Program founded by Accenture and Partnership Fund for New York City seeks companies using innovative technologies in major areas such as cyber-tech, blockchain, analytics, future of work and sustainability
Applications are now being accepted for the FinTech Innovation Lab New York, a 12-week program co-founded by Accenture and the Partnership Fund for New York City that helps early- and growth-stage financial technology companies accelerate product and business development through in-depth collaboration with top financial services and venture capital firms.
“The FinTech Innovation Lab is paving the way for fintechs’ rapid growth in New York City, making it one of the most sought-after cities to build a start-up”
The FinTech Innovation Lab is designed for entrepreneurs developing disruptive enterprise technologies for the financial services industry, including the banking, insurance and asset management sectors. Now in its 12th year, the Lab has helped establish New York City as a competitive fintech hub for enterprise technology innovation.
Applications for the 2022 class are available online here and due by Dec. 1. Virtual information sessions and panels will be held for applicants on Oct. 20 and 26 and on Nov. 4, 15, and 30.
Based on feedback from senior executives at participating financial institutions, this year’s Lab is seeking companies leveraging innovative technologies in eight major areas:
- Blockchain: Blockchain enablement, distributed ledger technology, digital assets, decentralized finance (DeFi), and multi-cloud key management solutions;
- Cyber-Tech: Cyber resiliency, fraud issues, identity detection, and security solutions;
- Data: Alternative and synthetic data, predictive analytics visualization, unstructured data, and leveraging new data sources for underwriting and claims (insurtech);
- Digital Client Engagement: Partner and client engagement, customer acquisition, experience, and retention, and product customization;
- Future of Work: Human resources, next generation technology hybrid work environments (metaverse/extended reality), and organizational management;
- Inclusion & Diversity: Financial inclusion (un- and under-banked), internal diversity, and inclusion tools;
- New Insurance Products: Internet of Things, wearables (insurtech); and
- Sustainability: Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), climate-related risk and reporting, mitigation, and modeling.
“The FinTech Innovation Lab is paving the way for fintechs’ rapid growth in New York City, making it one of the most sought-after cities to build a start-up,” said Maria Gotsch, co-founder of the FinTech Innovation Lab New York and president and CEO of the Partnership Fund for New York City. “Particularly during the pandemic, financial institutions leaned heavily on the fintech sector to streamline operations and rethink customer engagement for a remote environment. As the trend toward a digital economy continues to accelerate, fintechs are also leading the path to ensure unbanked communities are not left behind. We look forward to seeing how this year’s class will help the create a more innovative and inclusive city.”
Through a competitive process, chief technology officers and senior technology executives from over 40 participating financial and insurance institutions will select companies to participate in the 2022 Lab, which begins in April 2022. In recent years, financial institutions have selected a mix of early-stage and more-mature companies.
Applicants must have at least a working beta version of their technology that is ready to be tested for either the institutional or retail market. The Lab will partner the selected fintech entrepreneurs with senior-level bank, insurance and wealth management executives, who will help them develop and refine their technologies and business strategies through a series of one-on-one meetings, panel discussions, user-group sessions and networking opportunities.
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The Lab culminates in June 2022 with Demo Day, where participants will present to an audience of venture capitalists and financial industry executives. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 FinTech Innovation Labs were conducted virtually, with participating financial institutions and venture capitalist firms continuing to deliver the mentoring and feedback that has made the Lab unique. The 2022 Lab is expected to be conducted in person, health conditions allowing.
David Treat, senior managing director, Accenture and co-chair of the FinTech Innovation Lab New York, said: “Fintechs are playing a critical role helping to solve the industry’s most pressing issues, including improving the digital customer experience, putting sustainability at the center of their organizations, and leveraging data and analytics more impactfully. We expect innovation to continue as firms reimagine their technology infrastructure, continuing their journey to cloud while embracing blockchain and multi-party systems to offer customers new products, and investing more in emerging technologies like quantum computing. We are excited to review and select applicants for next year’s class.”
Rick Barto, a managing director in Accenture’s Insurance industry group, added: “Insurtech has a pivotal role to play in the future of the insurance industry, complementing and supplementing carriers’ digital transformation programs. The insurtechs selected for this year’s class will have the opportunity to work with leading carriers to help refine and scale their solutions, while accelerating their potential for growth.”
Since its founding in 2010, the FinTech Innovation Lab New York has provided entrepreneurs from 89 technology companies with mentoring and access to CEOs, chief technology officers and chief information officers from more than 40 financial and insurance institutions, as well as leading venture capitalists and technology luminaries.
Previous participants include Digital Asset Holdings, a provider of distributed ledger technology-based solutions; Enigma, which transforms disparate data into applicable intelligence; and Skyhive, which uses machine learning and AI to help companies understand their employees’ capabilities, assess future requirements, and equip workers with new skills.
Program graduates have created more than 1,500 jobs and raised more than US$1.6 billion in venture financing after participating in the program, and 19 participating companies have been acquired.
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