Barclays announces 2019 London Accelerator class: Breaking the borders of FinTech

Meet the ten new companies joining the award-winning Barclays Accelerator, powered by Techstars

London, 1 February, 2019 – Barclays is excited to announce and welcome the ten companies that will join the 2019 London Barclays Accelerator, powered by Techstars class – the sixth London programme to date.

Established in 2014, the Barclays Accelerator provides successful applicants with a Financial Technology (FinTech) focused, 13-week programme. Selected startups receive mentoring from leading industry professionals, opportunities to pitch their solutions and access to a collaborative working community.

The companies will work closely with a team of Barclays executives, the Techstars worldwide network and other industry leaders to further expand their business models and develop breakthrough innovations.

At the end of the programme, the companies will highlight their progress and showcase their unique selling propositions at a demo day at Rise London, Barclays’ global FinTech hub in the heart of Shoreditch. Participating companies will also be eligible for recently launched Rise Growth Investments, new investment capital solely focused on the companies accepted into the Barclays Accelerator programme. The funds will allow Barclays to invest up to £10m per Accelerator class.

The programme is one of the most selective FinTech accelerators in the world, receiving more than 700 applications for this year’s London programme. The 2019 London class goes beyond banking with a diverse set of exciting businesses that address opportunities in Aviation, Business Intelligence, Capital Markets, Carbon Trading, Compliance, Cybersecurity, SME banking, Loyalty and Insurance.

“We’re delighted to kick off the sixth class of the Barclays Accelerator in London,” said John Stecher, Chief Innovation Officer at Barclays. “It’s truly incredible how much progress participating companies make over the course of the programme and I’m keen to ensure we support their growth and development in London’s global FinTech ecosystem.”

“Last year’s London, Tel Aviv and New York classes were extremely successful and our growing alumni network of more than 140 companies continues to shape the future of financial services,” stated Mariquit Corcoran, Managing Director, Group Innovation at Barclays. “The programme would not be possible without the mentors who spend countless hours helping our founders advance their businesses and achieve their goals. With 14 completed programmes to date, the Barclays Accelerator is one of the largest single-bank-powered portfolios globally, currently valued at over $700 million.”

The ten companies of the 2019 London class of the Barclays Accelerator, powered by Techstars, are:

• Block Aviation: Block Aviation’s aircraft asset management software is creating a shared information platform to be used across the aviation ecosystem, reducing the cost of redelivery and facilitating efficient novations of aircraft leases.
• Capexmove: Capexmove’s software allows companies to issue programmable debt to create tradable units, and thereafter track and settle them at a fraction of the cost of the current debt capital markets.
• Inbotiqa: Inbotiqa’s enterprise business email solution aimed towards high volume and group mailboxes in financial institutions improves productivity and customer service levels through workflow management in middle and back offices.
• Krowd: Krowd’s offer bidding marketplace provides personalised card linked offers to retailers and credit card issuers, allowing retailers to increase customer retention and card issuers to increase usage.
• Paid: Paid’s platform allows micro businesses and freelancers to get paid on time through its invoice financing at scale for micro businesses for low value invoices.
• Photocert: Photocert’s software solution establishes and certifies the validity of visual evidence allowing businesses like general insurance, on-demand asset rentals and document certification to operate with efficiency and security, reducing incidents of fraud and misinformation.
• Smarter Human: Smarter Human’s technology allows digital banks and FinTech firms to manage operational risk as a part of the agile product delivery lifecycle so that managing risk and compliance is no longer a bottleneck to innovation.
• Spark Change: Spark is a financial instrument that makes investing in carbon as easy as investing in the stock market, allowing individuals to erase their carbon footprint.
• Trezeo: Trezeo offers the self-employed, particularly gig economy workers, financial services that turn unpredictable income to a regular pay cheque through an income stabilising solution.
• Urban Fox: Urban Fox provides fraud detection and prevention software to enterprise scale merchants and payment processors targeting fraudsters who create synthetic online identities.

 
Further information on the Barclays Accelerator can be found at www.barclaysaccelerator.com.

About Techstars

Techstars is the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. Techstars founders and their teams connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporate partners who will help their companies grow. Techstars operates three divisions: Techstars Startup Programmes, Techstars Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Programmes and Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships. Techstars Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Programmes help founders do more faster and Techstars Startup Programmes inspire, educate and connect entrepreneurs. Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships helps brands supercharge growth by accelerating innovation and cultural transformation. Techstars accelerator portfolio includes more than 1,600 companies with a market cap of $18.2 Billion. www.techstars.com