App-solutely Efficient Banking

PayKey connects banks to their users, giving them access to financial services from within any app, including all social and messaging platforms. The payments are seamless, secure and app neutral, meaning that one banking button supports all apps. 

After an exhaustive interview and discussion process, PayKey was one of 10 startups selected for the first cohort of Fintech71, Ohio’s new fintech accelerator. Lidor Oz, the Director of Business Development for North America and Digital Wallets, shares more on PayKey, industry trends and Fintech71.

What does PayKey do?
Oz: PayKey enables banks to provide their users with the ability to initiate and complete any financial service, from within any app they are using.

What is PayKey’s story? How did PayKey come to be? What sparked the idea?
Oz: Our co-founders, two payments enthusiasts, met at a blockchain event. Recognizing the need to cater to the changing tastes and habits of millennials, they developed a solution that gives customers an intuitive and real-time experience that they are expecting these days.

Why is PayKey important?
Oz: Our product allows customers to keep enjoying the privacy and the security of their bank, but to do so within any social application, wherever and whenever.

What are PayKey's goals as a company?
Oz: Our goal is to scale on a global level. We see the shift in millennial behavior as they are expecting faster and more seamless experiences. We believe that mobile payments today, especially within financial services, are lacking to answer that need. We believe that in the not so far future, social banking will become a standard in the industry, and that is what we are working toward.

What are the biggest fintech trends?
Oz: Blockchain, risk and compliance, mobile payments, IoT (Internet of Things).

Which of these fintech trends is most likely to impact PayKey?
Oz: Changes in the payments industry are always something we need to be aware of. New companies and new methods of payments are being introduced frequently, trying to “poach” users from one another and from the banks. Banks will need to eventually fight back and provide their users with what they need, wherever they need it.

How did PayKey hear about Fintech71?
Oz: Via a subscribed e-newsletter. I believe it might have been Finextra.

What appealed to PayKey about Fintech71?
Oz: The broad number of partners and sponsors.

Why did PayKey apply to Fintech71?
Oz: We saw a great opportunity to establish relationships with the wide variety of different partners backing this program. There are many financial institutions located in Ohio and, therefore, it is very helpful to be here. We have also seen in the past that working as part of an accelerator can be very productive in terms of feedback and improvement.

What is PayKey hoping to get out of Fintech71?
Oz: Our company’s main goal now is to scale. We are looking to expand out partnerships and achieve more successful launches. With Fintech71, we can engage with the different financial industries that are taking an active part in the program and promote the already existing ones.

Have you been to Ohio before?
Oz: Once, a couple decades ago. I got to visit Cleveland for the weekend.

What was your perception of Ohio before Fintech71?
Oz: That it was a quiet, Midwestern state with not too much to offer. That was my bad. I like the people, the business, the sports, the variety of food and the general vibe in the cities of Ohio.

Interested in learning more about fintech, Fintech71 and financial services in Ohio? We invite you to visit our financial services page.