- Case study Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB)
From AI to Tokenisation: How SAB Sourced Three Solutions in One Hackathon
- Registrations51
- Proposals24
- Shortlist19
- Winners3
- Countries5
- Weeks10
The Opportunity (Challenge)
As a Bank committed to staying at the forefront of innovation, Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB) recognized that the traditional approach to sourcing and evaluating new technology was no longer fit for purpose. Traditionally, Banks like SAB would run a Request for Proposal (RFP) process, spending significant time and resources defining requirements and waiting for responses. From start to finish, the procurement process typically took 12 to 18 months, and by the time a solution was identified and evaluated, the technology landscape had already moved on.
For a Bank looking to explore and adopt emerging technologies quickly, this approach simply did not work. SAB needed an accelerated solution that could surface the best Fintech solutions globally, provide a structured and transparent framework to evaluate them, and accelerate the path from discovery to decision without the heavy lifting of a traditional RFP process.
SAB leveraged APIX Platform's Hackathon Management Suite to run a focused, end-to-end innovation challenge titled SAB Hackathon 2024 that brought the Fintech community directly to them, on their terms, and in a fraction of the time.
The Solution
APIX Platform ran the entire innovation programme for SAB from end to end, over 10 weeks. The SAB Hackathon 2024 was opened to Fintech innovators worldwide, with three challenge statements developed around SAB's core business priorities:
Expand Service Channels: How might SAB harness existing lending and payment infrastructure to open new service channels, enabling Saudi corporates to be served faster, more reliably, and more conveniently?
Digitize Financing: How can SAB digitize invoice and financing workflows for SMEs and corporates on Saudi Arabia's national platforms, improving transparency and expanding access to funding?
Digitize Tax Claims: How can SAB enable scalable solutions for automating tax claim submissions by SMEs and corporates on the KSA Central Government platform, reducing manual effort and improving compliance?
How SAB made it work?
A Challenge Built for Global Scale
SAB worked with APIX to create a custom-branded hackathon environment, complete with problem statement listings, eligibility criteria, a structured proposal submission system, and a judging dashboard. Rather than going through the traditional RFP route, SAB was able to focus entirely on defining the right challenges and finding the right partners to solve them.
Reaching the Right Innovators, Globally
The hackathon was brought to over 2,500 Fintechs and solution providers who are members of the APIX Platform, through targeted outreach across Fintech communities and partner ecosystems. The result was 51 participating companies from 5 countries, spanning Fintechs, Developers, Financial Institutions, and system integrators across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, all responding to SAB's innovation priorities with solutions that were ready to be tested and deployed.
Evaluating with Rigor and Transparency
SAB led the evaluation process together with Arthur D. Little and APIX Platform, assessing submissions against six clear criteria: Technical Robustness and Feasibility, Innovative Thinking, Scalability and Growth Potential, Interoperability with Existing Systems, and Saudi Market Fit. A unified real-time dashboard gave the full panel a consistent view of all submissions, making the shortlisting process fast, fair, and fully auditable.
The Impact
10 weeks, 51 registrations, 3 winning solutions
For SAB
The SAB Hackathon 2024 helped surface strong fintech solutions applicable to SAB's specific requirements using emerging technology. From 51 registered companies, 24 proposals came in across three challenge statements, and 79% of those advanced to the final judging stage. This compressed a process that typically takes 12 to 18 months into just 10 weeks, a reduction in time-to-innovation of over 85% and generated a broader pipeline of Fintech relationships to continue engaging beyond the program. The learnings and partnerships from this initiative gave SAB a strong foundation to move from discovery to deployment as it accelerated its digital transformation journey.
For Fintech Innovators
The impact ran in both directions. While Fintechs have the traditional routes to engage with Banks, standing out and securing a direct meeting with an institution of SAB's scale is rarely straightforward. Through the APIX Platform, that gap was bridged. It gave innovators from across the globe a structured, merit-based path to put their solutions directly in front of SAB's decision makers.
Overall, the three winners walked away with more than recognition: each received a direct opportunity to present to SAB's Chief Innovation Officer, membership to the SAB Innovation Centre and was profiled in Arthur D. Little's post-event white paper.
Winners Spotlight
Challenge Statement #1: Explore How SAB’s Existing Channels, Lending Products, and Payment Solutions Could Be Leverage to Serve Corporate Clients More Effectively.
ZWEBB Fintech is a leading Fintech company based in Sweden, established in 2005. The company specializes in developing advanced digital platforms for financial services,
solutions using technologies such as AI and blockchain. With operations in both Europe and Saudi Arabia, ZWEBB focusses on delivering scalable, secure, and regulation compliant solutions tailored to local market needs. Its flagship Crowd investing Platform is designed to help financial institutions expand digital offerings and improve customer experience.
Challenge Statement #2: Digitizing Invoices and Financing For SMEs And Corporates Interacting With Saudi Arabia’s Central Government Platform
Founded in 2014, Scry AI is a U.S.-based AI company that delivers enterprise solutions for document digitization, fraud detection, IoT analytics, and risk intelligence. With presence in the USA, India, UAE and Saudi Arabia, ScryAI serves a diverse client base through a suite of proprietary tools designed to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and decision making across financial and operational workflows.
Design Solutions That Automate Tax Claim Submissions Through Digital Tools
Kaleido is a leading enterprise platform for blockchain, digital assets, and tokenization. Founded by pioneers in enterprise blockchain, Kaleido offers a secure, scalable suite of tools that help organizations build and manage real world blockchain networks and digital asset solutions. Trusted by global enterprises, it supports faster deployment across financial services, insurance, supply chain, ESG, the public sector, and more. As one of Web3’s fastest-growing SaaS companies, Kaleido is reshaping how the world connects, transacts, and moves value.
Read about their winning entry on Fintech Pulse.