Village Capital’s Fintech Accelerator

If you haven’t heard by now, a new wave of financial technologies have been disrupting the banking sector. These “fintech” startups are providing new ways to access capital and financial services, as well as innovate traditional forms of finance.

Access Ventures is interested in fintech solutions that enable human flourishing by opening up access to capital in underserved communities. There is now greater transparency and opportunity for all consumers of financial services.

In 2014, there were more than 700 fintech companies funded by venture capital. With so many investment targets, the Village Capital accelerator was a perfect partner for Access Ventures to find promising young startups that challenge the status quo within the fintech space.

Village Capital is a nonprofit that operates business development cohort programs for early stage entrepreneurs around fintech, as well as education, agriculture, energy and health. Village Capital also operates an affiliated investment fund that invests capital using a peer selection model where the entrepreneurs within the cohort decide which companies will receive the pre-committed funding.

Village Capital and its program sponsors have capital investments in more than 30 ventures picked by their peers. Participating ventures have created over 4,000 jobs, served over 1 million customers, and raised over $30 million in follow-on capital. The success of this model has lead to recognition from McKinsey and Harvard Business Review’s M-Prize for innovation.

“Participating ventures have created over 4,000 jobs, served over 1 million customers, and raised over $30 million in follow-on capital.”

The fintech cohort for 2015 started with 113 applicants addressing a wide range of problems such as student loan repayment to exploitation in foreign exchange.  The applicants were interviewed and assessed by Village Capital’s team in order to create a semi-finalist round of 33 ventures. Once the semi-finalists were selected, the program investors reviewed each entry to choose the most promising companies for the final cohort.

We are excited to announce our participation as an investment partner in the most recent Village Capital event. We have pre-committed $50,000 to be invested into the top two companies that will be announced at the end of this week’s cohort.

The cohort kicked off in San Francisco with a three-day workshop beginning May 14th followed by a second workshop in Salt Lake City on June 16th. Cohort companies are supported during the workshops with an award-winning program curriculum; individualized mentorship from leading executives; and early stage investors, and curated community events.

Village Capital entrepreneurs also have access to a dedicated finance associate to build and refine financial models, as well as perform limited market research. Selected entrepreneurs can also access supplemental webinars focusing on topics such as IRIS metrics, available non-dilutive capital (grant and debt), regulation, and customer hypothesis training. Additionally, they are offered support from the partnerships network of Village Capital.

Further, each Village Capital US entrepreneur is eligible for a $10,000 Kiva loan at 0% interest, and has been connected with DLA Piper for early stage legal services through the DLA Piper startup program.

The fintech 2015 cohort is concluding this week with the final workshop in San Francisco. In addition to the typical curriculum, the workshop includes a mock board session where each company has access to leading minds within the industry to work through strategic decisions. The event concludes with a venture forum where each company is able to pitch their work to a room of industry investors.

At the end of this week the companies within the cohort will rank each other upon a wide range of variables and the top two teams will be rewarded with an equity investment. We’ll follow up with another post as soon as the winners are announced!