Fintech OI

Check whether a programme is open before you apply

Fintech OI's public activity trails off in mid-2022, so the programmes described here are past editions. Before you plan around any of them, confirm with the organisers that there is a current intake rather than assuming the next edition is running.

Make sure the programme fits where you are based

The India Market Access Program is built for fintechs based outside India that want to soft-land in the Indian market. If you are an India-based founder, this programme is not aimed at you. If you are a foreign fintech, the fit is the other way round: the programme exists to help you build an India strategy with local experts.

Watch for programmes that are run by partners, not by Fintech OI

Several seed-funding and venture-builder opportunities have been promoted through the Fintech OI newsletter but are run by partner organisations rather than by Fintech OI itself. If an opportunity interests you, check who actually operates it and apply to that operator directly.

How to take part in the events

The Fintech Open Innovation Week is an event series you register for, open to startups, banks, investors and the wider fintech community, rather than a cohort you are selected into.

Fintech OI is an initiative to grow the fintech ecosystem in India. It describes itself as an industry-wide initiative to accelerate the fintech ecosystem in India, and it was set up by the team behind Fintegrate, the fintech events run in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The programmes and events are run by Startup Réseau, and the initiative has been active since 2021, publishing through a Substack newsletter with a few thousand subscribers.

Fintech OI is not a campus incubator and it does not run a standing cohort programme for India-based founders. Its public activity has taken two forms: a market-access programme aimed at fintechs from outside India, and a week-long event series for the fintech community. The most recent material points to activity through the first half of 2022, so founders should treat the programmes below as past editions and check for a current intake before planning around them.

How the programmes work

The India Market Access Program (IMAP) is a soft-landing programme for growth-stage fintechs based outside India that want to enter the Indian market. It is run with local experts and leaders who help a foreign venture build an India strategy. This is explicitly a programme for foreign fintechs landing in India, not a route for India-based founders. The edition described was the second, with a cohort that started in December 2021 and included startups from Canada, Australia and Georgia.

Separately, Fintech OI has run the Fintech Open Innovation Week, a week-long series of speaker sessions, startup pitches, closed-door B2B meetings, workshops and a Global Inspiration Tour, held in January 2022. This is an event rather than a cohort programme, open to the wider fintech community: startups, banks, incumbents, investors, consultants and researchers.

Who can apply

The market-access programme is for fast-growing fintechs from other markets that are interested in entering India. No formal eligibility rules beyond that were published. The event week was open to anyone in the fintech ecosystem who registered.

Who runs it

Fintech OI is run by Startup Réseau, the team that built and presented the earlier Fintegrate events. The initiative reports that it has run a number of sessions and events since May 2021 and reached a large audience in its first year.