After a month-long global search for the most outstanding Islamic fintech companies in the industry, IFN is proud to announce the winners of the inaugural World Islamic Fintech Awards.
Receiving 135 nominations across 16 categories from around the world, the pool of submissions represented a cross-segment of fintech companies at varying stages of development. Each application was screened through by IFN Fintech (a sister publication of IFN) to meet the following criteria: must be a fintech company; must offer Shariah compliant financial solutions; and must have a minimum viable product (except for the Most Promising Islamic Fintech Start-up category).
With the exception of the WIFA People’s Choice Award, the submissions were then forwarded to an independent Awards Board which deliberated and evaluated each application based a set of parameters including product innovation, impact, track record, market reach and viability, and time-to-market among others. Only categories which received more than three qualifying submissions were included in this year’s Awards.
WIFA People’s Choice Award was voted by the public. Each individual was only allowed to vote once and only votes by verified email addresses were accepted.
WIFA 2018 winners:
Best Alternative Finance Provider — StrideUp, the UK
Best Data and Analytics Platform for Islamic Finance — Arabesque, the UK
Most Innovative Use of Blockchain in Islamic Finance — Blossom Finance, Indonesia
Best Islamic Crowdfunding Platform — Yielders, the UK
Best Islamic Peer-to-Peer Finance Platform — EthisCrowd, Singapore
Best Islamic Digital Bank — Insha, Germany
Best Islamic Fintech Enabler — Albaraka Garaj, Turkey
Best Islamic Wealth Management Fintech Company — HelloGold, Malaysia
Best Islamic Financial Software Provider — Codebase Technologies, the UAE
Best Islamic Robo-Advisory Platform — Wahed Invest, the US
Best Shariah Compliant Payment, Remittance and FX Platform — Moneyar, Iran
Best Social Impact Islamic Fintech Firm — Global Sadaqah, Malaysia
WIFA People’s Choice Award — OneGram, the UAE
Most Promising Islamic Fintech Start-up of the Year — Primary Finance, the UK
Islamic Fintech Company of the Year — Insha, Germany
Our heartiest congratulations to all winners for their very deserving win — we thank you for your dedication and commitment toward advancing the Islamic finance proposition through technology. Your perseverance, ingenuity and passion are unparalleled, and we are proud to be honoring all of you. We look forward to celebrating your outstanding achievements at the WIFA Award Gala on the 26th November in Manama, Bahrain.
For the Awards Board’s justification for each win, click here.