Three months after the ING FinTech Village was launched as the first FinTech accelerator in Benelux, the application period for participating in the programme was today officially opened.
A collaboration with Deloitte and SWIFTInnotribe as core partners will allow a team of mentors and coaches to offer their expertise to a select group of startups in the financial technology domain within a unique fintech environment near Brussels. Belcube, Smartfin, Eggsplore, Startups.be and IBM will also be adding to the joint project.
With a view to fostering development of existing startups and accelerating the pace of innovation, the ING FinTech Village provides a mentoring programme for startups to help accelerate the preparation of a proof of concept and allow them to test their FinTech solution in a real-life bank setting. ING stated that it intended to develop further solutions to benefit customers whilst sowing the seeds of innovation.
Startups are now able to apply for the programme, with the selecton period due to be closed on 31 January 2016, following which selected startups will be announced. The first accelerator programme, to take place between March and June 2015, will provide a tailor-made mentoring programme to allow startups to develop or refine their idea and prepare a proof of concept.
During the programme, selected startups will be immersed in the business environment, at a location in Diegem which will also host more mature fintech companies, investors and other fintech stakeholders.
The startup companies will be chosen based on their team and potential solutions they can offer to the 2015-specific criteria announced for the first edition: innovative online or mobile solutions which can create added value for its customers; technologies which enable personalised solutions which leverage predictive models and compelling interfaces to empower customers through targeted recommendations; smart security and authentication across multiple channels which would help ING in its aim to create a differentiated customer experience; solutions to streamline customer onboarding process, compliance processes or user identity management and therefore further improve internal operations.
Startups will benefit from a team of experienced mentors from ING and its partners, offering a variety of backgrounds but a consistently high level of seniority and expertise. Each startup will receive an assigned lead mentor or sponsor to help them conduct a proof of concept.
