ABU DHABI— Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the award-winning international financial center, has taken its global FinTech talent-discovery road show (FinTechAD Tour) to Riyadh.

Riyadh is the final stop on the MENA region leg of the FinTechAD Tour, co-organised by ADGM and Unbound - the global innovation ecosystem builder. In total, the FinTechAD Tour is visiting 17 cities across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Three outstanding companies have emerged from the MENA region and secured places at ADGM’s flagship festival, FinTech Abu Dhabi, (“FinTech AD”) in Abu Dhabi, on Oct. 21-23.

At FinTech AD in October, the winners of national events will benefit from the opportunity to:

• Form part of the FinTech 50:

- A best-of-the-best line up of companies who will pitch to an international audience of financial institutions, regulators, corporates and media

• Join other FinTech companies in applying to enter the ADGM FinTech AD Innovation Challenge:

- Selected FinTech firms will be tasked to solve real challenges faced by financial institutions, corporates and consumers in the UAE, the Middle East, and MEASA regions

The overall winners of the FinTechAD Innovation Challenge will be invited to relocate their business to Abu Dhabi for two years and win subsidized housing, office space and health insurance in Abu Dhabi.

The MENA region winners of the FinTechAD Tour are:

• Amman: AmwalCom

• Cairo: XPAY

• Riyadh: FlexxPay

The Riyadh event followed visits to Amman and Cairo, and was another huge success, with a fantastic turnout from companies and entrepreneurs. Those in attendance benefited from early access to institutions and investors who will attend FinTech AD in October and had the opportunity to take part in pitching sessions sharing their FinTech solutions.

The FinTech AD Tour now moves on to Casablanca on Sept. This global search is part of ADGM’s mission to identify companies who wish to scale internationally and develop disruptive products and services, to solve challenges identified by ADGM in:

• Financial Inclusion;

• RegTech & SupTech;

• Banking & Finance;

• Insurance;

• Digital Marketplaces;

• Wealth & Asset Management; and

• Security & Trust

Wai Lum Kwok, Senior Executive Director, Capital Markets, Financial Services Regulatory Authority of ADGM, said:

“ADGM is excited that the FinTech AD Tour has received such strong support in all the cities it has visited. The calibre of participating FinTech companies and entrepreneurs has been extremely impressive and it shows how much talent is just waiting to be discovered. Our tour is an integral component of the FinTech Abu Dhabi Festival. As an international financial centre and a FinTech Hub in MENA, ADGM is committed to nurturing emerging tech and FinTech enterprises to thrive and grow locally in Abu Dhabi and globally.”

Daniel Seal, Founder and CEO of Unbound, said:

“So far, the FinTech AD Tour has been to cities across Africa, Asia, Central Asia, Europe and the MENA region. It has now just completed the penultimate city in global tour. We have been so lucky to witness so much talent and innovation during the tour and choosing winners has been extremely difficult. I can’t wait to see what the other stops on our world tour have to offer as the bar has been set very high so far.

“As an entrepreneur myself, it is very special to me to be involved in a project that serves to elevate grassroots talent and celebrate the boldest ideas and initiatives driving the FinTech industry.”