Doqit Technologies Ltd and Planda AI have won the Smart Data Foundry and FinTech Scotland UK Fintech Challenge, designed to encourage data-led innovation and accelerate the development of products to assist with Later Life financial planning.

Doqit Technologies, which has developed an app to help people manage their life-admin more easily, and Planda AI, which is on a mission to increase financial wellbeing, were each awarded a prize of £45,000 to develop their ideas.

Both companies were among six finalists who were given a chance to improve their financial solutions and products with synthetic data* from Smart Data Foundry, which replicates data relating to consumer banking, investment, and savings products. By doing so, they were able to test their innovations before presenting them to some of the largest financial institutions in the UK, including NatWest Group, PwC, and Royal London.

Sarah Collins, Director at PwC said: “PwC was delighted to support this programme of work, it has been inspiring to spend time with FinTechs who have developed technology enabled solutions to help customers live better in their later financial lives, and ultimately to deliver positive customer and societal outcomes. The passion displayed by all those involved was energising and it was fantastic to see the talent within the FinTech cluster first-hand.”

Samantha Brand, Innovations & Partnerships Lead at NatWest said: “We were excited to participate in this innovation call for Supporting Later Financial Lives. It was brilliant to see the variety of consumer focused propositions being developed by FinTechs. Supporting the companies develop their thinking and working with PwC, and Royal London as part of the showcase day was a great example of collaboration across Financial Services to tackle this important topic which aligns with NatWest’s purpose to champion potential, helping people, families and businesses to thrive.”

Bryn Coulthard, CTO of Smart Data Foundry, expressed his admiration for the winners: “The creativity and determination showcased by all the finalists were truly inspiring, but doqit and Planda AI absolutely stood out. Their solutions address the pressing financial challenges individuals face as they age and demonstrate remarkable commercial viability. These innovations have the potential to transform the landscape of financial planning and well-being for future generations.”

Nicola Anderson, CEO of FinTech Scotland, said: “At FinTech Scotland, we are committed to accelerating innovations that addresses real-world challenges and working with businesses like NatWest, Royal London and PwC is key to responsible innovation. The progress demonstrated by doqit and Planda AI in developing solutions for Later Life financial planning shows the power of collaboration to support initiatives that drive meaningful change and improve financial wellbeing for all.”

Doqit’s life-admin app was born out of Catherine Ann Reid’s struggle to manage life admin while caring for her daughter Chloe, who has a rare genetic condition. Drowning under mounds of paperwork, hospital appointments and tax returns, she embarked on a journey to create a single, simple, place for people to manage their day-to-day life admin, such as monitoring bills and tracking insurance policies and multiple pensions.

Catherine Ann said: “We really enjoyed working on the FinTech Scotland and Smart Data Foundry challenge. It supports doqit’s mission of simplifying the overwhelm of day-to-day life admin. We believe people being more organised, and having better control of their important financial documentation, plays a significant part in ensuring they are more financially prepared for living a longer life.  

“The synthetic data allowed us to create personas, and envision the introduction of machine learning into doqit’s next phase. This will streamline the process of recording a huge chunk of life admin into doqit using Open Finance and more APIs.  Thank you to FinTech Scotland and Smart Data Foundry for their support and to the partners NatWest, PWC, and Royal London for sharing their wider challenges and use cases. Congratulations to all short-listed, and Planda on receiving their award.” 

Planda AI has designed an AI and machine learning financial wellbeing platform which revolutionises the way financial services firms engage with their customers about their finances. It provides a bridge between technology and personal finance, using AI and the psychology around money to understand people’s financial lives in a new way.

Using machine learning models, it analyses people’s behavioural patterns to predict how and where individuals will end up financially, helping banks guide customers to a financially secure future.

Sam Brown, Founder of Planda AI, said: “Thank you to FinTech Scotland for supporting us in this challenge. Later life wellbeing is something very close to our heart, and the UK is sleepwalking into a big problem. We are on a mission to make money human, combining behavioural and artificial intelligence to help the industry understand how people feel about money.  

“Smart Data Foundry’s synthetic data set, combined with our AI profiling technology, has been invaluable in allowing us to prove out key hypotheses related to peoples’ financial trajectory in life. 

“Working with NatWest, Royal London, and PwC helped us better understand some of the challenges and opportunities they are facing, and we have met some other fantastic start-ups along the way. Congratulations to doqit on their award alongside Planda.”