Chicago—FIA announced today that Hivemind, a data science startup based in the U.K., has been named the FIA Innovator of the Year. Hivemind was selected by a panel of independent judges after a live pitch competition at FIA Expo 2019. The company will receive marketing support, cash and other resources worth more than $20,000.
Hivemind was one of 20 companies participating in the annual FIA Innovators Pavilion, an award-winning showcase for fintech startups that takes place during the FIA Expo, the largest trade show of the year for professionals in the listed and cleared derivatives markets.
This year more than 45 startups applied for places in the Pavilion. Their applications were reviewed by a selection committee comprised of technology experts from banks, trading firms and venture capital investors. The 20 companies selected for a place in the Pavilion were chosen based on their relevance to the derivatives industry and the innovativeness of their products and services.
Five of these companies were then chosen to participate in a pitch competition at the FIA Expo. Each company presented its solution to a panel of independent judges with expertise in financial markets technology, business operations and venture capital investing.
The judges chose Hivemind as the winner based on its potential to transform data collection and analysis in the industry. The company, which was founded in 2014, brings a novel assembly-line approach to the creation of data sets out of unstructured data by using a combination of human and machine intelligence. The judges agreed that its platform has many potential applications for firms seeking to gain insights from the vast amount of unstructured data in the world today.
“I’m proud to name Hivemind the FIA Innovator of the Year,” said Walt Lukken, President and CEO of FIA. “Data has always been the lifeblood for this industry and it will be exciting to see how market participants put this platform to use for gaining insights into the world around us as well as their own internal systems and operations."
This year's Innovators Pavilion is supported by four community partners: Credit Suisse NEXT Investors, Fintech Sandbox, FinTEx Chicago, and Tribeca Early Stage Investors.
The FIA Innovators Pavilion serves as a showcase for fintech startups focused on capital markets. Each company chosen to participate receives a free booth on the show floor and an opportunity to interact with more than 4,000 people attending the FIA Expo.
