Fintech has brought us some revolutionary innovations such as stock-trading apps, neobanks, digital payments and more. Yet, there have been some more peculiar services launched by fintech companies which you may not have heard of before. In this article, we’ll explore five of the more bizarre services we’ve seen launched.
A Robo-Adviser Made for Your Car
What could be better than driving around in your sportscar while you listen to your AI assistant tell you how your portfolio is currently performing? Well, perhaps that wouldn’t have been such a good idea during the 2020 stock market crash. Anyway, this was made a reality by Poland-based financial software firm Comarch. Named Myra, Comarch launched the in-car investment assistant for wealthy bank customers to inform them on their portfolio performance and allow them to make some important investment decisions while on the go.
Payments Through Fingerprints
This doesn’t sound too bizarre by today’s standards, and we can probably expect biometric payments to become more mainstream in the not too distant future. However, back in 2002, most people still correlated fingerprinting with being arrested. It was a tough market to crack, but Pay By Touch gave it a shot. The premise was simple, to allow shoppers to present a fingerprint instead of cards and cash for payment. The company was too far ahead of its time though, and unfortunately filed for bankruptcy in late 2007.
The Personal Finance App Inspired by Fitbit
Most people would rather be chased by a hungry man-eating lion, than face the prospect of dealing with their personal finances. This is why Meniga launched an app called Challenges to try and make the process of managing your money a little bit more fun. Through challenges, motivational saving goals and amusing spending warnings, it aims to add gamification to the app to help make personal finance management more engaging and exciting. The app took inspiration from other apps with strong digital engagement such as Facebook, Twitter, and Fitbit.
Authenticating Payments Through Eye-Scanning Technology
The idea of having the veins in the whites of your eye scanned doesn’t sound too pleasing, right? Well, thanks to EyeVerify, this biometric security feature could become more commonplace. More and more banks like Wells Fargo and Tangerine Bank are adopting the technology to help authenticate users and give them access to their bank accounts. The company was acquired by Ant Group (the world’s largest fintech company) for $100 million in 2016 and they look set to have a huge impact on how fintechs and financial institutions use biometric authentication.
Twitter For Traders
Twitter can be an excellent way for traders to pick up valuable information. However, it doesn’t take much to get distracted, and before you know it, you’ve falling down the Twitter rabbit hole and you’re binging on Elon Musk’s tweets.
Introducing EarlyBird. This fintech start-up offers access to Twitter in a ‘read-only’ capacity, meaning traders can filter out the noise and find only the relevant and essential information they need.