Silicon Valley Bank and First Data launch fintech accelerator
Future stars can earn their stripes
US-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and First Data are calling on US start-ups to apply for their latest Commerce.Innovated accelerator programme.
The four-month virtual programme provides participants with operational mentorship from the pair’s respective networks.
Reetika Grewal, head of SVB’s payments strategy and solutions group, says its “small class size allows us to work closely with each entrepreneur and really customise the programme to help them reach their specific milestones”.
Commerce.Innovated launched in 2014 and has worked with 24 commerce, payments and fintech-focused start-ups to date, including Alloy, AppZen, Apruve, CardFlight, Dash, Domuso, Earny, Float, Footmarks, Gone, LaunchKey, LiveApp, Local Maven, Nowsta, Pay By Group, PennyOwl, Slide, SmartGift, SnapUp, Spend Labs, Splitwise, Standard Treasury, Truebill, and Qwil. Since graduating from the programme, SVB says more than half of the companies have raised funding or been acquired.
Applicants to this latest round need to meet certain criteria – such as secured or raising seed or Series A funding; and a working product.
Applications are now being accepted through to 30 April 2017 and can be submitted online here. Companies do not need to be current clients of SVB or First Data to apply.
