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Bridging the Gap between Banking & Social Media Networks

October 07, 2015Daniel PeledCEO & Founder, GetGems
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GetGems was awarded "Most Visionary Social Media Solution" at this year's Citi Mobile Challenge program in EMEA. Here is their story:

Presenting GetGems at the Citi Mobile Challenge in Jerusalem earlier this year was an exciting step for the company. It was a great honor to be recognized as the "Most Visionary Social Media Solution," which led to GetGems receiving a coveted position within the Citi Accelerator program.

The problem we identified is that social platforms develop instant payment solutions while the traditional mobile banking apps can be left behind. With current banking apps, existing P2P payment user experiences are not intuitive, can be detached from the context of the payment, and are not always appealing to habits of millennials.

Our goal is to solve these problems and to impact retail banking customers around the world. For retail customers a frictionless P2P payment translates into a tremendous value in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. Leveraging the strength and size of existing networks creates both simplicity and an intuitive payment experience. Users enjoy minimal transactions fees and instantaneous money transfer.

Our team has been running full steam since the initial crowdfunding late last year; however we have always been aware of the need to make more direct connections with financial-technology mentors. Citi has helped us connect with industry experts who have the specific training and experience we were looking for. We have been pleasantly surprised by the openness with which the entire banking industry is taking startups under their wings. We are grateful Citi is giving us access to a wide variety of subject matter experts with experience across the payments industry.

Meeting Ruth Polachek, Head of Citi Accelerator and External Innovation at Citi has most certainly been a highlight, as she is both extremely supportive and the right person to connect us within Citi, an organization with almost 240,000 employees worldwide. Her care and attention to detail has been welcoming and she has provided great insight into Citi and its operations. Daily connections with the top FinTech companies, banks and weekly meetings with other teams in the Accelerator program have all added to a most rewarding experience for all of the members of our team.

There are currently over 15,000 users, and hundreds of beta testers actively using GetGems' service to transfer funds.

GetGems' technology is helping to bridge the gap between banking (bank users) and social (social networks). We are very passionate about making finance accessible to everyone. Working within the Citi Accelerator has opened our eyes to a myriad of possibilities. We are currently in the next phase of the Citi Mobile Challenge, working closely with the Citi consumer lab to design and validate our solution.

Click here for more information about the Citi Mobile Challenge.

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