Barclays and Techstars have opened the application process for the second cohort of their fintech accelerator programme, which will give a further ten businesses the chance to shape the future of financial services.
Entrepreneurs and start-up companies worldwide can apply for the 13-week programme, with a shortlist of ten successful pitches staking a claim to a place on the accelerator.
The ten companies will be guided through the process of growing and developing their businesses with the help of funding of up to $100,000 from Techstars. They will have access to mentorship from industry experts and will be based at the London Escalator, near London’s Tech City. For the first time, they will also have access to a catalogue of Barclays APIs and data, beyond only the Barclays Pingit API, to help them build and refine their business models.
The fresh intake follows on from the first cohort in September this year which saw a range of innovative ideas being pitched to an audience of potential investors, including a new credit scoring system and a new peer-to-peer lending platform that is designed to revolutionise the home-buying process. Some of the teams also joined forces with Barclays, for instance Tryum capitalised on the exclusive access to the Barclays Pingit API by integrating it at point of sale into their customer engagement platform.
Derek White, Barclays chief design & digital officer, says: “We have already seen some incredible success stories come out of the Barclays Accelerator with businesses delivering disruptive technologies and fresh solutions that are tackling some of the challenges financial services face today. We are also delighted that the successful start-ups and entrepreneurs will this time have access to a suite of exclusive Barclays APIs and data.”
Each company accepted into the Barclays Accelerator will refine their business model, culminating in a Barclays Executive Demo Day and a Public Demo Day in London.
Applications are open now until 9 January, 2015. The programme will begin on 23 March, 2015 with the Demo Days scheduled for June 2015.