The winners of 2017 Google Business Group (GBG) Storytelling Contest have been announced and ‘Khalti’ is among the four winners this year.

The international competition, organized by GBG, had called for the submissions earlier this year and the participants had to submit answers to questions that describe how Google products have helped their business. The submissions were evaluated by the panel of judges and the top 9 finalists were revealed in September.

‘Khalti’ is a startup that is driven by its mission to ensure digital financial inclusion for every citizen in Nepal and connecting people across the nation to technology which allows them to digitally receive and make payments for services. It hopes to bring cashless banking services to the fingertips of each internet user in Nepal.

Two companies from the Philippines – Cafe Yagam and Virtualahan – and Riliv from Indonesia are the three other winners.

“These four businesses stood out among submissions we received from GBG members and independent entrepreneurs across 17 countries”, a Google blog by Erica Hanson, the Developer Relations Program Manager for South and Southeast Asia, read. “All four will have the opportunity to travel to our headquarters in Mountain View, California for Google I/O in 2018 where they’ll get to meet tech thinkers, innovators, and business leaders.”

Three among nine finalists this year were Nepali startups. Khalisisi and Eco Cell Industries along with Khalti had made it to the Top 9. In 2014, another Nepali startup – Yellow Nepal – had succeeded in winning the GBG Story Search contest.