BOZEMAN, Mont., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- XY Planning Network today announced that the nomination window for its 3rd annual Advisor FinTech Competition is now open. The competition will be hosted on September 25, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri during XYPN LIVE, the industry's only financial planning conference exclusively for financial advisors serving the Gen X and Gen Y markets.

The annual FinTech Competition was created in 2016 to give startup advisor technology firms a venue to showcase their solutions in front of an engaging audience of tech-savvy financial advisors who have the potential to become their first adopters.

Six finalists will be chosen among applicants and will introduce and promote their offerings during XYPN LIVE in front of a full audience and expert judges including technology guru Bill Winterberg of FPPad and Michael Kitces, co-founder of XYPN. Interested companies can apply here and must meet the following qualifications: 1. Technology must support financial advisors delivering financial planning services to Gen X and/or Gen Y clients 2. To enter, tech company applicants must meet at least one of the following requirements:
  • Launched in the last 12 months
  • Have less than $1 million in revenue
  • Be an existing company with an entirely new solution that is substantially different from the company's existing offerings and meets one of the above requirements
"As advocates for the next generation of advisors serving the next generation of clients, we view technology as essential to efficiently deliver the advisor value proposition of the future. Accordingly, XYPN views it as our responsibility to provide a platform for groundbreaking technologies that help advisors stay efficient and improve the quality of advice and the client experience," said Alan Moore, co-founder of XY Planning Network. "What we love most about this competition is that it evens the playing field for startups who may have limited resources and funding. The only prerequisite here is creating game-changing technology, and we're excited to see what this year's competition brings." All finalists in the XYPN FinTech Competition will receive free passes to the XYPN LIVE conference and a booth to exhibit their solution, along with substantial visibility and exposure including: an exclusive interview on #XYPNRadio with dedicated XY Planning Network blog post; an article on Kitces.com featuring the technology; press release by PR agency FiComm Partners; and a promotional video and feature on FPPad.com by Bill Winterberg. The winner of last year's Fintech Competition, which received 24 applications, was Vestwell, a digital employer retirement plan platform for advisors that combines the best parts of automated investing with a human touch – removing the friction points of confusion, cost and compliance overhead that come with traditional retirement plans. "XYPN has played a crucial in role in boosting Vestwell's overall growth and value proposition – we have nearly 50 XYPN advisors with over 70 plans on the platform today," said Vestwell CEO Aaron Schumm. "The rapid growth stemming from this partnership is a clear testament of how XYPN is a champion for their partners – and it is an honor for Vestwell to be a part of their vision to serve the industry." Robert Sofia, founder and CEO of advisor marketing platform Snappy Kraken, the inaugural FinTech Competition winner, added, "Thanks to XYPN, we went from zero to over $700,000 in sales within the first 3 months of winning the FinTech Competition. The exposure led us to landing two large enterprise accounts and attracting significant investor interest. The Network, Competition and support from the XYPN organization have been total game changers for our business." To learn more about the XYPN Fintech Competition or to register for the XYPN LIVE 2018 Conference, visit xyplanningnetwork.com/xypn-live-fintech.