This September, we gathered in London for the fifth edition of the Fintech for Inclusion Global Summit, hosted by Accion Venture Lab. As a leading seed-stage investor in inclusive fintech working with founders in emerging markets, we’ve long championed startups that bring financial services to underserved communities in markets across the world. Cross-pollination of ideas, and forging of new alliances through intimate peer engagement, are central to our fund’s thesis. This year’s Summit was another such convening, hosting 250 participants from 30 countries, including 77 investors and 36 founders from our portfolio. With four unique breakout workshops, engaging panels, and over 200 scheduled meetings, the Summit was a vibrant space for collaboration and learning.
As with our previous editions of the Summit, it’s not the numbers but the focused, carefully curated community and content that makes the Summit a cornerstone event of the global inclusive fintech community. One of the special features of this year’s Summit was our breakout workshops, which focused on four key themes: fintech in commerce, fintech in SaaS, fintech infrastructure, and fintech in AI. These workshops were designed to be interactive, starting with a mini panel and then evolving into group discussions where participants and panelists created their own space for sharing insights and perspectives. With this approach, we could involve the audience in conversations to gain invaluable insights from a knowledgeable and diverse set of participants, who played an active role in making these interactive sessions a success.
Here are some of the key lessons we took away from the insightful discussions:
1. Technology is redefining financial inclusion
The rapid evolution of technology continues to be a game changer in fintech. Speakers like Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard, and TS Anil, CEO of Monzo Bank, discussed how technologies like smartphones, cloud computing, and APIs have dramatically lowered the cost of reaching underserved populations. They stressed how emerging frontier technologies, like generative AI, have the potential to significantly improve customer engagement, providing personalized financial education at scale.
However, as TS Anil aptly noted, “As you’re understanding the needs of your customers, anticipating what might actually solve their problem is a real challenge.” This observation highlights the importance of thinking beyond the immediate asks of the customer and designing solutions that can truly change the game for low-income consumers.
Some of the insights we gained from our breakout sessions further reinforced technology’s impact on the future of inclusion. Here are a few highlights:
- Fintech in commerce
In the B2B e-commerce space, integrating fintech services, like credit, payments, and financing, directly into business workflows is essential. In emerging markets, scaling B2B e-commerce without fintech is challenging because these services streamline operations and improve adoption rates. Participants discussed the need to view fintech as an inherent part of commerce rather than a separate entity.
- Fintech in SaaS
Convincing small and medium businesses to pay for SaaS products remains a challenge, particularly in price-sensitive markets. Freemium models and affordable subscriptions can reduce barriers to entry, but the value of SaaS solutions often becomes apparent only over time. Managing customer expectations and ensuring long-term engagement is key to building trust in these products. Embedded fintech in SaaS can unlock instant utility in such contexts.
- Fintech infrastructure
Partnerships between fintechs and traditional banks are gaining traction, especially as banks recognize the value of fintech tools for loan origination and supply chain financing. This collaboration is vital for expanding financial inclusion in underserved regions where deploying physical infrastructure or human capital is prohibitively expensive.
- Fintech in AI
The potential of AI to drive efficiency and automation was a hot topic in this workshop. AI can take on repetitive, non-critical tasks, allowing businesses to focus on growth and innovation. However, participants sounded a cautionary note about the risks of bias in AI models. Ensuring transparency and fairness in AI-driven decision-making is crucial, with continuous monitoring of data inputs and outcomes. This need for accountability and fairness was echoed throughout the conversation.
2. Untapped opportunities to build great fintechs in emerging markets remain
An investor panel featuring Udayan Goyal of Apis Partners, Ashish Aggarwal of PayPal Ventures, Jonathan Whittle of Quona, and Pim Engels of FMO highlighted several regions as ripe for fintech investment. Egypt, Turkey, and parts of Francophone Africa were identified as under-tapped markets with significant growth potential. The panel also stressed the importance of small business financing in driving inclusive growth in these regions.
As Jane Atherton from Temasek pointed out in the fireside chat, the challenge lies in digitizing the financial activities of underserved populations to enable credit access and financial inclusion. Upasana Taku, co-founder of Mobikwik, noted how digital public infrastructure and innovative AI solutions have enabled her company to bring financial services to self-employed individuals in smaller Indian towns.
3. Building the future together will make it a better future
One of the Summit’s most rewarding aspects was its role in fostering connections between investors and founders.
With 210 meetings pre-scheduled through our platform, and countless impromptu discussions occurring throughout the day, the Summit provided an invaluable space for networking. Investors from developed markets are increasingly interested in innovative startups from emerging markets, and the Summit helped bridge this gap. We know anecdotally that many of these investor conversations are slowly developing into meaningful outcomes as we write this piece.
For startups not actively fundraising, the Summit offered other growth opportunities, from partnership discussions to market expansion strategies. This value is underscored by a founder who closed $65,000 in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) just from the event. One of the founders remarked, “The convening was niche enough to find peers with immediate relevance and broad enough to expand network and perspectives.”
4. The road ahead: Prioritizing innovation and inclusivity will be necessary for success
As fintech continues to evolve, the role of technology in reaching underserved populations will only become more critical. But as we learned at the Summit, success requires more than just adoption of the latest technology. It requires companies to understand the unique challenges of underserved communities, building products that address their needs, and fostering partnerships that can drive meaningful impact.
Investors and founders alike must be thoughtful in how they approach growth, balancing innovation with inclusivity. As the conversations at our Summit showed, there’s immense potential in emerging markets, but realizing that potential will require smart collaboration and a focus on long-term, sustainable impact. In our capacity as early-stage investors, we are excited to work towards the goal of being a leading catalyst that connects, shapes, and accelerates this collaboration.
As we reflect on the success of the 2024 Summit, we want to express our gratitude to the partners whose support made it all possible: Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, FMO Ventures, Citi Foundation, AXA, Carta, CGAP, Community Investment Management, and RPCK. As we look forward to the next edition of the Summit in 2026, we are excited to see how the insights gained this year may translate into real-world results, supporting our community’s work to drive financial inclusion for millions of underserved people around the globe.
If you’d like to partner with us for the next event or learn more about our biennial Fintech for Inclusion Global Summit, please send us a note to eshevchenko@accion.org.
