CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – FIA today announced the winners of its annual pitch competition for startups at the FIA Expo. The pitch competition is part of FIA’s Innovators Pavilion, a platform for introducing startups to trading firms, clearing brokers, exchanges and other firms active in the global derivatives markets.
The winners were selected by a panel of five judges with expertise in evaluating emerging solutions in capital markets. The judges based their decisions on presentations given by each startup during the pitch competition, which took place in two stages on 17-18 November.
This year’s winner was AiMi, a startup based in Sweden that is using artificial intelligence to automate trading and market data operations. The judges were impressed by AiMi's relevance for helping firms in the cleared derivatives industry manage the ever-increasing rate of change in market infrastructure. By focusing on market access and connectivity, AiMi is bringing the benefits of automation to everyday workflow issues for a wide range of market participants.
Salient Predictions won runner-up in the competition. Salient provides AI-based weather forecasts and analytics, with a focus on medium-term time horizons from one day to one year into the future. The judges were impressed by the quality of its data analytics and the relevance of its forecasts for energy companies, agricultural producers and other firms in the commodity sector as well as the commodity futures markets more generally.
D2X took home the People's Choice award. D2X Group is a trading venue for derivatives on bitcoin and crypto currencies that is based in Amsterdam and regulated in the European Union. D2X operates on a 24/7 basis and is focused on institutional adoption of digital asset trading.
"This year’s cohort included many terrific companies and the judges spent a lot of time assessing their offerings and discussing the pros and cons before making their final decisions. The two startups they chose as winners have tremendous potential to bring greater efficiency and innovation into both financial and commodity markets," said Will Acworth, FIA's global head of market data. "On behalf of FIA, I thank the judges for taking the time to listen to the presentations and bring their experience and expertise into the process."
This year's judges were:
- David Allocco, global head of FCM, Wells Fargo Securities
- Josh Kravitt, director, CME Ventures, CME Group
- Eunice Pareja, managing director, client services, Clear Street
- James Pettay, vice president, DRW Venture Capital, DRW Holdings
- Dana Stopczynski, director, product management & clearing services, Nodal Clear
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For media inquiries, please contact FIA’s communications team – fiapr@fia.org
