SINGAPORE - Marvelstone Group, the private investment group behind the fintech hub LATTICE80, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Andhra Pradesh state government in India, to open their first location outside of Singapore.
LATTICE80 Vizag will be located in the Fintech Valley in southern Vizag city, which is home to some of India's most innovative start-up companies in the financial services space and other sectors.
As part of the agreement, LATTICE80 will run programmes to train 1,000 information and communications technology (ICT) professionals in India every year.
The goal is to help link the community in Singapore and India, and encourage co-innovation in key new technologies such as digital and mobile payments, blockchain and distributed ledgers, Big Data, flexible platforms (API), and more.
The new space is expected to open in the third quarter of this year.
"Less than four months ago, we set up LATTICE80 in Singapore to fully support the government's smart nation vision to transform into a smart financial centre. Now, we are happy to be part of the new Vizag-MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) partnership," said Ms Gina Heng, chief executive officer of Marvelstone Group.
"The goal is to bring together industry, academia and investors to innovate, co-create and build the fintech ecosystem," she said.
Group chairman Joe Seunghyun Cho said LATTICE80 Vizag wants "to facilitate knowledge sharing and establish partnerships between universities based in and affiliated to Singapore and Andhra Pradesh."
India's fintech market is forecast to be worth US$2.4 billion (S$3.4 billion) by 2020, a two-fold increase on the market size in 2016, according to KPMG. The state of Andhra Pradesh has the potential of 50 million fintech users, according to data cited by Fintech Valley Vizag.
"The Andhra Pradesh Government... wants to conduct a series of events to promote fintech in the city and the state. LATTICE80 will help the government in the endeavour," said Mr J A Chowdary, special adviser to the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister on Information Technology.
LATTICE80's objectives include helping fintech start-ups grow and expand their businesses, supporting existing corporates and financial institutions in their adoption of innovation, and serving as a bridge for both the public and private sectors.
