TalkMarkets had the honor of not only being a media sponsor for the Benzinga Fintech Awards, but a finalist for their prestigious “Best Trading Platform” award as well. Though TalkMarkets didn’t take home the top prize, we’re excited to share that one of our content contributors, Chaikin Analytics, did.

Marc Chaikin of Chaikin Analytics

What is the Benzinga Fintech Awards?

For those of you not in the know, the Benzinga Fintech Awards is the go-to event for anyone in Fintech or looking to launch a Fintech company. Those aren’t Benzinga’s words, but rather straight from the mouths of several of our partners who were initially surprised I wasn’t planning to attend. I heard this so many times that it got to the point that I needed to see what I was missing; it did not disappoint.

The event offered numerous sessions, a mix of short demos by featured startup companies and panel discussions by leaders in the industry. These covered relevant topics such as “how to get funded by a VC,” and “the future of Fintech." But if sitting in an audience isn’t your thing, rest assured there was plenty of networking going on outside. Not to mention plenty of food, drinks and even Red Bull to help fuel all those introductions and deal making.

Danielle Keats of TalkMarkets with Jamie Rakover of Investing.com,
after completing an impromptu partnership agreement.

In fact, networking is truly where Benzinga shines. Not only did it provide me with the opportunity to finally meet numerous existing partners face to face, but we picked up numerous new partnerships as well. Not to mention some new contributors, such as ChartYourTrade's Adam Sarhan and Mike Lamothe, who ironically partnered with each other after meeting at the previous Benzinga event.  We were also pleasantly surprised to see that almost everyone we met ended up registering as a new user for our site.  It’s ironic that I originally dismissed attending out of concern that I’d be missing too much work, and yet I achieved more in that one day than I can ever recall accomplishing before.

Of course there’s much more than other statups/Fintech companies to meet. Plenty of big names were in attendance as well such as former governor Elliott Spitzer; famed author, entrepreneur and TalkMarkets contributor James Altucher; and the big draw of the night: Kevin O’Leary from Shark Tank fame who was the keynote speaker.

Shark Tanks' Kevin O'Leary, Benzinga's Fintech keynote speaker

I don't give praise freely, but if you are in Fintech and are considering whether this event is worthwhile, the answer is a resounding "Yes." 

See you at next year's event!