Craft Silicon’s Kamal Budhabhatti
Craft Silicon, Kytabu Inc. and Umati Capital have each won a cash award of $25,000 for their innovations in the Citi Mobile Challenge. The Citi Mobile Challenge is a global initiative and it was launched in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in February. Developers were then invited to build solutions based on Citi’s digital platform and present concepts at events in Jerusalem, London, Nairobi and Warsaw.
“We invited technology developers to reimagine digital banking and they went far beyond,” said Heather Cox, Chief Client Experience, Digital and Marketing Officer for Global Consumer Banking at Citi. “They presented solutions that could transform financial services and fuel progress in other industries like transportation and education. These developers are truly inspiring. Selecting the top innovations was a challenge and we are excited to explore bringing their solutions to market.”
Teams from 18 countries presented 77 working prototypes to Citi executives and technology influencers at four Demo Days in April held in Jerusalem, London, Nairobi and Warsaw. Entries were evaluated on their impact, viability, user experience and functionality.
Full list of Citi Mobile Challenge EMEA award recipients
- Most Innovative Customer Engagement Solution: “Avoka Transact” from Avoka
- Best Social Commerce Solution: “Elma – Mobile Commerce Payment” from Craft Silicon
- Most Visionary Social Media Solution: “GetGems – Instant Payments Across Social Platforms” from Decentralized Mobile Applications Ltd.
- Most Innovative Social Impact Solution: “The Kytabu app” from Kytabu Inc.
- Most Transformative Customer Servicing Solution: “Mobile Banking for Visually Impaired” from
- Allianz Managed Operations and Services India
- Best User Experience: “Namu Mobile Banking Platform” from Namu Systems
- Most Innovative Blockchain Solution: “P2P Payment & Wallet Platform” from Billon
- Best Digital Wallet Solution: “Superwallet” from Finanteq
- Most Intuitive Consumer Solution: “Swave” from Swave
- Most Innovative Trading Solution: “Trade It” from Trade It
- Most Innovative Solution for Businesses: “Umati Supply Chain Finance Solution” from Umati Capital
ENT-Mobile and Data Integrated Limited both from Kenya also won awards from Citi Mobile Challenge partners IBM and MasterCard. IBM awards recipients will get access to the IBM Global Entrepreneur Program for Cloud Start-ups. Mastercard award recipients will get a weeklong immersion and mentorship program in MasterCard’s European startup engagement program Start Path Europe.
Full list of IBM award recipients
- “ENT-Mobile Core Products and Services” from ENT-Mobile
- “GetFit” from Vortex
- “All the Possibilities” from gameCon
- “Digital Allowance” from Accenture PLC
Full list of Mastercard award recipients
- “MobiTill” from Data Integrated Limited
- “nFrnds – connecting the unconnected” from VascoDe Technologies
- “Swave” from Swave
- “Swipe Save Invest” from Palyon
First held in Latin America and the U.S. in 2014, the Citi Mobile Challenge has received participation from thousands of developers across 101 countries. There are plans to expand to Asia later this year.