Silicon Valley Bank and First Data (NYSE: FDC), announced on Wednesday they have selected five startups to participate in Class 7 of Commerce.Innovated., an accelerator program that was designed to help commerce, payments, and fintech companies grow their businesses. According to the duo, this four-month virtual program provides participants with operational mentorship from Silicon Valley Bank, First Data, and their respective networks.
The five companies selected to participate in the current class come from the U.S., Canada, and Europe. They also provide a variety of solutions for businesses and consumers:
- FutureFuel: A SaaS company working with employers to offer student loan repayment and refinancing as a benefit of employment, based in Boston
- Roger: An app that lets consumers and businesses pay their bills instantly and fully automates the accounts payables flow, based in San Francisco and Copenhagen
- Teampay: Purchasing software that enables companies to request, approve, pay for, and track employee spending in real-time, based in New York
- Waypay: A SaaS company helping businesses pay and reconcile all of their bills from any bank account or credit card in any currency, based in Burlington, Canada
- Candex: Software that enables large companies to pay small vendors and improve visibility on their spending, based in San Francisco
While sharing more details about the program, Reetika Grewal, Head of Payments Strategy and Solutions at Silicon Valley Bank, stated:
“We continue to be impressed by the quality of applicants for Commerce.Innovated. As the fintech ecosystem evolves, we are seeing a shift toward companies focusing on solving important business challenges. The group is made up of really strong companies with great leadership and market opportunities in the B2B and B2B2C space.”
Christine Larsen, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer at First Data, added;
“We are looking forward to welcoming Class 7 of Commerce.Innovated., especially following the success we saw with our last class of participants. Each company that was selected for Class 7 tackles a key issue within the fintech space, for both businesses and consumers. These early stage companies are driving the future of the industry, and we can’t wait to see what they will accomplish during their time in the virtual program.”
Commerce.Innovated. launched in 2014 and has worked with 28 commerce, payments and fintech-focused startups to date.