Vanessa Ronan Pearce is named a top 100 Woman in Fintech. Vanessa is the Founder of Intersekt Fintech Australia Festival.  Vanessa handles partnerships and events at Fintech Australia.

We speak with Vanessa about what it takes to become a top 100 Fintech woman and the Worldwide competition to make the list.

Fintech Australia started October of 2016 when Australia had just 100 startups in the Fintech ecosystem. Today in 2018 Australia has over 650 startups in the Fintech space.

Fintech Australia was inspired to startup from the success of the Singapore Fintech Festival.

Spotlight on the big four bank incumbents on their banking practices so they want to know more about fintech and how to incorporate it into their solutions.  Also from a regulatory prospective especially seeing how Singapore has handled fintech.

The Finnie Awards and how Intersekt picks the various startups for each winner category.

Startup Round Sponsored by trustsmarter.com

Fintech Australia does a Census with EY so check out the 2017 report.

Building a Fintech Festival and how Vanessa gets sponsors, partners and speakers for the conference.

A presenting partner that started in 2016 was the Victorian Government and has been extremely supportive of the Fintech Australian conference.

Conference Sponsors, Partners in 2016-2017
Acorns
Stripe
Visa
Accenture

Policy Partner: International Law Firm face challenges with their big bank clients who want to finance them and smaller clients who want to disrupt the market. However, these policy partners have become supportive of the fintech ecosystem in Australia and adding value to both types of clients - >  Herbert Smith Freehill

An amazing increase for the conference year over year with 85 judges (5 for each of the 23 categories that is widespread across the fintech ecosystem).  Over 225 startup entries up from 150 in 2017.

Increase in attendees from 250 to over 1500 people including investments in startups.

Lucy Yueting Liu is Founder of Airwallex and Board Member Fintech Australia

Solve a unique problem, don't replicate a solution already in the market define the audience and that it can be used in other markets or territories

Top fintech areas in Australia:
Payments
Lending
Digital currencies
Wealth Tech

Canva the software company for designing everything from social media graphics and invitations to postcards and. now announced the acquisition of Australian startup Zeetings that help with your presentations.  We interviewed Christopher Gimmer Founder of Snappa who is a competitor of Canva.

Company with massive growth is Afterpay.

Fast Pitch Round Sponsored by Chadrow.net
Book Club Guest Recommendation: Mindset
Hero: Her husband, actuary
Quote: Anais Nin: "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

Wrap Up Round Sponsored by BankSmarter.com

Three Main Takeaways:
Be persistence and don't lose faith.
Think global about where else you can take your product.
Talk to everybody because that person could be your next sponsors or promoter.

Ron Suber, President Prosper, Chairman of Credible.com whose founder is Stephen Dash was the Keynote speaker for the Australia Fintech conference.

tags: Open Data, Blockchain, Digital Currencies, Digital Robo-Advice
Alternative Finance and Payments, AI Artificial intelligence, Digital Identity, Neo Banks, Regtech, Insurtech.