Some 192 startups from 41 different countries entered the Fintech Awards Luxembourg competition, run by KPMG and Lhoft, the winners of which will land €50,000. Among the semi-finalists are three startups from Luxembourg: Bitvalley, Apentis and Algoreg.

The 12 other semi-finalists include:

•     ThetaRay - banking (Israel)
•     2Spark - banking (France)
•     Seso Global - blockchain (United Kingdom)
•     Hydrogen - blockchain (United States)
•     Deecision - regtech (France)
•     Apiax - regtech (Switzerland)
•     Credit Data Research - big data (United Kingdom)
•     AgroCenta - payment (Ghana)
•     Grape - Investment Management (Germany)
•     Silot.ai - big data (Singapore)
•     Elinvar - Investment Management (Germany)
•     IDnow - KYC (Germany)

On 20 June 20, each of the 15 startups will have the opportunity to pitch in front of the jury, which will select seven finalists. They will then receive personalised advice in the afternoon to perfect their presentation. A new pitch session will be organised in the evening.

The 2017 edition of the contest awarded Cyprus-based regtech startup AIFMaps top place, while in 2016 Governance.io won the title.