Plug and Play, the global innovation platform, and Cathay Financial Holdings have announced today that they will be expanding their partnership to work closer with innovative startups through Plug and Play's Singapore Insurtech program, and would like to invite startups with pioneering and innovative solutions to enhance the quality of the financial services and health industry.
This builds on expanding Cathay's partnership with Plug and Play globally, which started in 2017 as a partner with the Fintech program in Silicon Valley. Through this new partnership in Singapore, Cathay seeks to specifically pilot projects throughout their Southeast Asia businesses.
"External partnerships like the one with Plug and Play are significant as we focus on innovation," said Marcus Lopez, Executive Vice President of Cathay Financial Holdings. "We continue to accelerate our digital transformation across our subsidiaries, and we believe this partnership will strengthen the way we adopt technology into our businesses and create value." Earlier this year, Cathay Financial Holdings announced that it will collaborate with 9 global fintech startups that were selected from more than 400 international fintech companies through an innovation program, with the goal of facilitating growth in operational efficiency and productivity.
Cathay joins Plug and Play for their fourth batch of the Insurtech accelerator program, which together with their Fintech program will be accelerating about 40 startups from across the world in a three-month program starting this March. Cathay will have the ability to target specific areas of their business and search for different solutions through Plug and Play's global startup network. With the addition of Cathay, Plug and Play now works with eleven corporations in their Fintech and Insurtech programs, including MSIG, Willis Towers Watson, Astra Financial, Krung Thai Bank, and Tokio Marine.
"Cathay Financial Holdings is one of Taiwan's and Asia Pacific's premier financial institutions. We've extended their existing partnership from our Fintech program based out of Silicon Valley to Singapore and the APAC Insurtech innovation ecosystem. This will provide the Cathay innovation team visibility into the fastest growing startup ecosystem in the world which is digitally transforming the financial market," says Shawn Dehpanah, EVP of Corporate Development and Innovation for Plug and Play in Asia-Pacific.
Plug and Play Singapore serves as the regional hub for Plug and Play's innovation platform and investment arm in Southeast Asia. They currently run five programs focused on Insurtech, Fintech, Travel, Sustainability, and a private program with Facebook.