Participants to collaborate with senior executives at the world’s leading financial institutions
Eleven emerging technology companies have been selected to participate in the 2019 FinTech Innovation Lab New York, a 12-week program founded by Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and the Partnership Fund for New York City that helps early- and growth-stage enterprise tech companies accelerate product and business development through in-depth engagement with top financial services and venture capital executives.
This year’s participants are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, cryptography and other technologies to tackle key industry challenges, including improving online engagement with customers, detecting financial compliance risks, driving operational efficiencies, measuring and underwriting cyber riskand tackling diversity and inclusion.
“The strength of New York’s financial services sector makes this the best city for companies to collaborate with leading banks and bring new innovations to market. The Lab will help this year’s class tap into a deep well of financial services expertise, making Wall Street and the insurance sector more competitive and building New York’s tech future,” said Maria Gotsch, co-founder of the Fintech Innovation Lab New York and President and CEO of the Partnership Fund for New York City.
2019 FinTech Innovation Lab New York
The 2019 FinTech Innovation Lab New York participants are:
- CloudFrame— which transforms legacy mainframe applications into cloud-native Java without adding undue risk to the mission-critical data and business processes, providing immediate cost savings and a pathway to cloud migration.
- Cyberwrite— provides a simple to understand report benchmarking the risks and financial impact of cyber-attacks on any small or medium-sized business worldwide in real-time and on-demand, which enables business owners to purchase the bespoke cyber policy they need. The solution is used for customer engagement, informed underwriting and aggregated risk management by the insurance ecosystem.
- Extend— which is a digital credit card distribution platform for banks, fintechs, businesses, and their customers. The Extend platform redefines how credit cards are issued and shared and provides virtual credit card distribution without requiring any bank tech development.
- FairFrame— combines AI and decades of social science research into an easy-to-use text analysis platform: a ‘spellchecker’ for unconscious bias. It gives managers real-time feedback on their writing and provides never-before-seen data, analytics and metrics for organizations, HR and D&I leaders.
- Genus AI— whose next-generation Enterprise AI platform extends financial institutions’ existing systems to help them understand and engage with customers in an emotionally intelligent way, driving retention and revenue.
- Goalsetter— whose goal-based savings and gifting platform enables families to use social savings, gifts and gamification to teach kids financial literacy and independence, backed by an FDIC-insured account.
- HyperScience— which uses proprietary, novel machine learning technology to automate data entry and streamline document processing for large enterprises by extracting handwritten, printed, and highly distorted text at accuracy levels surpassing manual data entry.
- Inpher— which uses cryptographic technology to power advanced analytics and AI applications without exposing or transferring sensitive data across departments, organizations or jurisdictions.
- Magma Trading— which has created a new kind of stock market that allows broker-dealers to trade large blocks of equities. Magma’s structure allows market-making firms to post large potential trades without fear of getting run over by high-speed electronic sweeps.
- npm— which manages the world’s largest software registry, empowering 11,000,000 JavaScript developers with industry-leading tools and services. npm lowers engineering costs, reduces time to market and improves user experience while providing a greater level of security.
- Theta Lake— a cloud-based communication compliance platform, uses AI and deep learning to detect compliance risks in what was said, shared, and shown, powering risk insights and workflow automation, while also providing secure, compliant archiving for video, voice, and chat – all driving down the cost of compliance.
Selected by senior technology executives from among the Lab’s 43 participating financial institutions, the 11 fintech companies will spend the next 12 weeks receiving intensive product and business-development advice, as well as mentoring, from senior executives in the financial, technology and venture capital sectors.
“We’re excited to welcome these startups into the New York Lab and look forward to helping them refine their solutions,” said David Treat, a managing director in Accenture’s Financial Services practice and co-head of the Fintech Innovation Lab New York. “Simply going digital won’t be enough to differentiate financial institutions. They must embrace powerful new technologies to innovate their business models and personalize experiences for their customers, which this year’s participating companies are clearly demonstrating.”
The companies in this year’s FinTech Innovation Lab New York will highlight the progress they have made with the Financial Institution Partners on June 27 at the Bank of America Tower at Bryant Park to an audience of more than 250 executives across banking, insurance, and capital markets, and venture capital.
“We continue to see widespread interest among insurance companies in partnering with or investing in insurtechs to help create business underwriting and claims efficiencies, improve the customer experience or tackle emerging risks like cybersecurity,” said John Cusano, a senior managing director in Accenture’s Insurance practice. “We look forward to seeing the progress made by these firms at the Demo Day in June.”
“Traditionally, it is difficult for fintechs and insurtechs to turn an initial meeting with a financial services company into a sale,” said Sunny Parikh, Sunny Parikh, Vice President, Partnership Fund for New York City; Director of FinTech Innovation Lab New York. “The FinTech Innovation Lab shifts the paradigm; instead of fintechs focusing on selling their technology, they can focus on solving their customers most pressing challenges. That is why so many of our Lab companies develop long-term relationships with participating banks and insurance companies.”
