Ten companies will begin the intensive thirteen-week Barclays Accelerator programme in London this week. Aimed at fintech companies, the programme will consist of mentoring, networking and development.
The Barclays Accelerator, powered by Techstars, received applications from over 60 countries worldwide. The chosen ideas range from new cutting edge encryption technology for cyber security, to a new bond marketplace, to a Bitcoin company.
The ten companies will be based at the London Escalator, an open innovation space designed to support startups and entrepreneurs, giving them the optimum environment to thrive, with the opportunity to network with and learn from likeminded individuals. Each team will also receive $20K seed funding from Techstars.
The second cohort highlights the demand of fintech companies. Other fintech accelerators include Accenture’s FinTech Innovation Lab sponsored by Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. Most recently the Lloyds, Rabobank, and Intesa Sanpaolo sponsored Startupbootcamp FinTech as it opened applications for a second programme. Level 39 now offers a dedicated FinTech Accelerator space in the heart of London.
So without further ado, these are the companies selected for this cohort:
Origin, which has developed a new bond market place for large corporations and institutional investors aimed at facilitating direct debt and bond issuance.
- Safello is a Europe-focused bitcoin exchange with plans to expand into payments.
- LiquidLandscape provides data visualisation tools aimed at helping traders to better analyse their data.
- Ravelin is a producer of a machine learning software to help spot fraud.
- Godesic provides a platform that manages IT infrastructure projects in the financial services industry.
- Stockfuse has developed a gaming platform that is used by banks to spot trading talent via simulation games.
- Basestone offers cloud-based software to help manage construction projects.
- Blocktrace tracks diamond ownership and transaction history, providing verification for insurance companies.
- PQ Solutions is a cybersecurity company that uses cutting-edge encryption techniques designed to beat attacks by quantum computers.
- And the mysterious startup #10, which has elected to “remain anonymous until a later date”, as explained by Barclays.
“Many of the teams enrolling today are exploring technologies that could particularly help transform the ways banks operate so I’m keen to see how their ideas develop,” explained Derek a White, Barclays Chief Design Officer.
Each company selected for the Barclays Accelerator will refine their business model, culminating in a public Demo Day in London in June. Applications for the New York-based version of the programme are also open now.
Speaking of events, do you have your ticket yet for the upcoming EU-Startups Summit?
