Chicago—FIA announced today that BeZero Carbon has been named the FIA Innovator of the Year. In addition, Clouty was named the runner-up, and Kemet Trading won the People’s Choice Award.
These three companies were among the nine companies participating in the annual Innovators Pavilion at the FIA Expo, an award-winning showcase for fintech startups that is designed to encourage greater innovation in the derivatives industry. More than three dozen applications for places in the Pavilion were reviewed by a selection committee comprised of technology experts from banks, principal trading firms and venture capital firms, and these nine companies were selected based on their relevance to the derivatives industry and the innovativeness of their products and services.
Each one of the nine startups in the Innovators Pavilion delivered a short presentation to Expo attendees, followed by a Q&A session with judges drawn from Barclays, FIS, Goldman Sachs, LayerOne Financial, and Two Sigma Securities.
The judges evaluated the nine startups based on 1) the degree of innovation, 2) the relevance to derivatives markets, and 3) the potential impact on the industry. They chose BeZero Carbon based on the potential value of its project ratings to the emerging carbon offsets market, and Clouty for its vision of creating tradeable contracts based on the popularity of music.
The People's Choice award was determined by votes cast by participants in the FIA Expo. This year's winner, Kemet Trading, impressed attendees with its institutional-grade infrastructure for digital asset derivatives trading.
This year's judges were: Barney Alderson, Product Manager, Prime Services, Barclays; Tito Shirley, Head of Cleared Derivatives, FIS; Marianna Lopert-Schaye, Principal Investing, Goldman Sachs; Kyle Zasky, Chief Executive Officer, LayerOne Financial; and Tim Perevozchikov, Vice President, Digital Assets, Two Sigma Securities.