The selection committee for the New York FinTech Innovation Lab comprises executives from the following participating financial institutions: AllianceBernstein; Ally Financial; Amalgamated Bank; American Express; American International Group, Inc.; AON; AQR Capital Management; AXA XL; Bank of America; Barclays; BlackRock; BNP Paribas; BNY Mellon; Capital One; Chubb; Citi; Credit Suisse; The D.E. Shaw Group; Deutsche Bank; Fidelity Investments; Global Atlantic, Goldman Sachs; The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America; JPMorgan Chase & Co; KeyBank; Marsh & McLennan Companies; Mastercard; Morgan Stanley; New York Life; NFP; Pitney Bowes; Rabobank; RBC Capital Markets; Société Générale; Synchrony; The Hartford; The Travelers Companies, Inc.; TIAA; UBS; U.S. Bank; USAA; Wells Fargo; and Zurich Insurance.
Supporting venture-capital firms include Anthemis Group, Bain Capital Ventures, Canaan, Contour Venture Partners, Nyca Partners, Rho Ventures, RRE Ventures and Warburg Pincus.
Founded in 2010 by Accenture and the Partnership Fund for New York City, the FinTech Innovation Lab New York provides early- and growth-stage fintech companies with access to the world’s leading financial institutions. The Lab was established to help make New York a leader in fintech and grow technology jobs by leveraging the concentration of large financial services institutions and deep domain expertise that exists in New York. Since the New York Lab’s inception, its alumni companies have raised more than US$790 million post-program and completed over 200 pilot programs, and five of the companies have been acquired.
Following the success of the FinTech Innovation Lab New York, Accenture established the FinTech Innovation Lab London in 2012 and the FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific in 2014. The FinTech Innovation Labs are now a leading venue for introducing financial services firms to breakthrough technologies that improve efficiency, security and customer experience. The Labs’ alumni have raised a total of nearly US$1.2 billion in venture capital financing since participating in the Lab.
Participating financial institutions and venture-capital firms commented on their involvement in the FinTech Innovation Lab New York
“The Fintech Innovation Lab is a great forum for Aon to connect and collaborate with the thriving innovation ecosystem in NYC,” said Steve Petrevski SVP, Head of Enterprise Analytics, Innovation & Partnerships, Aon.
Donna Nadeau, AXA XL’s COO, North America Insurance, who participates in the Lab alongside Alpa Patel, AXA XL’s CIO, Americas, said, “As an insurer focusing on innovation and collaboration, we’re proud to be a part of the community that is helping create the future of our industry. Our partnership with fintech and insurtech entrepreneurs is one way through which we execute on our commitment to put our customers first, challenge the status quo and build sustainable and prosperous businesses.”
“We are proud to host the FinTech Innovation Lab New York – this is our fifth year,” said David Reilly, Bank of America CIO, Global Banking & Markets and Enterprise Risk & Finance Technology Executive. “Our relationship with the Partnership Fund for New York City is invaluable. Working with the Lab’s participants gives Bank of America the power to stay close to the latest in innovative solutions, which help make our customers and clients financial lives better.”
“The continued digitization and disruption of the financial services industry, including insurance, is a tremendous opportunity to modernize and deliver a better customer experience with more compelling and relevant products and services,” said Monique Shivanandan, Chubb Global Chief Information Officer. “In a world increasingly shaped by technology, the collaborations amongst start-ups and large corporates participating in the FinTech Innovation Lab will continue to help us develop and adopt emerging technologies and reimagine the customer experience.”
“Credit Suisse is proud to once again partner with the FinTech Innovation Lab. As a bank that understands the strategic importance of technology and innovation, we welcome the opportunity to mentor and support emerging technology companies in New York to help accelerate their growth,” said Adrianne Dicker Kadzinski, Global Innovation Lead at Credit Suisse.
“We’ve been involved in this program for many years and are excited to continue to mentor New York Fintech companies on how to navigate the financial services ecosystem. JPMorgan Chase actively engages and partners with fintechs to deliver best-in-class value to our customers,” said Larry Feinsmith, Head of Global Technology Strategy, Innovation & Partnerships for JPMorgan Chase & Co.
“We are delighted to support the FinTech Innovation Lab and mentor the next generation of innovators as they chart new territory for their company and the industry,” said Sean Manahan, head of Technology Business Development at Morgan Stanley. “The startups’ enthusiasm and creativity are truly energizing, and we look forward to see them grow and partner with us to deliver new services for our clients and our business.”
“We are thrilled to be members of the Fintech Innovation Lab and to participate in New York’s fintech ecosystem by supporting start-ups with our expertise and access to our resources,” said Simon Letort, Chief Digital Officer at Société Générale. “This also complements our innovation strategy and our recently announced innovation fund, SG Ventures.”
“Zurich is excited and proud to once again collaborate and mentor these emerging tech companies,” said Paul Horgan, head of U.S. Commercial Insurance for Zurich North America. “We see this as an investment in the development of innovative products and services that can meet the needs of business – now and in the future. Thank you to Accenture and the Partnership Fund for bringing together this year’s innovative tech entrepreneurs and our New York finance colleagues for such a worthy and inspiring program.”
About the Partnership Fund for New York City
The Partnership Fund for New York City is the $160 million investment arm of the Partnership for New York City, New York’s leading business organization. The Fund’s mission is to engage the City’s business leaders to identify and support promising entrepreneurs – in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors – to create jobs, spur new business and expand opportunities for New Yorkers to participate in the City’s economy. As an “evergreen” fund, realized gains are continuously reinvested. The Partnership Fund Board is led by Co-Chairmen, Charles R. Kaye and Tarek Sherif. Maria Gotsch, President and CEO, leads the team. More information about the Fund can be found at www.pfnyc.org.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions — underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network — Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With 477,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.