Ben Franklin’s Fintech Accelerator is First of its Kind in the Region. These 8 Startups Made the Cut

The Ben Franklin Fin Tech Accelerator announced Wednesday the eight startups that will make up its first cohort, the first in the region to participate in the unconventional peer-based investment model it’s putting in place.

The accelerator is a partnership between Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania and Village Capital, a Washington D.C.-based venture capital firm, under its VilCap Communities initiative. Village Capital designed the peer-review model, which requires the accelerator companies to put themselves in an investors shoes and evaluate which two fintech startups among them deserve a $25,000 investment from Ben Franklin at the end of the program.

These eight companies — which are required to have a presence in the region to receive an investment — will begin the 12-week accelerator on April 24, meeting with mentors and advisors selected to help guide them toward growth and fundings. They run the gamut of the financial industry, from creating data visualizations of personal assets to a student loan repayment benefit program. Four focus on putting financial technology to use solving social issues.

“With the blend of both impact-focused and transaction-based fintech concepts, it’s an impressive range of companies, and a great indicator of the depth of opportunity in our region,” said Ben Franklin President and CEO RoseAnn Rosenthal in a statement. “We’re excited to bring our partners at Village Capital and our community of esteemed advisors together to help these companies grow here.”

Check out the companies and read the full article here.

Previous

Next