Societe Generale announces completion of CATALYST SUMMER 2018

Bangalore, 16 November 2018

The 10-week global accelerator program showcased innovative creations from 20 startups developed in areas of strategic interest to the banking industry

 Societe Generale today hosted the Demo Day of the Catalyst Summer 2018 program with 20 startups who developed solutions to address 20 business challenges identified across the Bank. The Catalyst Summer 2018 program, witnessed the largest participation since its initiation in 2015, spanning 16 countries.

Fintech companies, technology start-ups and academic institutions were invited in July 2018 to participate in the 10-week open innovation challenge. The program aims to assimilate interesting business challenges from across the globe in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) BOTS, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Compliance and Automation.

The Catalyst platform has been highly collaborative in bringing together innovation experts, enterprise-relevant technology startups, fintech, incubators, funds and academic institutions with Societe Generale business leaders to deliver actionable solutions and insightful research, in areas of strategic interest to the banking industry.

Rathnaprabha Manickavachagam, Director, Innovation & Digital Transformation, Societe Generale Global Solutions Centre, says, “We onboard many with an Innovative platform to co-create a minimum viable product (MVP) that aims to solve business challenges. We adopt a highly participative and co-creative approach extending multiple dimensions of interventions within the ecosystem. We provide systematic design engagement with our in-house technology experts in alignment with the business, and also ensure the MVPs are easily connectable to our IT system. These MVPs are then converted into contracts with Societe Generale”.

Sunil Shah, CEO & Global Head, Societe Generale Global Solution Centre and Global Head, Societe Generale European Business Services,  Says “The Catalyst program participants have the opportunity to collaborate on a daily basis with a large financial services company, such as Societe Generale, thereby understanding the complexity of navigating across large structures’.

 Catalyst is a performing platform to realise innovation ambitions and design disruptive solutions which can benefit Societe Generale’s end customers. The Catalyst partnership can lead to potential progressive steps, such as investments via funds, business partnerships and experimentations, investment in capital or acquisitions in the interest of better serving customers.

 This is in line with the commitment to anticipate fast-changing customer demands and continued focus on Societe Generale Group innovation strategy by experimenting with disruptive technologies and increasing its interaction with the digital ecosystem in a spirit of open collaboration.

Some success stories

 •Stride.ai (www.stride.ai) has created a SmartKYC application that has automated a KYC Analyst job to prepare a KYC memo in the client onboarding process, that includes writing a negative news search report on the Board of Directors and collating relevant information from several hundred websites using Artificial Intelligence.

•Tookitaki has developed a Machine Learning based smart reconciliation platform for Accounting breaks reconciliation between core back office and inventory IT systems.

Testimonies from Catalyst cohorts

 Vijay Nadadur, Co-Founder & CEO, Stride.ai (www.stride.ai), and previous beneficiary of Catalyst “The Catalyst program by Societe Generale was a defining moment in our journey. At the end of the program, we had the ultimate joy of signing Societe Generale up as our customer. This has led our business to grow leaps and bounds, and today we have more than 10 large financial services organizations as our customers. Without Catalyst, this wouldn’t have been possible.”

Rajesh G, CEO, Highway Delite

“It was a great experience to be part of Catalyst 2018. The overall program was very structured and well planned. We received great support in each step of product development for ConnectAble, from Ideation, Design, Initial Prototype and User testing from both catalyst team and business team.” I would rate the experience as the Best when it comes to Corporate Accelerator Programs in the Indian Startup ecosystem.

Aravind Pochiraju, Founder LRNR

“The fastest way to penetrate BFSI. Any startup’s BFSI dream come true”!

David Jordan, CEO, Enteruptors

“Catalyst helped to change the conversation to solving problems instead of selling solutions. Management don’t want fancy solutions, they wanted low risk, low cost and pragmatic solutions that fix problems. As a RegTech, we want to focus on what customers need, rather than developing  according to market hype. Catalyst builds the connections to develop real-world solutions that have an impact on Societe Generale’s business and help build next generation software businesses.”

Ankit Bhardwaj, CEO, Senseprise

“Catalyst has been a really engaging program. Working with the business in real time has been an amazing learning experience. We think that Catalyst transforms a startup into a process-oriented startup & sharpens the focus and real goal vision. In the 10-week engagement we have learnt a lot in every domain possible. It’s been an enriching experience providing an in depth understanding of real-life problems. It’s an amazing opportunity for any startup. An Accelerator in the true sense.”

Deepak Rao, CEO, Pivot Chain

“Catalyst program from Societe Generale has been a great platform for us to demonstrate and sharpen our offerings. It’s been a pleasure working with the Societe Generale team through the Catalyst program. I highly recommend entrepreneurs participate in this event to make full use of the opportunity.”

 Srinivas, CEO, Assertion

“Catalyst has helped us explore a new dimension of compliance automation. We were hitherto focused on technical controls. Catalyst gave us the opportunity to explore people controls. With this experience and the Societe Generale logo behind us, we are sure to aboard many global banks as our customers. ”