Accenture and Enterprise Ireland invites Irish startups for FinTech Accelerator Program

Accenture has partnered with Enterprise Ireland and has invited applications from Ireland’s best early stage tech companies to join its FinTech Innovation Lab Accelerator programme Dublin.

According to the website, The FinTech Innovation Lab is looking for early stage growth Irish companies in areas including big-data analytics and predictive modeling, mobility, payments, risk management, wealth management, customer relationship, management governance, risk, and compliance, to mention few.

“The FinTech Innovation Lab Dublin offers an exciting opportunity for the technology and financial services communities and young Irish companies to collaborate and together contribute to the success of Ireland’s digital economy,” Alastair Blair, Country Managing Director of Accenture in Ireland said.

Six companies will be selected for the program and the companies will receive expertise and hands-on training and mentorship from a panel of senior executives in order to help develop their business. The program will have two phases namely selection and mentoring.

The successful short-listed companies will attend events in Dublin including a ‘speed dating’ event to network with key financial services and technology executives and discuss their business proposition. The selected startups will also receive coaching from senior Accenture executives on pitch development to prepare for the Dragons Den event to pitch their propositions. After which, six finalists will be shortlisted to participate in the programme.

“The FinTech Innovation Lab is a fantastic opportunity for technology entrepreneurs in the financial services industry to gain invaluable experience under the guidance of some of Ireland’s most experienced executives. This programme can make a big difference to the commercial success of new technologies by bringing innovators together with their potential customers, and could help to revolutionize the financial services industry, both here in Ireland and abroad,” Kevin Sherry, Divisional Manager, International Sales and Partnering, Enterprise Ireland said.

The Accelerator program will be held in Dublin and will have a twelve-week incubation period to develop and road-test the company’s business propositions under the guidance of the mentors who will assist in developing products for real-world applications. Post this; the finalists will get a chance to attend two Investor Day presentations, one in Dublin and one in London and pitch their products.

The FinTech Innovation Lab Dublin has Ireland’s leading financial services and technology companies as partners including Bank of Ireland, Citi Bank, Credit Suisse, State Street, Ulster Bank, among others.

The applications for its FinTech Innovation Lab Dublin are open until the end of October 2016. Last month, Accenture invited applications for FinTech Innovation Lab London 2017 and previously eight leading fintech companies entered the third annual Accenture’s FinTech Innovation Lab Asia-Pacific.