In 2013, financial services technology provider FIS came up with an internal hackathon, IN48, where its employees could present their own innovations and win prizes. Eight years later, it decided to take this out of the stable, giving students in educational institutions a chance to showcase their technological creations. 

Last year, it decided to push the envelope further and build more partnerships by opening the program to the startup ecosystem with FIS InnovateIN48 Partner Edition. The 48 in the title stands for the two-day period that founders must make their pitch.

The debut event saw the participation of 169 start-ups from 10 countries, of which the company selected nine. At the second event this year, it is hoping to see a similar number of participants from mature start-ups who have propositions that can complement FIS’s offerings and meet its customer requirements.

Sharing details, Vishad Gupta, head of the global delivery organization at FIS, said that this year’s theme touches upon three areas, including data and AI, trust and security and embedded finance. “Growth start-ups in India and APAC focusing on these sectors can showcase their creations together. If we pick suitable solutions and evaluate them to see their viability by assessing proof of concept and customer implementation successfully. This is because our model is about working with the ecosystem rather than developing everything on our own,” he added. 

The participating startups could have solutions for a specific business line or one that cuts horizontally, like cyber security fraud or embedded finance, which fit into FIS’s nine different core banking products.  

In 48 hours (aggregated), the participants can learn from FIS leaders and partners through a series of workshops, engage in strategy meetings and 1-1 discussions, and then develop and pitch their innovative ideas to FIS decision-makers. The winners of the program will be announced in February 2024. 

FIS InnovateIN48 Partner 2023 was held on the 28th and 29th of October. On the first day, the company’s business leaders talked about its business lines, innovation and API ecosystem, apart from introducing the FIS InnovateIN48 Partner edition objectives along with panel discussions on the event’s themes like Gen AI, data, embedded finance, card and money movement. The second day also had workshops where startups could understand the different product touch points and the collaboration opportunities with FIS.

Vikash Sharma, SVP, IT division executive at the company said that judging metrics will be based on the synergies that exist between the startup and FIS, such as complementary offerings that the startup can offer in alignment with FIS products, how the startups address the central themes of innovation that it is operating in, and how easily can their products be integrated. “Those selected will have potential opportunities to develop their ideas further and build a proof-of-concept through various FIS initiatives,” he added. 

The majority of startups are reluctant to work with large corporates as they might be unable to navigate the journey or layers within the organization. Most hackathon-type events have demanding deliverables and commitments over an extended period of time. 
Its IN48 program is designed to address these challenges by creating an environment that allows startups to connect directly to its ecosystem. The application is lightweight, with startups having to prepare only one slide, which presents the problem statement, how their proposed solution will make a difference, their value proposition and their needs. 

FIS is undergoing a transformation into a cloud-based enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, catering to complex financial institutions and capital markets participants. In Q3 2023, it reported a 2 per cent increase in total company revenue on an organic basis, reaching $3.7 billion.

The firm is actively involved in transforming its sales force, concentrating on selling software and technology-enabled solutions. This strategic shift has resulted in enhanced sales quality and productivity, instilling confidence in the company's sales pipeline.

Providing insights into the company's third-quarter performance, CEO and president Stephanie Ferris said that despite a decrease in total capital markets revenue attributed to a single significant license signing, FIS maintains robust recurring revenue growth due to sustained high demand. Anticipating strong sales growth in the fourth quarter and throughout 2024, it projects a steady backlog in the range of $22.5 billion to $23.5 billion. 

Over the course of its five-decade journey, FIS has grown through acquisitions. FIS’ Global Innovation Report found that the top challenges that firms face when it comes to implementing innovative solutions are limited budget/financial resources (53 per cent), followed by lack of in-house expertise/knowledge (50 per cent). 

To maintain a favourable recurring revenue growth rate for the fourth quarter and beyond, activities like FIS InnovateIN48 Partner Edition are essential. This year’s event partners include FintechAustralia, Antler, The Fintech Meetup, Plugandplay, Hedera, IFSCA, Polygon, AWS, IBM and Microsoft.

Gupta claimed that this program gives startups in India and APAC an opportunity to take their solutions global, which can be challenging for most founders. “Our platform allows them to interact with our business owners, alliance partners and venture capital firms and they can get access to a wide ecosystem within a short window of time,” he elaborated. 

Sharma added that IN48 Partner Edition is the company’s gateway program where promising fintech startups get an opportunity to connect with its lines of business, the accelerator, venture and alliance partner programs. In addition to using its strength to help startups take their ideas to the next level, these programs are establishing grounds for fintech innovation in India.

The company has already done two runs-ups of this event—in Pune and Bangalore. 80 per cent of the participants are expected to be from India, while the remainder will be from other parts of Asia, like Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand. 

“It's a great opportunity where we can look at many solutions in a very short time frame and then find an opportunity for partnership. We are not looking at early-stage start-ups, but at reasonably sized ones with a product or solution in place and want to scale it globally,” Gupta elaborated, terming this an inorganic technological acquisition for the brand.