Eight Innovative Startups Showcase Cutting-Edge Financial Technologies at Sixth Annual FinTech Innovation Lab Demo Day in New York City
Program participants include 51maps, AlphaPoint, Cambridge Blockchain, ForwardLane, Quarule, Syndicated Loan Direct, T-REX Group and untapt
NEW YORK; June 23, 2016 – A select group of leading-edge financial services technology (fintech) companies demonstrated their products and services to dozens of top bank, venture capital and technology executives today at the sixth annual New York FinTech Innovation Lab Demo Day.
Created by Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and the Partnership Fund for New York City in 2010, the FinTech Innovation Lab is a 12-week mentoring program to enhance fintech innovation and drive high-tech job growth in New York City by connecting startups with decision makers at some of the world’s leading financial institutions. This year’s Demo Day was held at Bank of America’s One Bryant Park in Manhattan.
The eight companies in this year’s lab were selected by senior technology executives from 16 participating financial institutions and have spent the last 12 weeks receiving intensive mentoring, product and business-development advice, and exposure to senior financial industry, technology and venture capital executives. The 2016 FinTech Innovation Lab participants are:
- 51maps — provides a secure platform that allows companies to integrate all of the applications used by employees into one central, secure dashboard that can be accessed on any device. This enables a seamless, intuitive user experience with enhanced security and navigation, increasing employee efficiency as well as the overall customer experience.
- AlphaPoint — provides blockchain-enabled solutions to issue, track, and trade digital assets. Its secure, scalable, and customizable platform enables customers to deploy blockchain technology today to reduce operational costs and generate revenue from new products and services. AlphaPoint has 3 live blockchain applications, with over 20 customers, and over $500 Million transacted on the platform.
- Cambridge Blockchain — an identity management platform for multinational banks that puts control of personal identity data back in the hands of the end user. This blockchain-enabled approach meets the strictest new data privacy rules, eliminates redundant know-your-customer compliance steps and improves the user experience.
- ForwardLane — uses artificial intelligence to scale the quality and sophistication of ultra-high net worth investment advice to everyone. The wealth management solution empowers financial advisors to deliver high-quality, personalized and differentiated service to clients.
- Quarule — automates risk controls and compliance certification at scale by teaching computers the meaning of regulations, policies and standards using Artificial Intelligence and technology licensed from SRI International.
- Syndicated Loan Direct — extracts information from unstructured legal debt documents using artificial intelligence to create financial metrics that drastically reduce analysis time, improve capital management, assist with quicker trading decisions, and increase liquidity.
- T-REX — a platform that provides tools for sophisticated risk analysis and valuation of assets to make the finance process more efficient and transparent, shortening the transaction time from up to six months to less than one week. The platform initially focuses on renewable energy assets, such as solar, and plans to expand into additional asset classes.
- untapt — a data-driven hiring platform that uses machine intelligence to better match quality technologists with hiring managers. This allows companies to fill their growing need for engineering talent, solving a critical industry pain point. untapt can be used to bring new talent into a company, or can be used within an organization as an internal mobility tool.
The New York FinTech Innovation Lab’s 31 alumni companies have raised a total of $296 million in financing after participating in the program, and four have been acquired, two in 2015 alone, including Standard Treasury and BillGuard. Financial services firms supporting the Lab are: Ally Financial; American Express; American International Group, Inc.; Bank of America; Barclays; BlackRock; Capital One; Citi; Credit Suisse; Deutsche Bank; Goldman Sachs; The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America; JPMorgan Chase & Co; Morgan Stanley; New York Life; and Wells Fargo. Supporting venture-capital firms include Bain Capital Ventures, Canaan Partners, Contour Venture Partners, Nyca Partners, Rho Ventures, RRE Ventures and Warburg Pincus.
“The FinTech Innovation Lab continues to be the premier program enabling the next generation of successful financial technology entrepreneurs to grow right here in New York,” said Maria Gotsch, President and CEO of the Partnership Fund for New York City. “In just six years, the Lab has grown from ten financial services partners to 29, which is proof that the city’s financial institutions understand that their growth depends on their ability to harness innovation. The Lab has created a strong, well-connected fintech sector in New York City, which has led to a significant number of jobs being created and an impressive amount of financing raised. This year’s participants are another clear example of the incredible innovation taking place in the five boroughs.”
