The fintech lab backed by JPMorgan Chase and the Center for Financial Services Innovation has revealed nine winners of a recent startup competition focused on helping consumers plan for financial shocks.
The nine winning organizations of the Financial Solutions Lab will receive a combined $3 million in capital as well as mentorship, networking and national partnership opportunities. Each will get $250,000 and additional resources to test, enhance and help scale their products. The winners were selected from more than 300 applicants and participated in a live "pitch-off" at the annual EMERGE Conference, a consumer financial health forum sponsored by CFSI and SourceMedia, the parent company of American Banker.
The winners are part of the second class of the "FinLab," a $30 million, five-year initiative managed by CFSI with JPMorgan as its founding partner.
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More than half of all U.S. households have suffered a "financial shock" in the past five years. Some say mobile apps could help users brace for and recover from such setbacks.
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For the second year of their Financial Solutions Lab competition, the Center for Financial Services Innovation and JPMorgan Chase are looking for companies that would help people prepare for and weather financial shocks.
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A fintech startup is hoping that a pop-up branch approach will inspire consumers to replace check-cashing services and checking accounts with a mobile app that connects to a prepaid account.
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The challenge topic this year, financial shocks, was chosen based on research showing more than half of Americans across the income spectrum are affected by financial shocks and don't have any kind of financial buffer to help them prepare for and get through shocks like job loss or car repair.
"Innovation through technology provides an opportunity to increase access to tools that help people manage the inevitable financial shocks that negatively impact households, and ultimatel your communities and economy," said Karen Keogh, JPMorgan Chase head of global philanthropy.
The winners are: Albert, a financial health and advising app developer based in Los Angeles; Bee, a New York-based startup that offers mobile-first consumer banks account alternatives; Earn, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that teaches savings behavior; EarnUp, a San Francisco-based loan optimization platform; eCreditHero, which is based in New York and aims to help consumers fix their credit for free; Everlance, a San Francisco-based developer of an app that lets freelancers track their business miles and expenses; Remedy, also of San Francisco, developer of an app designed to protect consumers from medical bill errors and overcharges by intercepting bills and resolving them directly with providers; Scratch, a San Francisco-based loan servicer that uses technology to educate and inform customers; and WiseBanyan, a free financial adviser based in New York.
