Capital One selects five fintech start ups for accelerator programme

Capital One has announced that five start ups will be given a platform to develop new technologies for the financial sector.

The companies, all early-stage start-ups, have secured a place on the Nottingham-headquartered credit card company’s accelerator programme, Growth Labs.

Launched in partnership with corporate accelerator and investment firm L Marks, the businesses will work within Capital One’s software engineering department in Nottingham, where they will have access to the company’s technical experts.

The start ups will also access intensive series of bespoke workshops and receive ongoing mentoring and support from business experts at both Capital One and the wider financial industry.

Following the programme, the start ups will demonstrate their completed product and have the opportunity to bid for investment capital in a final pitch later this year.

Chris Owen, programme leader of Capital One Growth Labs, said: “Throughout the application process, our key objective was not only to diversify our final applicants but to unite some of the most promising technology and finance start-ups.

“We are incredibly excited to be working alongside all of these companies to help them develop their business strategies and innovate further in the technology space.”

The five finalists were selected by a panel of industry experts and Capital One senior executives from a pool of 19 start-ups that were invited to a competitive pitch day.

The companies selected to join Capital One Growth Labs are:

Credit Kudos – an alternative credit scoring platform that measures credit worthiness using real-time transaction data captured automatically from the borrower, providing a transparent and up-to-date view of a person’s credit profile.
Multisense – a secure end-to-end solution put together as a user-friendly mobile platform which includes face, voice and fingerprint recognition which can be combined with GPS and NFC.
Pariti – a mobile banking app enabling users to take control of their money, reduce interest payments and start saving. The app connects to separate bank accounts and credit cards and automatically identifies income and bills so users know what they can safely spend each week.
Warwick Analytics – a provider of automated predictive analytics that can remove the 80% of time data scientists need to organise and process data prior to analysis.
WealRo – a real-time assistant for savings and investing that aims to use AI technology and machine learning to find areas of a user’s budget where savings can be made.

Chris Newkirk, Capital One UK’s CEO said: “This business has always been concerned with innovating in favour of the customer, disrupting the financial industry and delivering new and exciting products and services.

“It was a challenge to select the best five, and now the really exciting task begins of assisting and nurturing these businesses to help them perfect their exceptional innovations.”