MANAMA: Bahrain FinTech Bay (BFB) and Israel’s Fintech-Aviv have agreed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and business between the two countries.
The agreement outlines the intention of both parties to co-operate on matters of mutual interest relating to the development of the fintech industry.
It comes in the wake of the signing of the Abraham Accords between Bahrain and Israel in September 2020, which set the stage for normalisation of ties.
BFB and Fintech-Aviv say they will collaborate on joint projects, community events and enable partnerships between fintechs and venture capital interested in expanding in Bahrain and Israel.
BFB chief executive Khalid Dannish said, “Bahrain has taken tremendous strides towards embracing, adopting and promoting innovative technology and we are pleased to launch this partnership to further enable our fintech ecosystem and open up opportunities for fintechs and partners.
“This exciting step towards cross-border co-operation with the Israeli fintech community will pave the way for future partnerships and also strengthen our ecosystems,” he added.
Since its establishment in 2018, BFB has become one of the leading hubs in the region, having incubated more than 50 businesses looking to establish their Mena headquarters in Bahrain.
Additionally, BFB has strategically partnered with more than 20 global scale-ups looking to expand regionally via its unique venture acceleration platform.
The 50 partners that make up the organisation include governmental agencies, financial institutions, corporates, consultancy firms, universities, venture capitalists (VCs) and fintech start-ups, bringing the full spectrum of market participants together.
Other services offered by BFB to fintechs include innovation labs, acceleration programmes, curated activities, educational opportunities and collaborative platforms.
Startup Genome’s Global Fintech Ecosystem Report 2020 has named Bahrain one of the region’s best fintech ecosystems, second only to Abu Dhabi.
The report also listed the kingdom as one of only two GCC locations among emerging fintech ecosystems to watch across the globe.
According to the report, Tel Aviv has the highest number of start-ups per capita in the world after Silicon Valley and is home to 107 multinational companies with R&D centres and innovation hubs, including Yandex, Amazon and Alibaba.
Established in 2014, FinTech-Aviv serves the needs of the Israeli fintech ecosystem, that comprises more than 6,000 start-ups and 300 research and development centres.
It consists of more than 30,000 community members which include growth stage companies, early-stage start-ups, global banks, insurance firms, VCs and multinational companies.
FinTech-Aviv chairman Nir Netzer said, “In this unprecedented time of new economic and political order in the Middle East, we’re honoured to extend our relationship and partners network to Bahrain and to initiate this unique collaboration in order to facilitate the export of Israeli technologies to new markets.
He said the community was excited at the prospect of leading Israeli companies “towards the exploration of new horizons with our new business partners”.
&uuid=(email))