North Carolina’s Queen City Fintech, the only financial technology-focused startup accelerator in the Southeast, has recruited ten companies for its 2018 spring cohort. The accelerator’s eighth program drew 150 applications from post-revenue startups in 18 countries and 20 states.
Half of the cohort is international companies — two from Canada, one from Denmark, and one from Nigeria. Another two are from Charlotte, where the program is based. They each receive $20,000 in exchange for 6 percent equity and workspace at Charlotte’s Packard Place, the fifth-largest startup hubs in the country.
Packard Place and Queen City Fintech were both founded and led by Dan Roselli, a former Bank of America executive. Roselli has drawn on Charlotte’s deep banking roots to provide expertise and mentorship for the startup founders.
“The Charlotte community and sponsors have helped us develop one of the deepest mentorship pools of any accelerator with almost 300 mentors,” says Roselli.
Queen City Fintech’s backers include Ally Bank, Bank of America, BB&T, Ernst & Young, Wells Fargo, and more.
“Queen City Fintech has a deep network of industry experts,” says Christopher Rivers, founder and CEO of Charlotte-based Optimis, a platform for risk management in capital markets. “By gaining access to executive leaders, Optimis would directly engage prospective clients, and receive critical insight into client needs, market trends and industry best practices.” Rivers says through the program, they hope establish strategic partnerships with banks and other program sponsors to accelerate their launch.
In an interview with Hype last year, Roselli said that one goal for Queen City Fintech is to elevate the profile of the region as a hotspot for not only financial services and banking, but for fintech. Nearby Atlanta is known as “Transaction Alley” for its concentration of payment processing —70 percent of the country’s transactions are processed in Atlanta.
“The ability for fintech founders based in the Southeast to interact in the same Charlotte-based cohort as founders from Singapore to Silicon Valley is helping put the Southeast U.S., Charlotte, and Atlanta on the map as a hot and rising fintech region,” said Roselli.
The Charlotte-based program will begin at the end of March and run in-person for 12 weeks, concluding with the Fintech Generations Conference in June. The startups will pitch to potential investors at the Conference.
The startups remain in the accelerator on a remote basis for the following year to maintain their access to mentors and resources. They’re also eligible for follow-on funding from the program.
Meet Queen City Fintech’s Class 8:
All_ebt (Los Angeles, CA) — A smart wallet for food stamps
Credpal (Lagos, Nigeria) — A platform that allows consumers to buy anything across various online and offline merchants and pay for it in installments
Family Plan (Yarmouth, ME) — Helping families thrive after divorce
Helium Loans (Toronto, Canada) — Microlending for the 21st century
Invoira (New York City, NY) — A real time B2B network that empowers businesses to streamline their invoice management and payment process through data and collaboration
Lilipad (Austin, TX) — A platform that increases 401(k) contributions by unlocking tax refunds
Live Give Save (Red Wing, MN & Charlotte, NC) — A mobile app that makes saving and giving as easy as spending so that every dollar you spend is an investment in yourself and a better world
NewBanking (Copenhagen, Denmark) — A user identity platform that allows end-users to verify their identity easily and securely across businesses while at the same having control and ownership of their own data and identity online
Optimis (Charlotte, NC) — A platform delivering unrivaled intelligence and risk management to capital markets
WealthTab (Montreal, Canada) — A platform to streamline client onboarding and account opening workflows for financial services and insurance firms
