LBP AM and Tocqueville Finance recognise four fintechs at the 2022 Innovation Awards

On 20 October 2022, La Banque Postale Asset Management (LBP AM) and its subsidiary Tocqueville Finance staged the 2022 Innovation Awards, in partnership with Investance Partners and Finance Innovation.

At a ceremony held at the headquarters of LBP AM and Tocqueville Finance, four fintechs won awards in three categories: Handsome, voted “Best Fintech of the Year”, Fruggr and Carbometrix, joint winners of the “SRI Fintech of the Year” title, and Weather Trade Net, winner of the jury’s special prize.

the “SRI Fintech of the Year” title, and Weather Trade Net, winner of the jury’s special prize.

LBP AM and its subsidiary Tocqueville Finance, which invest substantially in innovation and fintechs, held the 2022 Innovation Awards at their headquarters in the La Félicité Paris Sully Morland eco-hub yesterday. Aimed at promoting innovative companies, future unicorns and drivers of a sustainable economy, the awards were organised with the support of Investance Partners and the Paris Europlace Finance Innovation competitiveness cluster.

This first edition of the awards was also supported and sponsored by Fleur Pellerin, former Minister of Innovation and Digital Affairs and now chairwoman of Korelya Capital, and a jury composed of 14 sector experts and chaired by Pierre Ernst, a member of LBP AM’s management board.

More than 700 fintechs were contacted and 60 shortlisted, with 11 finalists presenting to the jury. The following four winners were announced at the awards ceremony:

Best fintech of the year:

Handsome, created in 2019 by Julien Delamorte. Nine out of every ten visually impaired individuals are the victim of fraud, scams or errors when making instore payments. Handsome came up with the first fully accessible payment card, based on smartphone connectivity, to address this issue. Once the cardholder has inserted their card in the payment terminal their phone reads out the instructions appearing on the terminal. This replacement of written prompts by spoken ones offers greater payment independence and security to visually impaired users.

SRI fintech of the year (joint winners):

Fruggr, a start-up created in 2021 by Frederick Marchand based on the impact concept, aims to become the world’s leading platform in ESG steering of digital applications. It seeks to transform companies’ digital footprint and provides automated assessment of the environmental and social footprint of digital applications. Fruggr wants to make digital technology more environmentally friendly and accessible to as many people as possible.

Carbometrix, created in 2021 by Corinne Bach, Christian Couturier and Marie David, is a platform that allows investors to assess the carbon footprint of the companies that finance it [1]and to deploy the most effective decarbonisation levers. Their offering uses a simple, accessible tool to steer the venture capital sector towards sustainable finance.

Jury’s special fintech prize:

Weather Trade Net, created in 2019 by Elena Maksimovich, is a unique data provider startup operating at the meeting point of deep tech, climate tech, fintech and insurtech. The company produces physical climate risk scores used in insurance, auditing, ESG rating, TCFD-aligned annual company reporting and risk management.

The winners will benefit in particular from the media coverage offered by the B-Smart channel awards partner, a year’s membership of the Finance Innovation competitiveness cluster, Fresque du Climat et de la Diversité training by Investance Partners and an ESG rating from LBP AM carried out using its proprietary “GREaT” methodology.

“We are thrilled to be highlighting the talent, drive and ambition of the four winning fintechs. These awards are fully in line with the long-term commitment of LBP AM and Tocqueville Finance to promote innovation and impact technology ("SRI & Tech"), a source of value creation for all our customers and a key driver of more sustainable and responsible growth, ” commented Pierre Ernst, jury chair and member of LBP AM’s management board.

Cyril Armange, Deputy CEO of Finance Innovation, added: “The Banque Postale Asset Management awards highlight the resilience, talent and innovation of the French fintech ecosystem facing the challenges of a rapidly changing society marked by multiple transitions, fromfgrea economic, societal and digital to environmental and geopolitical. The solutions proposed by Handsome, Frugg, Carbometrix and Weather Trade Net are concrete, long-lasting and sustainable responses that the Finance Innovation global competitiveness cluster is committed to supporting, promoting and accompanying."

Luc-Sorel Om, General Manager of Investance Partners: “These awards are testament to collective selection work involving private and public investors and large and small companies aimed at continuing to promote an innovative sector that has a huge amount still to offer. Handsome’s selection reminds us of the importance of getting an even more detailed view into this French finance start-up ecosystem that can provide real banking solutions to vulnerable and disabled people"