SPENN was announced the overall winner of the Lighthouse MASSIV 2021 spring program, a twelve-week workshop series where companies received tailor-made support from advisors at Swedbank, Danske Bank, UNDP, Nordic Impact Funds, Synch, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

According to program advisors, SPENN–a Norwegian mobile banking company that allows people in developing countries to deposit, spend, and save money cost-free–was selected as the winner on account of its readiness to scale, its ground-breaking technology and its progress during the program. In a little over three-months, SPENN welcomed over 80.000 new customers on their platform globally. Through the MASSIV advisory board, SPENN pitched to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and got the opportunity to launch “SPENN: Health” – a digital vaccine credential delivered in-app. The latter credential allows users to share test results and vaccine credentials within the SPENN app. In addition, SPENN partnered with other MASSIV participant DDFinance, and is currently in partnership dialogue with Mastercard. With more than 350 votes, SPENN also received the People’s Choice Award.

DDFinance was selected the winner of the Impact Potential award. The Norwegian company offers affordable health insurance to people living in the global south through its digital insurance market system. By digitizing trust within groups and automating insurance workflows, DDFinance has the potential to help 34 million uninsured people to be covered by formal insurance. According to company founders, DDFinance is “changing people’s life for a dollar” by offering innovative, cost-effective insurance solutions to those would have nowhere else to turn in the event of an emergency. In addition to enabling partnerships between participants and large corporations, Lighthouse MASSIV also seeks to foster partnerships between participating startups. DDFinance excelled on this front, entering partnership dialogues with MASSIV participants SPENN, Addressya and Farmforce. Also during the program, DDFinance partnered with MASSIV alumni Jamii.one with the aim to support 5000 savings groups and 70.000 households in Africa.