Ynext Incubator Results: Driving Fintech Innovation and Investment

Ynext Incubator Results: Driving Fintech Innovation and Investment

The Ynext Incubator helps developers, innovators, and entrepreneurs launch disruptive products with transactional financial data. We kicked off the Incubator in November 2014 and our first class was a great success; we’re trying to make the new class even better. Last year, we received applications from 65 fintech startups, which we narrowed down to eight companies from five states: Accredify, DRAFT, Evolved Bookkeeping, Fidor US, OCX, Roostify, Telito, and VOATZ. We’ve even come up with a sweet little infographic to tell the tale of our experience and Ynext Incubator results. Over the course of six months, 19 founders from those eight companies attended boot camps in Silicon Valley – where they learned about business models, scaling a data business, branding for startups, user acquisition, fundraising, presenting to investors, and other business topics – with the help of 36 industry-heavyweight mentors. This was all fueled by 75 breakfast burritos, among other tasty food and drinks. It all led up to Demo Day, when our eight startups had the opportunity to present to high-profile investors, bankers, entrepreneurs, attorneys, Yodlee® experts, and other influencers. Since Demo Day, two of our eight startups have raised $15 million in capital. Two others were finalists in the BBVA Open Talent Competition: VOATZ, a smartphone-only platform that uses biometrics to allow citizens to safely and securely vote in government elections, and DRAFT, an investment analysis tool that combines crowd-sourced data with a simple dashboard to allow users to understand and take control of their long-term financial investments. We were impressed by the success of our first Ynext Incubator class, and the next one will be even better. We just announced our next class of 8 data-driven innovators. Click here to view the new class. Like last year, each of the chosen startups will receive a year of free access to Yodlee Interactive APIs, connecting them with data from thousands of financial institutions, and enabling them to build better, smarter, and more secure financial applications. The chosen startups will attend boot camps and receive ongoing guidance and mentoring throughout the six-month program, with the goal of accelerating their time to market and finding partners and investors to help them succeed. And that’s where you can get involved. Do you have expertise in your industry and an interest in guiding entrepreneurs to success? Do you want to not only preview the next generation of data-driven disruptors, but actually shape them? If so, you’re just the kind of mentor we’re looking for. Or are you a venture capitalist, private equity or angel investor who is interested in attending Ynext Incubator Demo Day to see pitches from the next class of innovators? To get involved with Ynext Incubator, or to learn more about Demo Day, contact me at jcain@yodlee.com to discuss what we can do together for the future of fintech. (Finally, to answer the question everyone’s been wondering about: sausage and bacon were the top two burrito choices.)