Bank of America is officially launching an accelerator.
The program is called Bank of America Breakthrough Lab and will focus primarily on founders from underrepresented communities, including Black, Hispanic and Native American entrepreneurs. The Tuesday launch follows a small pilot in 2021 and a larger one in 2022.
"We're excited to play a role in giving emerging entrepreneurs from a range of backgrounds access to the bank's vast resources and industry networks," said Rina Arline, Breakthrough Lab program director in global transaction services at Bank of America, in a press release.
Several banks run accelerator programs, including Barclays, Bank of New York Mellon,
The days of meeting with mentors and pitching investors in person are at least temporarily over, but fintech incubators, accelerators and boot camps are finding creative ways to replicate these valuable experiences online.
Bank of America's program, which the bank expects to take place annually, is calling for applications by June. It will kick off the six-month program in September. The bank is looking specifically for pre-seed stage companies with a minimum viable product that focuses on fintech or uses technology to advance inclusion in fields such as health, wealth, education and housing. The program will be free for participants and will afford them senior-level mentors at Bank of America, live instruction, guidance on how to partner with or sell to larger companies, a pitch day at the end and more.
Arline notes that the bank does not require or expect an equity stake and that it has dedicated a full-time staff to running the program. She also highlights the bank's choice to manage the lab under its global transaction services business, which deals with one area — managing wholesale payments — where fintechs play a large role.
