JPMC’s FinLab Launches $3M Contest For FinTech Startups

To help identify FinTech products that may improve the financial health of underserved populations in the U.S., the Financial Solutions Lab (FinLab) launched its fourth annual $3 million challenge. The lab focuses on products that meet the financial needs of overlooked populations, JPMorgan Chase said in an announcement.

Applicants to the challenge are asked to share how their products can help consumers improve their financial health and how their organization will succeed in serving a diverse market. In addition, applicants are encouraged to show how their teams reflect diversity.

To help foster their ideas, each winning organization will receive $250,000 in capital. In addition, the winning group will receive guidance from ideas42, IDEO.org, Google and FinLab’s advisory council. The lab’s founding partners, Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) and JPMorgan Chase, will also help winning teams — along with JPMorgan Chase’s employee mentorship program.

To date, FinLab companies have raised over $250 million in capital since joining the program. And those companies have reached many consumers through their products.

“We continue to be blown away by the impact that FinLab companies are having on consumers,” CFSI Chief Program Officer John Thompson said in an announcement. “The 26 organizations supported by the Lab so far have cumulatively grown to help more than 2.5 million Americans improve their financial health — more than 15 times the consumer base they served before joining the Lab.”

JPMorgan Chase Head of Community Innovation Colleen Briggs said FinTech companies have the opportunity to reach Americans that need help with their financial health — and the contest can help make that happen.

“Technology offers a tremendous opportunity to help us reach overlooked populations with financial products and services that can improve their long-term financial health,” Briggs said in the announcement. “We want to see more innovation designed to meet the needs of underserved populations and teams of entrepreneurs that reflect this diversity. We believe that the FinLab’s continued focus on inclusive FinTech will help us unlock this potential.”