Binderr Wins Isle Of Man Innovation Challenge 2025 For Fintech

A platform that ‘rethinks how businesses access financial and professional services by combining a global marketplace with industry-leading compliance’ has won the Isle of Man 2025 Innovation Challenge.

Success came just days after signing a deal with locally headquartered, global identity verification provider – and previous Innovation Challenge champion – SQR, to integrate its tokenised digital ID technology into Binderr’s KYC/KYB layer. 

Founded by Jacob Appel and Zak Rose in Malta in 2022, Binderr took the frustrations they’d experienced in building and scaling ridehailing and food delivery companies crossborder and set out to create a marketplace for regulated business services, with built-in screening and compliance. It aims to significantly reduce discovery time and wasted applications that won’t meet a provider’s risk appetite.

“We know how challenging it is to set up a company. It takes 26 weeks on average to research critical suppliers, etc,” said sales director Jonathan Dalglish.

“We have Uber for taxis, booking.com for hotels, and we all use Amazon [but] there are no comparison sites in this industry still. It’s endless emails.”

With 30,000 entities already engaging with the platform and regulated firms using its tools globally, Binderr is now building a directory of corporate service providers (CSPs) that can use the platform to automate due diligence, onboard, communicate and execute delivery for clients. Businesses, meanwhile, have a one-click portal to find partners to establish and expand their brands. 

Its next target is the regulators: Binderr is currently building a company register for the Maltese government.

While it does not act in an advisory capacity, Dalglish said Binderr had recently acted as a ‘concierge’ for one CSP, demonstrating the power of the platform.

“A client had £120million with a private bank and they were given 30 days’ notice to move the funds because they had been reclassified as high risk,” said Dalgliesh.

“They contacted us and were then able to place those funds with another provider well within the timeframe and meeting all the necessary compliance.”

The Isle of Man’s financial and CSP sectors were a key market for Binderr, he said, and the SQR deal demonstrated the island’s innovative and supportive environment for scaling tech.

Lyle Wraxall, former banker, now CEO of Digital Isle of Man, an executive agency within the island’s Department for Enterprise, said the government took an enabling approach to new business ideas.  

“Our job is to remove obstacles [for entrepreneurs]. Because we are a small economy, we have the freedom to try new things; we can afford to experiment,” he said.

With five data centre hosts on the island and fibre links with the UK and Ireland, Lyle said the Isle of Man had the infrastructure for, and was committed to, growing its digital sector. The government has a target to increase AI-driven productivity by 10% by 2030.

“Innovation is a responsibility for all of us,” he said, adding that the Isle of Man’s unique UNESCO Biosphere Nation Status, meant it had a duty to influence entrepreneurs to do that sustainably.  

Other Innovation Challenge 2025 winners were: Tandem, an AI-powered platform providing personalised, research-backed resources for caregivers and children (Data & AI); Lnk Technologies, using AI to help SMEs identify and reduce carbon emmisions (CleanTech); and Big Bower, an AI-driven market place, reducing waste by connecting food and wellness brands to manufacturers committed to sustainable production.    

The post Binderr Wins Isle of Man Innovation Challenge 2025 For Fintech appeared first on FF News | Fintech Finance.