Cracking the Code on Innovative Approaches to Banking: Mu Sigma Announces Award Recipients in Citi Mobile Challenge Asia Pacific

BENGALURU, January 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Strategic Collaboration Continues to Empower Innovation as Four Data and Analytics Teams are Awarded a Five-day Program at Mu Sigma University 

Mu Sigma, the world's largest pure-play provider of decision sciences and analytics solutions, announced today the selected finalists from the Citi Mobile Challenge in Asia Pacific, each of whom will receive the opportunity to attend a five-day program at Mu Sigma University in Bengaluru. The four finalists for most innovative use of data analytics are: Athena, QR*Cool, Tara, and Strap. The winners will visit Mu Sigma's campus to learn about the company's proprietary problem-solving tools and methods, latest best practices in big data decision sciences, and what's next in the emerging areas of computational enablement, visualization and intelligent systems.

Citi Mobile Challenge is a virtual accelerator with a robust curriculum and mentorship program aimed to inspire developers to reimagine mobile banking. Teams from 15 countries presented 72 working prototypes to Citi executives and technology influencers at four Demo Days in November held in Bengaluru, Singapore, Sydney and Hong Kong. Finalists competed for a share of US$100,000 in cash, an opportunity to explore bringing their technologies into production, and a suite of services from Citi Mobile Challenge sponsors. Entries were evaluated on impact, viability, user experience and functionality.

About the Finalists: 

Finalist: Athena / City: Bengaluru 

Category: IOT 

About Athena: "In evolving the M2M or IOT world, we see payment experience undergoing a major shift. Human intervened to machine intervened, Tacit and on the fly intelligence to artificial intelligence supported by correlated data points. Through this solution, we intend to demonstrate the ability to use machines to interact with payment gateways with required decision-making capabilities for most of the day-to-day needs. Additionally for this whole ecosystem to work, security considerations will be of utmost importance. Our solution bakes in robust trusted smart contracts."

Finalist: Taru / City: Hong Kong  

Category: Savings/Personal Finance Management 

About Taru: "When referring to 'financial planning', experts relate to making conscious financial decisions of saving or investing money for future goals. 'Taru' allows its users to do that only more accurately - plan future expenses based on past financial behavior. 'How is this done?' Recurring expenses and income will be calculated based on previous known history. A spreadsheet will be generated with expected transaction per date (that the customer will be able to edit), thus allowing the customer to manage his/her cash-flow more effectively."

Finalist: QR*cool / City: Singapore  

Category: Big Data/Mobile Wallet/Savings 

About QR*cool: "Crowd/Citi funded loan made via Cellum QLoan mobile app. Cellum QLoan allows a customer to easily check the existing interest rates and apply for a loan via the mobile app. The app then proceeds to send out an investment opportunity to the customer's friends on Facebook. Friends would not be able to identify the borrower but will decide if they would like to invest based on the borrower's credit scores and the corresponding rate of return. The app also provides the customer with the option to obtain the loan."

Finalist: Strap / City: Sydney  

Category: Big Data/IoT/Wearables 

About Strap: "With Strap, Citi will have access to actionable human data intelligence to inform and improve marketing and engagement programs. We believe the consumer-centered journey must be personalized because a more personal world is a better world and we want to help Citi make the world more personal. Through powerful analytics and segmentation from smartphones, wearables and health data applications, we will empower Citi to securely engage members at the right time while building brand loyalty and gaining valuable insights. Our proprietary human data analytics engine delivers insights from the fastest-growing and most personal sources of data in the world."

Through what has been the biggest Citi Mobile Challenge yet, Mu Sigma helped Citi identify the brightest analytical minds in India and judged the participants on delivery, approach and packaging of the final solution.

"Our partnership with Citi illustrates a much larger objective: to promote new and creative approaches to data and analytics with the potential to make an impact," said Dhiraj Rajaram, Founder and CEO of Mu Sigma. "We are proud to be a part of this unique global mission to unearth not only rare analytical talent but also create an environment that accelerates innovation and leadership in the world of FinTech."

"Citi Mobile Challenge Asia Pacific was by far our biggest and most competitive program yet. Through close collaboration with leading technology and financial services companies, we expanded our global FinTech ecosystem and unearthed cutting edge solutions that reimagine banking. The teams we met at Demo Days in Bengaluru, Singapore, Sydney and Hong Kong were outstanding, and the top innovations from this Challenge are of the highest quality," said Jorge Ruiz, Global Head of Digital Acceleration at Citi.

Mu Sigma will provide accommodation in Bangalore for the selected teams that attend the Mu Sigma University program. The company will also invite all challenge award recipients from the Bengaluru Demo Day to spend a day at the Mu Sigma Innovation & Development Lab.

Learn more about Citi Mobile Challenge here.

About Mu Sigma

Mu Sigma is a category-defining decision sciences and big data analytics company, helping enterprises systematize better data-driven decision making. The company's interdisciplinary approach and integrated ecosystem of platform, processes and people are redefining how companies approach problem solving in areas of marketing, risk and supply chain. With more than 3,500 decision scientists working across 10 industries Mu Sigma is consistently validated as the preferred decision sciences and analytics partner for 140 of the Fortune 500. Visit http://www.mu-sigma.com.

Mu Sigma is a trademark of Mu Sigma, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owner.

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