Enel X, MasterCard Spur Israeli FinTech Startups

The Innovation Lab will be able simulate financial systems, processes and data to provide an environment in which startups can develop, test and show off their products. It will give young companies with exciting but untested ideas space in which to develop, and to iron out glitches in their proposals. Startup companies accepted into the Lab will receive grants of as much as $140,000, or up to 85 percent of the budget approved for the project, for up to six months.

Enel opened its first innovation hub in Tel Aviv in 2016 and since then has collaborated with 35 startups in a variety of fields including the Internet of Things, cybersecurity, energy storage and e-mobility. The Israeli hub is part of a network of 10 such initiatives that Enel has globally, including in Brazil, Chile, Italy, Russia, Spain and the US. The investment in the new lab comes after Enel won a tender in 2018 to establish Infralab, a Haifa-based innovation lab focusing on the digitalization of infrastructure businesses. There are currently more than six lab companies and eight collaborations with startups.

 

The Israel Innovation Authority, or IIA, asked companies to bid for the Finsec Innovation Lab project, which was established under its Innovation Labs Program. The Program is run in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister’s Office – National Cyber Directorate.