the European FinTech Top 100.
  2. At the same time the panel of judges also assessed the companies and this constituted the other 75% of the weight in determining the European FinTech Top 100.
Based on the votes of the public and the assessments of the judges the organisation announced the European Top 100 on the 22nd of March. All companies on that list received one invitation to the event. Besides announcing the Top 100 the organisation also announced the Top 25, consisting of the best within each category, on the 22nd of March.
The second and final round was on the 14th of April 2016 at the ABN AMRO headquarters in Amsterdam during the European FinTech Awards & Conference. At this day the Top 25 gave a pitch in front of the top-notch jury. The best companies in the following categories got the opportunity to pitch:
  • Alternative Finance
  • Blockchain / Bitcoin
  • PFM Robo Advisory (Asset mgmt, Wealth mgmt, Investing and (ForEx) Trading)
  • Financial Inclusion
  • Innovative Banking Software
  • Challenger Banks
  • Risk, Intelligence & Security
  • InsurTech
  • Payments
The pitches were 7 minutes and were followed by a Q&A session with the judges of five minutes.
At 19.00, the winners of the European FinTech Awards were announced at the 2016 European FinTech Conference.
In every aforementioned category there will be one winner and there will be one grand, overall winner: The best European FinTech Company of the Year 2016 determined by the top-notch jury.
Questions asked by the panel of judges during the live pitches
  1. Innovation. Does the company seize a real opportunity and will it have the power to change the industry?
  2. Customer satisfaction. Does the company satisfy a real need or desire? Can the company provide evidence of the advantages its solution has over alternatives?
  3. Value. Does the company have a unique value proposition? What is the relationship between cost and benefits and the impact on the environment and society as a whole?
  4. Delivery. How are consumers engaged and how is the offering delivered and made available to the marketplace?
  5. Traction. Is the company still signing up new customers and can it retain them? 
The selection is based on the individual ideas and views of the judges using their expertise, knowledge and ideas.
Please note: The main purpose of the European FinTech Awards is to celebrate innovators that shape the future of finance and acknowledge the work these companies did to make a difference. The purpose of the FinTech awards is not to scientifically prove who are the best FinTech companies. The judging is primarily based on the judges individual ideas and views on the nominating companies using their expertise, knowledge and ideas. 
Read also the checklist.