Wells Fargo plans to invest in technology startups focused on payments, fraud and bank operations, and will run a boot camp for up to 20 startups this year. The accelerator program will offer both mentoring and equity investments ranging from $50,000 to $500,000, the bank announced on Wednesday (Aug. 20).
Startups can apply for the first semiannual boot camp until Oct. 1, 2014. Three startups were selected to be part of the program before the announcement was made: Zumigo, which uses location and mobile identity technologies to secure commerce and enable marketing; EyeVerify, which transforms a picture of a user’s eye into a security key; and Kasisto, which builds AI technology for intelligent conversation on mobile devices.
Up to 20 startups per year will be selected by a panel of Wells Fargo technology, venture banking and innovation executives, according to Finextra.
Wells Fargo follows Barclays and MasterCard in setting up its own accelerator program. Other banks, including Lloyds, have backed third-party efforts such as Startupbootcamp. The established financial services giants have been rushing to launch and back accelerators and incubators over the last year as they seek to co-opt the exploding community of fintech startups, Fintech reported.
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