The Financial Solutions Lab, a joint initiative of JPMorgan Chase and the Center for Financial Services Innovation, on Tuesday announced the winners of its fifth annual competition designed to identify solutions to different consumer financial challenges. This year’s theme was centered on financial health in the workplace, including for underserved workers.
The five winning fintech startups will each receive $125,000 in capital and one-on-one mentorship from executives at CFSI and JPMorgan as well as from organizations like Ideas42, Frog, Hamburger Gibson, Paul Hastings, Promontory Financial and Washington University. The startups will also learn from their peers through in-person retreats throughout the year and regular virtual working sessions.
The winners are: Brightside, a personalized and centralized financial health platform for employees; HoneyBee, a startup that gives employees access to a week’s pay in advance for unplanned expenses; Manifest, a company that standardizes the process of transferring 401(k)s as employees switch positions; MedPut, a startup that provides 0% financing and bill-negotiation services for out-of-pocket medical bills; and Onward, an employer-based mobile savings and credit app.
“This year we were looking for solutions to improve financial health in the workplace,” Jennifer Tescher, founder and CEO of the Center for Financial Services Innovation, said in a press release. “Engaging with workers in the context of getting paid, buying health insurance and saving for retirement represents a powerful opportunity. For employers, helping improve the financial wellness of their workforce can increase productivity, improve retention and engender loyalty that ultimately accrues to the bottom line.”
Over the course of the program, the FinLab will gather evidence about the role that financial health solutions play in the workplace and measure the impact of services across diverse work environments.
“At JPMorgan Chase, we’re committed to the well-being of our employees," Robin Leopold, who heads human resources at the bank, said in the release. "This means we’re always looking at new and innovative ways to address wellness in the workplace, including financial health. That’s why the Financial Solutions Lab is so important and why we help support it. “Supporting and improving mental, physical and financial health is good for employees and good for business.”
To date, the FinLab has supported more than 30 fintech companies drawn from more than 1,600 applicants. Products developed by startups that have joined the FinLab reach 4 million Americans and the number of users of the products has grown twentyfold, according to the bank’s press release. Collectively, it said, FinLab companies have raised over $500 million in capital and have helped Americans save over $1 billion.
