Akbank PoChallenge 2025
Innovative Project Call
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#innovation #poc #startups #fintech #akbank #ai
Join Akbank’s Innovative Project Call: PoChallenge
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Applications Open
Register to become Akbank’s next partner in co-creating next generation products and services
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Submit Your Proposals
Submit your project proposals before September 30, 2025 to showcase innovative solutions for Akbank’s customers or employees. Akbank LAB will evaluate a wide range of ideas.
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Shortlist Announcements
Akbank will announce the shortlisted participants who will move forward in the PoChallenge and present their solutions on Demo Day.
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Presentation
Shortlisted participants will submit their final presentation & plan their participation for Demo Day.
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Demo Day
At Demo Day on November 07, 2025 winners will be announced. Companies ranked by Demo Day jury committee will receive $40,000 cash prize in total.
Applications Open
Register to become Akbank’s next partner in co-creating next generation products and services
Submit Your Proposals
Submit your project proposals before September 30, 2025 to showcase innovative solutions for Akbank’s customers or employees. Akbank LAB will evaluate a wide range of ideas.
Shortlist Announcements
Akbank will announce the shortlisted participants who will move forward in the PoChallenge and present their solutions on Demo Day.
Presentation
Shortlisted participants will submit their final presentation & plan their participation for Demo Day.
Demo Day
At Demo Day on November 07, 2025 winners will be announced. Companies ranked by Demo Day jury committee will receive $40,000 cash prize in total.
All timings are as per (GMT +3:00) Baghdad, Riyadh, Moscow, St. Petersburg
Organized By
About Us
Akbank LAB is the innovation center of Akbank and coordinates innovative activities within the bank. The center maintains effective communication with all parties inside and outside of Akbank, implementing innovative solutions that facilitate the lives of both internal and external customers through third-party collaborations. To date, nearly 50 proof of concept projects have been conducted out of hundreds of ideas, with almost half of the successful projects now live.
To ensure that Akbank is the first bank considered as a collaboration partner, all local and global companies are invited to produce innovative projects for Akbank via the PoChallenge. Fintechs, startups, and technology companies whose products or services create value for Akbank customers and employees are encouraged to submit solution proposals for testing.
After the application period between August 15 - September 30, shortlisted companies will be invited to the Demo Day at Sabancı Center Istanbul on November 7. The PoChallenge provides participants with the opportunity to develop paid PoC projects with Akbank in the short term and the possibility of becoming an Akbank supplier in the long term if the project is successful. The program will be organized annually.
To register, click here
Challenges
Akbank is inviting all local and global companies to produce innovative projects via PoChallenge. A wide range of solutions can be developed by exploring the listed challenges that require solutions and submitting relevant proposals. This year, the main focus is on Artificial Intelligence.
Click here to download the Challenges file
Challenge #1
Mood-Based Customer Insights.
- Focusing on emotional intelligence, Akbank is exploring AI solutions that create insights based on inferred or reported user moods to promote healthier and more timely decision-making.
- Solutions are expected to analyze sentiment from user interactions (e.g., text input, behavior patterns) to infer mood states, real time if possible.
- Enhancements can include but are not limited to:
- Offer adaptive advice or messaging based on user emotion (e.g., calming tone when stressed, motivational tone when hesitant).
- Integrate with customer interaction channels or IoT devices.
- Remain privacy-first and transparent about mood detection mechanisms.
Challenge #2
Behavioral Data Science.
- Traditional segmentation and propensity models are pretty successful in capturing mass or group-based behavior; but, lack of capturing complexity of individual financial decision-making.
- Akbank aims to apply behavioral economics combined with data science to better understand, predict and influence customer behavior in ways that improve customer engagement and loyalty.
- Akbank is looking for solutions that can:
- Identify behavioral personas based on spending, saving, channel and communication preferences.
- Detect patterns based on behavioral economics principles (loss aversion, anchoring, procrastination, mental counting, bias, etc.)
- Segment customers based on habits, triggers and their journeys – a new type of behavioral segmentation.
- Provide the required nudges in a timely manner – system can be trained with past data but should also be able to trigger based on near real time customer actions.
Challenge #3
User Research with Artificial Intelligence.
- Akbank aims to take a significant step forward in understanding user needs and driving data-driven innovation by applying artificial intelligence effectively in user research. This challenge seeks to inspire innovative ideas focusing on the following objectives:
- Research Plan Assistant: Adaptive formats suitable for various UX research methods and research plan creation based on the study objectives and restrictions.