“An unprecedented amount of money has been poured into financial technology start-ups in recent years, much more than anyone has predicted,” said Bob Gach, managing director, Accenture Strategy, Capital Markets and co-founder of the FinTech Innovation Lab. “With banks continuing to face pressure to find new revenue streams and fend off competitors while reorienting their business model around digital, they increasingly recognize the collaborative role fintech can play to help drive their own evolution. This year’s class is opening the door to new uses for disruptive technologies like blockchain and robo-advice, which will help banks develop their innovation roadmaps.”
“AIG has found both the NYC FinTech members and startups to be truly thoughtful innovators, and we enjoy participating in this important program,” says Philip Fasano, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer, AIG.
“Ally is pleased to support the FinTech Innovation Lab and play an active role in mentoring these young companies,” said Ally Financial Chief Information Officer Michael Baresich. “As a relentless ally for our customers, we want to ensure technological innovation moves quickly from the laboratory into our leading products and services.”
“Every year we come away energized and more informed from our relationship with the New York FinTech Innovation Lab and the participating companies,” said David Reilly, Bank of America Chief Technology Officer. “As technology becomes more and more critical to the financial services business, our participation helps keep us close to the cutting edge – which ultimately benefits how we service and interact with our customers and clients.”
“BlackRock is focused on partnering with fintech firms that share our vision of delivering fiduciary client outcomes through and with technology innovation. The development and delivery of Aladdin over the last two decades evidences our technology DNA. We are proud to support the FinTech Innovation Lab in the important work of mentoring startups, many of whom are addressing the most interesting challenges in the fintech world,” said Scott Condron, Managing Director, BlackRock.
“The FinTech Innovation Lab gives New York tech startups a unique opportunity to build connections, accelerate growth, and learn alongside a team of experienced mentors and partners,” said Jaidev Shergill, managing partner at Capital One Growth Ventures. “The same commitment to collaboration and experimentation that drives innovation at Capital One is also helping this group of leading-edge startups take their big ideas and breakthrough technologies to the next level. We are excited to be part of this incredible network of entrepreneurs, financial institutions, and venture capitalists.”
“Citi is proud to participate in the New York FinTech Innovation Lab to drive innovation for our customers and clients,” said Motti Finkelstein, CTO-Americas and Global Strategy Planning-Managing Director. “FinTech is changing the way traditional financial services are delivered, and we are proud to be a part of this initiative to help develop state-of-the-art leading capabilities and opportunities.”
“We need new and innovative ways to deal with the plethora and pace of change in our industry,” said Steve Hook, Global Markets CIO at Credit Suisse. As founding sponsors of the Fintech Innovation Lab, Credit Suisse mentors startups that bring new and fresh perspectives to help make us more efficient and deliver more for our clients. This year, we saw another standout set of applicants which reaffirmed the value that this program delivers to the Financial Services sector in NYC.“
“JPMorgan Chase is excited to once again serve as a mentor to startups in the Fintech Innovation Lab,” said Larry Feinsmith, Managing Director, Global Technology Strategy & Partnerships, JPMorgan Chase & Co. “The innovation ecosystem built by larger financial services companies like ours and fintech startups working together is invaluable – it creates opportunities for all parties involved.”
Shawn Melamed, Head of Technology Business Development at Morgan Stanley, said: “The financial services industry is driven by technology, and we recognize the crucial role forums like the FinTech Innovation Lab play in connecting us with emerging technologies that can help us better serve our clients. While the entrepreneurs benefit from exposure and mentoring by our senior leadership, we also come away with both insights and inspiration to use technology in fresh and inventive ways.”
Ravi Radhakrishnan, CIO for Wholesale Banking Technology at Wells Fargo, added: “This mentorship program gives Wells Fargo one more way to engage with New York FinTech startups. We help them understand our specific business needs in their focus area and they help us explore new ways of meeting those needs.”
Based on the success of the FinTech Innovation Lab in New York, Accenture launched the FinTech Innovation Lab London in 2012 and the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong in 2014.
About the Partnership Fund for New York City
The Partnership Fund for New York City is the $115 million investment arm of the Partnership for New York City, New York’s leading business organization. The Fund’s mission is to engage the City’s business leaders to identify and support promising NYC-based entrepreneurs in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors to create jobs, spur new business and expand opportunities for New Yorkers to participate in the City’s economy. The Fund is governed by a Board of Directors co-chaired by Charles “Chip” Kaye, co-chief executive officer of Warburg Pincus, and Tarek Sherif, Chairman and CEO of Medidata. Maria Gotsch serves as President and CEO of the Fund. More information about the Fund can be found at www.pfnyc.org.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions – underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network – Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With approximately 373,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.