TransferB, a startup looking to disrupt the international money transfer market using Bitcoin, has won the 2015 Deloitte Top Technology Talent Competition, Deloitte Ireland announced on Tuesday.
Led by Irish university students Claire Kelleher and Peter Nagle, TransferB is a Bitcoin-leveraged remittance service looking to undercut the high fees charged by firms such as Western Union and MoneyGram, while providing a more efficient and faster way of sending money across national borders.
The team has already started talks with leading Bitcoin firms and is looking to conclude strategic partnerships with these companies to enable the conversion of Bitcoin into local fiat currencies, TransferB said.
Commenting on his winning, Nagle said in a release:
"The competition has benefited us immensely by allowing us to gain first-hand experience of life at Deloitte, while also allowing us to examine the impact that technology can have on society and businesses, through the development of our business idea."
The idea emerged from Nagle's keen interest in Bitcoin and blockchain technology, and Kelleher's desire to provide affordable financial services to the poorest countries in the world, the two founders said.
Harry Goddard, Partner, Technology at Deloitte and judging panel member, explained the reasons that motivated the jury to select TransferB as the winning project:
"The judging panel members felt that Claire and Peter’s technology could deliver demonstrable value and efficiencies to customers who were transferring funds internationally.
In addition to having a revolutionary idea, we were very impressed with the validity of the business plan and sophistication of their implementation strategy"
The winning idea ‘TransferB’ redefines the nature of international remittance #TopTechTalent t.co/lWZWSk14Qn pic.twitter.com/7MbgMc6zT2
— Deloitte Ireland (@DeloitteIreland) April 29, 2015By using Bitcoin, TransferB can offer remittance charges for 2% with each transfer being processed between 1 and 24 hours, a significant progress compared to the 8% average fee charged by traditional money transfer services, with waiting time usually varying between 3 and 5 days.
According to Deloitte, €35 billion should be collected this year in remittance charges, a juicy market that have attracted many startups, including Bitcoin-powered Singaporean CryptoSigma and San Francisco-based Align Commerce, to name a few.
Deloitte, one of the "Big Four" professional services firms, hosts each year the Top Technology Talent Competition, an event that seeks innovative fintech ideas from third level students across Ireland.
Kelleher and Nagle will be granted an all-expenses paid trip to one of Deloitte’s Digital Studios in North America and a six-week summer internship at Deloitte Ireland.
