Fintech’s Five Dark-Horse Cities: Singapore, Berlin, Madrid, Sydney, Amsterdam

TechCrunch: With global investment in fintech having tripled in the last five years, the financial sector is without a doubt in the midst of a revolution. The leading cities in the global fintech race are relatively unsurprising: Silicon Valley, New York, London and Hong Kong are the epicentres of the investment blast.

But it’s the newcomers that are diversifying the market, bringing unique capabilities, outstanding technology and ideal infrastructure to what used to be a stale financial sector. These five dark-horse cities are the top contenders in the global fintech race, and are spearheading innovation in the industry. Read the full article

TechCrunch: In Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking, Silicon Valley Slips, While Southeast Asia Gains Traction

Entrepreneur:  6 Global Alternative Cities to Silicon Valley to Start Your Company: Santiago (Chile), Shenzhen (China), Hong Kong, Cebu (Philippines), Berlin (Germany), Dubai (UAE)

TechInAsia: Singapore: an alternative to Silicon Valley

TechInAsia: Report: Singapore is the 10th best startup ecosystem in the world, but it lacks talent

TechInAsia: Sing when you’re winning in Singapore

DealStreetAsia: Singapore won the bid to host MIT’s Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme (REAP) in the city-state, clinching the opportunity to showcase its growing innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. This announcement was made at the MIT Global Innovation Gala Dinner Tuesday evening to 100 innovators from seven other participating regions – London, Morocco, Moscow, Puerto Rico, Seoul, Qatar and Valencia – for the programme. The dinner was hosted at the Singapore Istana, residence of Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam, President of the Republic of Singapore. The MIT REAP programme is a two-year programme designed to help regions accelerate economic development and job creation and is designed for leaders in universities, risk capital, corporations, government/economic development agencies and entrepreneurs. Read the full article