- Research Data Collector: Module that understands different datasets such as survey, text, video, audio and process to make them suitable for analysis.
- AI-Powered Analysis: AI tools capable of analyzing collected user feedback, categorizing it into themes, and visually representing relationships between those themes.
- Generate Personas: Extract meaningful user personas from in-depth user research analyses.
- Centralized Insight Repository: Platform that combines user research analyses with past and present data, creating connections between insights and suggesting actionable strategies.
Challenge #4
Beyond Banking Solutions for SMEs.
- Akbank aims to offer innovative solutions that go beyond traditional banking products to address the everyday challenges faced by their startups and SME customers.
- The problems to be addressed may include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
- Cash Flow and Collection Management: Past income-expense data and seasonal trends analyses to detect cash flow bottlenecks and provide collection planning recommendations.
- Export and Globalization: Export roadmap generation for SME products in global markets with customs requirements, current regulations, freight prices details.
- Taxation and Incentive Optimization: Reports for sector or transaction specific incentives and benefits tailored to the SME type and transaction volume.
- Pricing and Competitive Analysis: Competitor analysis of SMEs offering same products on digital marketplaces to provide insights about product positioning and average pricing to boost sales.
- The proposed solutions should be accessible via Akbank apps or platforms.
- Priority will be given to solutions that leverage AI to provide suitable beyond banking products.
Challenge #5
Reimagining Finance.
- Akbank is seeking solutions that change the way finance works and meets the client needs of the future. This category allows applicants to think beyond traditional scope of banking and finance.
- It welcomes any innovative ideas and solutions that introduce new dimensions for revenue generation and customer acquisition with new or value-added features especially for credit cards.
- Applications with products and services that already exist and currently used successfully by other financial institutions are prioritized.
- MVP should be suitable for running a proof-of-concept project and value proposition should be differentiated from other challenges.
AWARDS
OPPORTUNITIES
The winners of PoChallenge will have the opportunity to work on paid Proof-of-Concept (PoC) projects with Akbank. In addition to these paid collaborations, successful participants may also secure long-term partnerships as official suppliers to AKbank
Demo Day Prizes
Opportunity of $40.000 grant total for selected companies ranked by jury at Demo Day
Paid PoC
Opportunity for paid proof of concept project with companies selected after Demo Day
Supplier Opportunity
Opportunity for becoming supplier of Akbank if the proof of concept study is successful
Eligibility
- Must be a mature fintech, startup, or technology company.
- Should have existing products and references that can meet Akbank’s customer volume and criteria.
- Solutions must be suitable for running a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) project.
- Participants can apply with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
Application Rules
- Each company may apply for a maximum of 2 challenges.
- Each proposal deck should respond to only ONE challenge statement.
- For each challenge application, applicants must submit:
- The Challenge Title
- A Proposed Solution in the requested deck format
- Decks must follow the official slide template sequence.
- Submissions must not exceed 20 slides (excluding title, instructions, separators, Thank You).
- Decks must be converted to PDF before submission.
- Maximum file size: 7MB.
Participation Conditions
- Submissions must be original, relevant to one of the defined challenges, and demonstrate innovation, feasibility, and scalability.
FAQ
Who can apply for the event?
Akbank is looking for mature fintech, startup or technology companies that already have products and references that can meet the bank's customer volume and criteria.
How do I participate?
To participate in Akbank PoChallenge, you must first fill out the application form. After an evaluation, selected companies from those who fill out the application form will be informed and continue the process.
What kind of solutions are being sought?
Applications should be made with products and services that already exist. MVP should be submitted in the application and suitable for running a proof of concept project.
Should the projects be focused on a certain areas?
You can produce a wide range of solutions. Please explore the challenges that require solutions and submit your relevant solution proposals. This year, Akbank's main focus is on Artificial Intelligence!
What are the prizes?
Shortlisted companies will be invited to the Demo Day and finalist companies will have the opportunity to conduct a paid proof of concept project. At Demo Day, companies chosen by the jury from among the startup pitches, will be awarded with $40,000 grant in total.
Where can I follow the announcements?
You can follow at https://www.akbanklab.com/en/homepage. You can reach out to Akbank at akbanklab@akbanklab.com for your questions.
More about the challenge
More about the challenge
Click here to know more about the challenge