The fintech industry moves fast. The companies shaping tomorrow’s financial landscape are often being built by people who are just getting started today – and recognising that talent early is how the sector sustains itself.
That belief is why dtcpay chose to sponsor the Rising Star of the Year category at the Asia FinTech Awards 2026.
Backing the builders of tomorrow
For dtcpay, a globally licensed payments company building the next generation of payment infrastructure, the Rising Star category reflects something the company holds close: that the future of finance belongs to people willing to challenge convention and build something new.
“We are building for tomorrow’s payments, today,” says Alice Liu, CEO and Co-Founder of dtcpay. “That means not just building the infrastructure, but backing the people who will carry this industry forward. Rising stars in fintech are exactly the talent our industry needs to celebrate.”
The dtcpay Award at NUS Business School
dtcpay’s commitment to emerging talent is more than a sponsorship, it is already in practice.
In 2024, dtcpay established the dtcpay Award at the National University of Singapore to recognise top-performing students across undergraduate, MBA, and Master of Finance programmes at NUS Business School. Recipients receive a cash prize and an internship opportunity at dtcpay, giving them hands-on experience in regulated digital payments and direct access to the company’s leadership.
The initiative has a personal dimension. dtcpay’s co-founders, Alice Liu and Band Zhao, are both Executive MBA alumni of NUS Business School – it is where the knowledge and conviction behind dtcpay took shape.
“NUS gave us the tools to build something we believed in,” says Alice. “The dtcpay Award is our way of giving that back to the next generation.”
Mentorship as part of the mission
Alice Liu was recognised as FinTech Mentor of the Year at the Singapore FinTech Festival FinTech Excellence Awards 2025 – an acknowledgement of her contribution not just to dtcpay, but to the founders and individuals she has supported across the industry. It reflects the same principle behind the NUS Award and the Rising Star sponsorship: that championing people matters as much as building product.
Celebrating tomorrow’s fintech leaders
The Rising Star of the Year category exists to shine a light on individuals already making their mark, often without the recognition their work deserves. For dtcpay, sponsoring it is a statement of intent — the fintech ecosystem grows stronger when it actively invests in the people building it, through education, mentorship, and public recognition.
Tomorrow’s payments will be built by today’s rising stars. dtcpay is proud to help make sure they are seen.
Image provided by dtcpay
