Techstars recently announced that ten global startups looking to shake up the financial services sector will take part in its latest Denver-based accelerator.
The Western Union Accelerator Program will target entrepreneurs looking to create innovative solutions to some of the industry’s latest challenges including ML/AI, crypto and blockchain technologies.
By partnering with Western Union, the money transfer giant headquartered in Denver, entrepreneurs in the Techstars program will gain access to mentorship from a host of Western Union executives.
“We see our new accelerator and relationship with Techstars as a vital part of our broader innovation platform,” said Tyler McPherson-Wiman, head of strategy and innovation for Western Union in a statement. “As one of the largest digital and physical cross-border money movers, Western Union is uniquely positioned at the intersection of financial technology, data and commerce. We attribute our staying power and ability to reinvent ourselves to our innovation culture and openness to new ideas.”
Techstars, which was founded in 2006 in Boulder, is a national network of seed stage tech accelerators. This is the third mentorship-driven accelerator program for Techstars in the Denver-metro area, following Techstars Boulder Accelerator and Techstars Sustainability Accelerator in Partnership with The Nature Conservancy.
In addition to this accelerator, Techstars also offers another FinTech-focused program in partnership with Barclays in New York City and an InsureTech accelerator, which is powered by MetLife, in Raleigh.
The program will run over three years, with 10 startups accepted into each year’s class. Western Union and Techstars will invest a total of $120,000 into each startup accepted into the program.
Like all Techstars programs, the accelerator will run for 90 days and culminate with a demo day in September. Techstars receives 6 percent common stock from each company accepted to the program.
Check out the startups below:
Andia - Boulder/Mexico City
A mobile and web based facial recognition platform that validates and authenticates financial transactions.
Bridged AI - Bangalore, India
The startup has built an artificial intelligence as a service platform providing scalable training data solutions for organizations building out their own AI models.
Challenger Fund - Denver
This software platform increases stability and earnings for every consumer by maximizing the interest rate earnings for any checking or savings account at any bank.
Chord - Cambridge, MA
Chord is a service that offers consumers debt-free capital to help with purchasing a home while providing investors an avenue for investment in the housing market and lenders a new lower risk lending option.
Curu - Charlotte, NC
The startup has developed a software application that provides customers with automated credit building.
Leaf Global Fintech - Denver
Leaf provides digital financial services to refugees which limits the need to carry cash across borders.
Store Cash - San Jose
Money Cards allows unbanked teens to request, receive and instantly redeem funds from a mobile device.
Rebric - Denver
Rebric provides a managed infrastructure platform so financial institutions can get machine learning and AI systems in place quickly.
Thrive Savings - Toronto
The startup delivers financial empowerment through a mobile application by automatically saving money for consumers.
Trillbit - Bangalore, India
Trillbit has created technology that transforms any speaker and mic into a data transfer device.
