Sync Challenge

HSBC India aspires to build a “smart scoring” platform that considers all financial, judgemental, alternative, market, critical and non-financial parameters while evaluating a startup for debt funding. By launching ‘SYNC Challenge’ we are taking a collaborative approach keeping in mind both financial and nonfinancial parameters to create a real-time evaluation scorecard that will help us in taking a fast & right decision for lending or Debt financing.

Problem Statement:

“Build a financial model to evaluate startups for debt financing”

A one-size-fits-all approach may not work for Indian startups, especially when it comes to lending. Traditional lending parameters may not work while evaluating the startups in a right and independent manner because they have no business model and valuation. So why shouldn't the startups be evaluated for debt investment similar to equity investments?

Requirements:

We are on the hunt for startups who have created or are working on a platform that utilizes advanced machine learning algorithms and uses historical data which can automatically build, validate and deploy high-performing risk models. These models need to be compatible to be instantly integrated into HSNC’s existing credit scoring process. Once the model is created and validated, it should be ready for scoring calculations & real-time predictions.

Eligibility:

• Early-stage or matured startups with an MVP addressing a defined problem statement
• Should have been live for at least a year
• Applying startups can be located anywhere globally, with a presence in India
• Startups should have a working model already with one or more clients anywhere across the world

Benefits:

• Pitch in front of a Jury consisting of HSBC India Senior Management and a representative from .the Venture Capital Firms.
• Get an opportunity to do POC with HSBC India.
• Ecosystem Credits

TIMELINE:

• Applications open- May 7th
• Last date to apply- May 20th
• Shortlisting Announcement - May 31st
• Mentor Interaction – June 3rd and 4th
• One to One Mentoring Session of an hour with each selected startup between June 15th and 20th
• Semi-Finals Pitches - July 5th
• Final Pitch Day - July 12th  (Will be held in Mumbai, Time and Logistics to be advised via email to shortlisted candidates on May 31st)

Important information:

HSBC may own its discretion, choose to partner with the startups who propose the winning ideas post the presentation on pitch day. The expectation from the winner will be to come up with the modeling platform that can be deployed for POC.