BBVA today launches the 8th edition of its BBVA Open Talent competition, which aims to find the brightest and best entrepreneurs who are changing financial services through digital innovation.
In the last five years, over 3,250 companies have entered, with winners raising over €116 million in investments. Early entrants will be considered for participation at WIRED Money 2016 which BBVA is sponsoring for the second year in a row.
Open to early stage startups - companies with less than €2.5 million in investment and €1.5 million annual revenue - from around the world, BBVA Open Talent is looking for groundbreaking ideas from across financial services. Last year’s winners included a blockchain registry for valuables (Everledger), a corporate bond origination platform (Origin Markets) and credit-scoring technology based on household bill payment (Destacame).
Shamir Karkal, BBVA’s Head of Open APIs said “BBVA Open Talent is BBVA’s contribution to a healthy fintech ecosystem - supporting the businesses that are going to improve customers’ financial lives through technology.”
Registration for this year’s BBVA Open Talent is open at www.bbvaopentalent.com,and closes on June 27. For a business to make the finals, judges will be looking for evidence of the capacity to transform the financial industry, with scalability, a good team and a good business model.
The startups selected will go forward to the regional finals in Mexico, New York and London, where 6 winners will be chosen. They will receive prize money of €30,000 each and two non-consecutive immersion weeks with BBVA in Madrid and Mexico City, where they will interact with BBVA executives and experts to receive advice, and to search business opportunities together.
As an incentive to enter early, startups entering before May 2 will be considered for inclusion on the BBVA Open Talent Startup Stage at WIRED Money, taking place in London at the British Museum on June 23rd, 2016. The winner will take part in the Madrid and Mexico City immersion weeks.
Leanne Kemp, CEO and founder of Everledger said: “Winning BBVA OpenTalent helped us accelerate the pace of development at our business by connecting us with great people, exposing us to new ideas and getting us to thoroughly review our plans.”
There will continue to be a BBVA Open Talent special prize for Financial Inclusion for projects targeting small businesses or individuals with very low incomes. The jury will select one winner in this category, who will be invited to attend an international event organized by a leading institution in the area of Financial Inclusion. This invitation represents a unique opportunity to contact with key players in this field in both the private and public sector, receive feedback from the experts, and rapidly expand their network of contacts.