Startupbootcamp launches foray into financial services
Startupbootcamp plans to launch a financial services win in London this August
European startup accelerator Startupbootcamp is preparing to launch a programme focused on the financial technology industry. Startupbootcamp FinTech, will be make its debut in London with support from banking group Lloyds and the Netherlands’ Rabobank.
The plan is to run a three-month programme in which 10 successful startups will gain mentorship and help from entrepreneurs, investors and corporate partners, with the goal of bringing new products and services to market. The project’s partnership with Lloyds and MasterCard will also give the startups access to pilot customers, industry data, application programming interfaces and capital.
Each successful team will also receive €15,000 and over three months’ free office space in London’s Rainmaking Loft, a 10,000ft square startup hub in Saint Katharine’s Docks near the Tower of London. The startup companies will receive legal advice from law firm MJ Hudson and PR advice from PR company Clarity PR.
The programme itself starts in August. However, Startupbootcamp has said that it will also be running a global innovation drive over the next few months in which it will seek to nurture talent, ideas and develop earlier stage financial technology startups. The plan will consist of various events taking place in New York, Singapore and Shanghai and other cities deemed financial technology hotspots.
These events will include financial technology ‘hackathons’, in which participants must solve challenges in 48 hours, fintech lounges, in which later stage startups are introduced to financial industry executives, and worldwide pitch days, in which local startup communities around the world are invited to pitch in front of Startupbootcamp financial technology experts.
The Startupbootcamp FinTech team is led by Nektarios Liolios, who was formerly an innovation leader at Innotribe, the innovation-centred project run by Swift. Liolios has 15 years experience in the financial services industry, and is joined by chief operating officer Markus Gnirck, an entrepreneur with a focus on early-stage startups, as well as chairman Carsten Kølbek, a seed investor and the founder of Startupbootcamp.
“Right from the outset, we were determined that Startupbootcamp FinTech should focus its efforts on developing earlier stage companies, providing them with support from a broad range of financial organisations,” said Liolios. “We want to nurture talent, great ideas and innovation, and for us that also meant involving as much of the financial community as possible. That’s why our mentors, investors and partners are made up of individuals from right across the financial services spectrum.”
“We’re excited to get Startupbootcamp FinTech underway with a number of events planned for the first half of the year, all aimed at attracting talent, inspiring innovation and engaging entrepreneurs with the financial services industry,” he added.
